"This article explores how the U.S. news media construct the topic of hunger in Africa for U.S. audiences. Specifically, the article addresses how newspapers define and delimit the relationship between U.S. citizens and foreign sufferers. Through a framing analysis and critical discourse analysis of
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randomly sampled newspaper stories, the author finds that while news articles covering hunger in the United States usually frame the problem as pertinent to the public sphere, the victim as worthy of political action, and the reader as political agent, articles covering hunger in Africa frame the issue as irrelevant to the public sphere, the victim as removed from political action, and the reader as politically impotent. Interviews with journalists are used to understand why discrepancies occur." (Abstract)
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"Mass media play an important role in explaining the issue of female genital cutting and can influence discourse among the general public as well as policy makers. Understanding how news media present female genital cutting has strong implications for the global status of women. This study, a quanti
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tative content analysis, analyzed how 15 years of newspaper coverage surrounding the launch of the Millennium Development Goals framed female genital cutting in four countries with varying prevalence levels of female genital cutting: the United States, Ghana, The Gambia, and Kenya. The study found female genital cutting is consistently portrayed as a problematic and thematic topic, largely tied to cultural rituals. However, coverage is minimal and inconsistent over time, and does not appear to be impacted by the increase in international initiatives aimed at combatting the practice." (Abstract)
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"In 2014, Mexico, Brazil, Portugal, Colombia and Argentina, in that order, were the top five countries in the production of national fiction hours. Once again, Brazil and Mexico, despite the drop suffered by the latter, continued to be the largest producers of fiction in the Ibero-American region. I
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n contrast, Peru and Ecuador had the lowest offer of national fiction hours, while Uruguay did not produce hours of national fiction during 2014." (Page 39)
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"This volume explores the way governments endeavoured to build and maintain public support for the war in Afghanistan, combining new insights on the effects of strategic narratives with an exhaustive series of case studies. In contemporary wars, with public opinion impacting heavily on outcomes, str
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ategic narratives provide a grid for interpreting the why, what and how of the conflict. This book asks how public support for the deployment of military troops to Afghanistan was garnered, sustained or lost in thirteen contributing nations. Public attitudes in the US, Canada, Australia and Europe towards the use of military force were greatly shaped by the cohesiveness and content of the strategic narratives employed by national policy-makers. Assessing the ability of countries to craft a successful strategic narrative, the book addresses the following key areas: 1) how governments employ strategic narratives to gain public support; 2) how strategic narratives develop during the course of the conflict; 3) how these narratives are disseminated, framed and perceived through various media outlets; 4) how domestic audiences respond to strategic narratives; 5) how this interplay is conditioned by both events on the ground, in Afghanistan, and by structural elements of the domestic political systems." (Publisher description)
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"Video games have become a global industry, and their history spans dozens of national industries where foreign imports compete with domestic productions, legitimate industry contends with piracy, and national identity faces the global marketplace. This volume describes video game history and cultur
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e across every continent, with essays covering areas as disparate and far-flung as Argentina and Thailand, Hungary and Indonesia, Iran and Ireland. Most of the essays are written by natives of the countries they discuss, many of them game designers and founders of game companies, offering distinctively firsthand perspectives. Some of these national histories appear for the first time in English, and some for the first time in any language." (Back cover)
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"The U.S. Defense Department has long had an uneasy relationship with independent mediaOn the one hand, it needs the trusted voice of media to portray U.S. military activities in a positive light, both to maintain the support of citizens at home and to help fight its battles abroad. And to the exten
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t that U.S. military intervention serves as a lever to encourage and create democracies, the support of free and independent media in those countries should be part of the plan. On the other hand, an unfettered media may be critical of the U.S. military and its allies, making its operations more difficult, losing it support at home or overseas, and even giving comfort to the enemy." (Introduction)
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"We asked writers and researchers to examine the quality of coverage and to highlight reporting problems as well as good work. The conclusions from many different parts of the world are remarkably similar: journalism under pressure from a weakening media economy; political bias and opportunism that
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drives the news agenda; the dangers of hate-speech, stereotyping and social exclusion of refugees and migrants. But at the same time there have been inspiring examples of careful, sensitive and ethical journalism that have shown empathy for the victims. In most countries the story has been dominated by two themes – numbers and emotions. Most of the time coverage is politically led with media often following an agenda dominated by loose language and talk of invasion and swarms. At other moments the story has been laced with humanity, empathy and a focus on the suffering of those involved." (Introduction, page 5-6)
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"We see the smartphone more clearly as the defining device for digital news with a disruptive impact on consumption, formats, and business models. Our data suggest it provides an environment dominated by a few successful brands, with others struggling to reach a wider audience, both via apps and bro
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wsers. The move to online video, new visual formats, and social media coincides in many countries with a fall in audiences for traditional TV bulletins. The trend is most pronounced amongst the under 35s. We see a strengthening in the role played by Facebook in finding, discussing and sharing news. Facebook-owned Instagram and WhatsApp are playing a big role amongst younger groups." (Executive summary)
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"Although many observers have documented a global decline in democratic rights in recent years, people around the world nonetheless embrace fundamental democratic values, including free expression. A new Pew Research Center survey finds that majorities in nearly all 38 nations polled say it is at le
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ast somewhat important to live in a country with free speech, a free press and freedom on the internet. And across the 38 countries, global medians of 50% or more consider these freedoms very important. Still, ideas about free expression vary widely across regions and nations. The United States stands out for its especially strong opposition to government censorship, as do countries in Latin America and Europe – particularly Argentina, Germany, Spain and Chile. Majorities in Asia, Africa and the Middle East also tend to oppose censorship, albeit with much less intensity. Indonesians, Palestinians, Burkinabe and Vietnamese are among the least likely to say free expression is very important." (Page 4)
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"Crowdfunded journalism is a new model for funding journalism in which reporters solicit micropayments from readers to finance their reporting. In the present study, we seek to identify the major motivations behind readers' donations to a pioneering crowdfunded journalism website, Spot.Us. Under the
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theoretical framework of collective action, we explore a total of 9 motivations: altruism, fun, belief in freedom of content, social, community, self-esteem, understanding, image, and family and friends. Combining self-reported survey data (N = 344) with behavioral data on readers' complete donation records obtained from the Spot.Us server, we found that belief in freedom of content, altruism, and contributing to one's community were self-reported to be highly valued by donors, but fun and family and friends motivations were the only positive predictors for actual donation levels. We discuss the implications of these findings on the sustainability of crowdfunding as a business model for news." (Abstract)
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"This book is the first collection of original research to explore links between demographics and media coverage of emerging human rights issues. It covers cross-national reporting on human trafficking, HIV/AIDS, water contamination, and child labour; and same-sex marriage, Guantanamo detainee right
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s, immigration reform, and post-traumatic stress disorder in the United States. The research asks questions such as: What are the principal catalysts that propel rights issues into media agendas? Why do some surface more quickly than others? And how do the demographics of cross-national reporting differ from those driving multi-city US nationwide coverage of rights claims? Using community structure theory and innovative Media Vector content analysis, the eight chapters of this book reveal three striking patterns that show how differences in female empowerment, social or economic vulnerability, and Midwestern newspaper geographic location, link powerfully with variations in coverage of rights issues. The patterns connecting demographics and rights claims confirm that coverage of human rights can mirror the concerns of stakeholders and vulnerable groups, contrary to conventional assumptions that media typically serve as "guard dogs" reinforcing the interests of political and economic elites." (Publisher description)
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"Recent years have seen numerous attempts by community broadcasters around the world to reinvent their practices in an effort to remain relevant and financially sustainable in the digital age. One proposed initiative is to have community programming distributed via satellite, either in the form of a
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single channel or as a subscription service for local stations to find programming. Combining two case studies and multiple research methods, this article investigates the potential impact of satellite distribution on community broadcasting in Canada and East Africa. We observe that it is often not the community media organizations themselves that are pushing for satellite delivery, but, rather, outside actors such as media corporations and non-governmental organizations. As a result, we argue that a more spirited discussion within the community media sector is warranted to better understand the implications of this technological shift in delivery mechanisms." (Abstract)
