"A concise edition of the highly acclaimed Oxford Companion to the Book, this book features the 51 articles from the Companion plus 3 brand new chapters in one affordable volume. The 54 chapters introduce readers to the fascinating world of book history. Including 21 thematic studies on topics such
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as writing systems, the ancient and the medieval book, and the economics of print, as well as 33 regional and national histories of 'the book', offering a truly global survey of the book around the world, the Oxford History of the Book is the most comprehensive work of its kind. The three new articles, specially commissioned for this spin-off, cover censorship, copyright and intellectual property, and book history in the Caribbean and Bermuda." (Publisher description)
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"The end of the security transition process in Afghanistan in 2014 marks the need to rethink foreign public diplomacy efforts in the country. As Afghanistan is entering its ‘transformational decade’, there is a unique opportunity to disconnect public diplomacy from the military–security paradi
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gm that has dominated international relations with Afghanistan since 2001. With a much more limited foreign military presence on the ground, public diplomacy can be considerably more than a strategy to win hearts and minds. Comparing the experiences of the United States and the Netherlands, the more sizeable American ‘model’ of public diplomacy can be considered a more defensive mechanism of foreign policy, linked to the military and counter-insurgency activities in Afghanistan, and to the broader ideological objective of being part of the debate on the relationship between ‘Islam and the West’. In contrast, the Dutch ‘model’ shows a limited public security effort that incorporates cultural activities and training as an extension of foreign policy. This model is less ideological and is not directly connected to the military conflict in Afghanistan. It is a more indirect form of supporting foreign policy objectives. What is needed beyond 2014 is an approach that is disconnected from the current military framework, that departs from the more modest and non-military Dutch model, but that includes the broader political and especially financial commitment of the American model." (Abstract)
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"Vor dem Hintergrund der aktuellen Debatte um die Rolle der Medien für das kindliche Ernährungsverhalten und Übergewicht stellt dieser Band die Entertainment-Education-Strategie als Weg für eine effektive mediale Gesundheitskommunikation in den Mittelpunkt. Untersucht wird, ob in unterhaltende F
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ernsehgeschichten integrierte Aufklärungsbotschaften das kindliche Ernährungsverhalten und sozialkognitive Dimensionen wie ernährungsbezogenes Wissen oder Selbstwirksamkeit beeinflussen können und welche Rolle dabei das Rezeptionserleben spielt. Die Ergebnisse einer experimentellen Studie mit Grundschulkindern zeigen, dass massenmediale Entertainment-Education-Formate effektiv zur ernährungsbezogenen Gesundheitsförderung beitragen können." (Verlagsbeschreibung)
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"A quarter of a century after the collapse of communism in the former Eastern bloc, a wide range of scholarly projects have been undertaken to compare and theorize processes of media change in the region. One question that scholars have sought to address is: what were the factors that crucially impa
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cted how these media landscapes evolved? This essay aims to contribute to this debate by juxtaposing media change in two selected cases: the Czech Republic (as a best-case scenario in terms of convergence with the Western model) and Russia (as a scenario where convergence has been limited). Based on secondary analysis of a wide range of sources, the essay systematically exposes 11 crucial differences between the two countries and illustrates how these have impacted the processes of media change. The conclusion sets out how these findings could serve as a starting point and source of inspiration for future comparative research." (Abstract)
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"Wie kann sich Kirche in einer durch Medien bestimmten Gesellschaft noch Gehör verschaffen? Sind Kirche und Medien überhaupt kompatibel? Und wie gelingt ihr der Spagat zwischen ihrer Aufgabe authentisch zu verkündigen und sich zugleich an die Eigenlogik der Medien anpassen zu müssen? Kirche wird
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sich den Veränderungen stellen müssen, auch weil traditionell kirchliche Medien ihre Adressaten und so ihre Bedeutung zunehmend verlieren werden. Das Katholische Medienhandbuch lässt die Medienmacher der Kirche zu Wort kommen. Kirchliche Kommunikation wird dabei ebenso grundsätzlich in den Blick genommen wie die Vielgestaltigkeit einzelner kirchlicher Medieninstitutionen. Ein Handbuch, das sich grundlegend mit dem Thema Kirche und Medien beschäftigt und Antworten auf die Herausforderungen der Zeit gibt." (Verlagsbeschreibung)
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"State capture is slowly but surely enveloping Hungarian media, principally through the “soft censorship” of financial incentives and influence that affect media otlets’ editorial content and economic viability. Allocation of state advertising spending is opaque and unfair; it is based on the
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political leanings of particular media outlets, and this distorts market competition significantly. Biased advertising spending influences editorial policies in an indirect way, creating a newsroom atmosphere in which editors accept and journalists practice self-censorship. Market competition among media agencies is clearly distorted by the biased award of state contracts. Legal regulations and financial practices of Hungary’s current public-media financing permit improper state influence over public media and fail to comply with European Commission requirements regarding state support for public-service media." (Key findings, page 6)
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"This collection of essays, the first book-length treatment of its kind, explicates the concept of «media interventions», which are herein defined as activities and projects that secure, exercise, challenge or acquire media power for tactical and strategic action. Drawing on insights from media, c
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ommunication and cultural studies, contributors offer penetrating analyses of media interventions in a variety of social, political, and cultural settings from culture jamming and DIY media to public relations campaigns and reality television shows. In doing so, the volume develops an analytical framework for examining the complex and contradictory operation of media power in contemporary society." (Publisher description)
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"This article investigates the operation of the contested reply and correction provisions of the 2008 Slovak Press Act and their influence on journalism. I argue that apart from the ‘law-on-the-books’, we need to examine the interactions between the media, policymakers and judges in order to exp
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lain how law shapes journalism in the public spheres of Central and Eastern European democracies. Such interactions are based on the interests and experiences of the actors and conditioned by their particular historical, structural, cultural and international contexts. Our analysis thus needs to take them all into account when assessing the role of legislation." (Abstract)
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"Este trabajo analiza el estado de situación de la cooperación española, en el contexto de la evolución de la agenda internacional de desarrollo, para preguntarse por su impacto e implicaciones futuras en el ámbito de la cultura. Se trata de detectar los desafíos que tiene la cooperación cult
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ural para concretarse en un entorno digital, además de y más allá de la crisis. Dado que se aspira a superar la mirada simplemente nacional, se incluyen las visiones y opiniones de un grupo de expertos y dirigentes oficiales iberoamericanos. Un balance crítico permite afirmar que la cooperación oficial en general, y en materia de cultura en particular, no parecen ser prioridad para el Gobierno. De hecho, se las está sometiendo a una reorientación política y económica, basada en una drástica reducción presupuestaria y una estrategia desdibujada, que ignora el camino transitado. Se concluye que la cooperación cultural debe repensarse para reubicarse en un escenario mayoritariamente digital pero orientándose, al mismo tiempo, hacia el objetivo de la promoción y protección de la diversidad cultural." (Página 4)
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"Das Buch spürt all den akustischen Zeugnissen nach, die das 20. Jahrhundert prägten. Ein Großteil unserer Orientierung in der Welt gewinnen wir über das Hören. Das Ohr nimmt vor allem den emotionalen Aspekt einer Information auf. Manche Geräusche sind lebenslang im Unterbewusstsein gespeicher
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t. Klänge können Erinnerungsorte sein und Identität stiften. Musik kann aufwühlen und erregen. In 100 Beiträgen werden Geräusche, Töne und Stimmen, der Sound des 20. Jahrhunderts, rekonstruiert und analysiert: die Klang- und Geräuschveränderungen im öffentlichen Raum, die verschiedenen Aufzeichnungsmedien und Tonträger, Jingles und Soundtracks in Radio, Film und Fernsehen, Meldungen und Reportagen sowie musikalische Schlüsselwerke der Moderne und epochale Filme. Dem Buch liegt eine DVD mit über 80 akustischen Zeugnissen des 20. und beginnenden 21. Jahrhunderts bei." (Verlagsbeschreibung)
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"The current UIS Questionnaire on Media Statistics provides information for three UNESCO frameworks, namely the Media and Information Literacy Framework, the Media Development Indicators Framework and the Framework for Cultural Statistics. The questionnaire collects data for reporting global progres
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s on Action Lines C2, C3, C8 and C9 of the World Summit on Information Society (WSIS) in UNESCO’s fields of competencies. In particular, Action Line C9 recommends appropriate policies to foster and sustain media and information development. This document provides country profiles for each of the countries that participated in the two pilot surveys conducted in 2011 and 2012." (Background, page 3)
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"This book provides an in-depth comparative analysis of inequality and the stratification of the digital sphere. Grounded in classical sociological theories of inequality, as well as empirical evidence, this book defines “the digital divide” as the unequal access and utility of internet communic
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ations technologies and explores how it has the potential to replicate existing social inequalities, as well as create new forms of stratification. The Digital Divide examines how various demographic and socio-economic factors including income, education, age and gender, as well as infrastructure, products and services affect how the internet is used and accessed. Comprised of six parts, the first section examines theories of the digital divide, and then looks in turn at: highly developed nations and regions (including the USA, the EU and Japan); emerging large powers (Brazil, Russia, India, China); Eastern European countries (Estonia, Romania, Serbia); Arab and Middle Eastern nations (Egypt, Iran, Israel); under-studied areas (East and Central Asia, Latin America, and sub-Saharan Africa)." (Publisher description)
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"This article presents a comparative study of investigative journalism in nine countries in the Central and Eastern European region (Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, and Slovakia). The purpose is descriptive and analytical. