"A collection of essays from scholars around the globe examining the ethical issues and problems associated with some of the major areas within contemporary international communication: journalism, PR, marketing communication, and political rhetoric." (Publisher description)
"A través de un estudio sistemático basado en el monitoreo de las producciones de ficción televisiva, este anuario presenta y analiza datos de producción, circulación, distribución y consumo de programas de ficción exhibidos en el 2010 y presenta una síntesis comparativa de lo que fue el añ
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o en términos de ficción televisiva." (Contratapa)
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"The overall aim of this thesis is to investigate how UK television shapes spectators’ experiences of distant Others. Specifically, I aim to build on and extend existing work in this field, and particularly the work of Lilie Chouliaraki in Spectatorship of Suffering, in three directions. Firstly,
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I argue that we can learn more about how spectators of UK television respond to distant Others if we expand our focus beyond ‘peak moments’ of news coverage of suffering to include a focus on routine coverage of all distant Others, suffering or otherwise, across a range of television genres. Secondly, I contend that it is important to preface investigations into how distant Others are mediated by television with a study of the extent to which people from Other countries even appear on UK television. Thirdly, I argue that in order to take seriously an understanding of mediation as a dialectical process, any analysis of media texts should be complemented by audience research that takes time to listen to the accounts of spectators. The results of a series of content analyses reveal that distant Others seldom appear on UK television, particularly those from certain parts of the world. My application of a modified version of Chouliraki’s analytics of mediation and the results of a series of focus groups and a diary study reveal that television news texts routinely offer spectators a position of indifference with respect to distant and dehumanised distant Others. My results also show that non-news factual television programming has greater capacity than news items for appealing to a more intense mediated experience of distant Others, even if this capacity is often not fully realised. I conclude by arguing that these findings have important implications for broadcasters, producers, policy makers, regulators and academics." (Abstract)
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"In 2007 nearly 17,000 people died because of natural disasters and more than 211 million others were directly affected. News media play a basic role in giving publicity to these numerous instances of global suffering as it is mainly through media reports that the world perceives international crise
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s. Drawing upon theories on distant suffering, this study investigates the mediated representation of international crises, with a focus on natural disasters occurring in Australia, Indonesia, Pakistan and the USA. Applying critical discourse analysis, this article explores how discourses of hierarchy and inequality are realised in news texts about distant suffering. The cases of analysis are nine news items that were broadcast on a public and a commercial Belgian television channel on 2 January 2006. The comparative analysis of these news texts reveals glaring differences that reflect global hierarchies of place and human life. Suffering in the West (USA and Australia) was portrayed as comprehensible and close to the spectator, who could identify with the distant sufferers as if they are like us. While being of a greater magnitude, the Indonesian disaster was in contrast presented as no cause for concern or action, which blocked the engagement with the distant sufferers who were portrayed as ‘Others’, with a capital ‘o’. Pakistan sufferers were also articulated as distant others, but close-ups of gazing children urged the spectator to care for them and potentially act on the represented misfortune. In general, the critical discourse analysis supports the claim that Western news media reproduce a certain kind of global hierarchy, mainly a Euro-American-centred world order, and that news discourse normalises inequalities. This article argues that mediated representations of international crises reflect and consolidate the power relations and divisions that characterise our contemporary world." (Abstract)
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"Since Galtung (1998) and Kempf (1996) outlined their first ideas of an alternative to conventional war reporting, their model(s) of “Peace Journalism” stimulated a broad debate among peace researchers and journalists, practical thought about how to achieve this type of journalism, and a large b
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ody of basic theoretical and empirical research. How the concept of peace journalism developed in the course of these studies is documented in the present book which contains a collection of papers from the years 1997-2009 that previously were only available in German, in hard to find sources and/or in electronic form." (Publisher description)
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"Using exclusive access to the BBC archive, the article examines how and why media coverage of Africa has been misleading and misinformed in the postcolonial period. It examines the extent to which the close relationship between media coverage and aid agencies has damaged the cause of informing the
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public. Aid agencies have seen a huge growth since the mid-1980s – partly precipitated by the power of media imagery. As media organizations have reduced their commitment to investing in reporting on Africa so journalists have in turn become more dependent upon aid agencies, which have filled a vacuum. This symbiotic relationship requires a degree of transparency otherwise there is a danger that it can compromise journalistic accountability." (Abstract)
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"The essays collected in this book follow a contemporary critical trend in the field of trauma studies that reflects comparatively on artistic and media representations of traumatic histories and experiences from countries around the world. Focusing on a diversity of art and media forms—including
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memorials, literature, visual and installation art, music, video, film, and journalism—they both apply dominant theories of trauma and explore the former’s limitations while bearing in mind other possible methodologies." (Publisher description)
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"News and current affairs journalism that purports to be for the public good, and in the public interest, can survive, grow and flourish but not through market forces and new technology alone. To survive, news media will have to adjust and adapt to changes in technology and a harsher commercial envi
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ronment. New ways of ensuring the space for, and independence of, news and current affairs journalism that purports to be for the public good, need to be found to preserve and protect the public interest and encourage a healthy democracy. This is not the same as preserving and protecting news organisations, or even the news, as we know it. In a world of communicative abundance there is, more than ever, a sense that there are many things that news journalism ought to be doing – monitoring, holding to account, and facilitating and maintaining deliberation – but is not doing in a fully satisfactory way, and we neglect this at our peril. To ignore it is to accept that the market can be relied upon to deliver the conditions for deliberative democracy to flourish. However, when markets fail or come under threat, ethical practice is swept aside in pursuit of financial stability. Civil society associations have a key role to play in this extended news environment. They can act as wardens of, and contributors to, news media at local, regional and national levels; they can facilitate deliberation and expand the diversity of views on news platforms, and develop news platforms of their own. They could also provide crucial funding for news organisations or consortia deemed to be operating on a not-for-profit basis. Establishing a more collaborative relationship between news organisations and civil society associations should be encouraged in order to: enable participation; increase effective engagement; expand the public sphere; and enhance democracy. This report recommends a number of ways that civil society associations, media industries and policy-makers can act to achieve these goals. The authors also recommend that the Charity Commission should recognise journalism in the public interest as a charitable endeavour available for charitable status." (Conclusion, page 36)
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"This publication includes profiles of 21 German organisations active in media development cooperation. An introductory article offers an overview of current German media assistance trends. According to the preface (page 3) "new specialised actors have emerged; new concepts in strengthening the prof
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essional capacity of media have been introduced; tailor made instruments for monitoring and evaluation are being developed; the investments in media development cooperation seem to be expanding. However, German media development cooperation continues to be inadequate at strengthening a supportive legal and regulatory environment and economic sustainability of media in developing and transitional countries." (commbox)
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"This collective report examines the principal dimensions of media policy in 14 European countries (Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Greece, Italy, Romania, Slovakia, Spain, Turkey and the UK), probing into the historical forces, national traditions and distinct politi
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cal and socio-economic contexts in which media policies have emerged and developed. The analysis explores the main instruments for media regulation in the countries under study, and assesses the implications of the established media policy strategies for democratic politics. The country chapters follow a similar structure. Following a brief introduction, the analysis focuses on the media landscape of the countries under review, offering an overview of the national media market (the press, broadcast media, online media and news agencies), as well as a discussion of the status of the journalistic profession and media literacy. The third section presents the major actors involved in media policymaking and proceeds with a succinct presentation and explanation of the national regulatory framework for the media, focusing mainly on structural and content regulation. The final section provides a critical assessment of the principal issues and trends that characterise the media policies of the countries under study, together with an assessment of the degree to which they enable the media to feed the democratic process. The report also contains a chapter discussing the media-related initiatives of the European Union and the Council of Europe, focusing on the interventions that are of relevance and importance to the protection and promotion of media freedom and independence." (Introductory note, page 10)
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"Este libro ambiciona explicar la naturaleza compleja de la comunicación iberoamericana, reconociendo que sus contornos geopolíticos y sus origenes etnoreligiosos constituyen variables fundamentales para entender el tejido multicultural de su identidad mestiza. Tomamos como referencia el método c
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omparativo, estratégia investigativa apropriadamente elegida por David Hees & Roberto DaMata para diseñar el concepto antropológico de cultura. 'Desde los años 80, el concepto de cultura se encuentra en dramática transición. [...] Para interpretar la cultura de forma abrangente, los antropólogos adoptan una postura comparativa'." (Introducción, página 9)
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