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"Crowdsourcing efforts don’t fit neatly into discrete classification, but for the purpose of this report, we’ve organized our typologies into six different calls to action: Voting—prioritizing which stories reporters should tackle; Witnessing—sharing what you saw during a news event; Sharing
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personal experiences—telling what you know about your life experience; Tapping specialized expertise—contributing data or unique knowledge; Completing a task—volunteering time or skills to help create a news story; Engaging audiences—joining in call-outs that can range from informative to playful [...] The research shows that crowdsourcing is credited with helping to create amazing acts of journalism. It has transformed newsgathering by introducing unprecedented opportunities for attracting sources with new voices and information, allowed news organizations to unlock stories that otherwise might not have surfaced, and created opportunities for news organizations to experiment with the possibilities of engagement just for the fun of it." (Executive summary)
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"Entertainment education and the promotora model are 2 evidence-based health communication strategies. This study examined their combined effect on promoting healthy eating among mothers in a family-based intervention. Participants were 361 Mexican-origin families living in Imperial County, Californ
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ia, who were randomly assigned to an intervention or delayed treatment condition. The intervention involved promotoras (community health workers) who delivered 11 home visits and 4 telephone calls. Home visits included a 12-minute episode of a 9-part situation comedy depicting a family struggling with making healthy eating choices; an accompanying family workbook was reviewed to build skills and left with the family. Baseline and immediate postintervention data were collected from the mothers, including the primary outcome of daily servings of fruits and vegetables. Other dietary and psychosocial factors related to healthy eating were examined. At postintervention, mothers in the intervention reported increases in daily vegetable servings (p <= .05); however, no changes were observed in fruit consumption. Improvements were observed in behavioral strategies to increase fiber (p <= .001) and to decrease fat intake (p <= .001), unhealthy eating behaviors (p <= .001), and individual (p <= .05) and family-related (p <= .01) perceived barriers to healthy eating. Entertainment education and promotoras engaged families and improved mothers' diets. Further research should examine the dose needed for greater changes." (Abstract)
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"Collectively known as Hallyu, Korean music, television programs, films, online games, and comics enjoy global popularity, thanks to new communication technologies. In recent years, Korean popular culture has also become the subject of academic inquiry. Whereas the Hallyu's impact on Korea's nationa
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l image and domestic economy, as well as on transnational cultural flows, have received much scholarly attention, there has been little discussion of the role of social media in Hallyu's propagation. Contributors to Hallyu 2.0: The Korean Wave in the Age of Social Media explore the ways in which Korean popular cultural products are shared by audiences around the globe; how they generate new fans, markets, and consumers through social media networks; and how scholars can analyze, interpret, and envision the future of this unprecedented cultural phenomenon." (Publisher description)
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"This book presents a wide ranging survey of the ways in which comics have dealt with the diversity of creators and characters and the (lack of) visibility for characters who don't conform to particular cultural stereotypes. Contributors engage with ethnicity and other cultural forms from Israel, Ro
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mania, North America, South Africa, Germany, Spain, U.S. Latino and Canada and consider the ways in which comics are able to represent multiculturalism through a focus on the formal elements of the medium. Discussion themes include education, countercultures, monstrosity, the quotidian, the notion of the "other," anthropomorphism, and colonialism." (Publisher description)
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"Through a case study of Kiva.org, the world's first person-to-person microlending website, and other microfinance organizations, the book argues that international development efforts have an affective dimension. This is fostered through narrative and visual representations, through the performance
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of development rituals and through bonds of fellowship between Northern donors and Southern recipients. These practices constitute people in the global North as everyday humanitarians and mobilize their affective investments, which are financial, social and emotional investments in distant others to alleviate their poverty. This book draws on ethnographic material from the US, India and Indonesia and the anthropological and development studies literature on humanitarianism, affect and the public faces of development. It opens up novel avenues of research into the formation of new development subjects in the global North." (Publisher description)
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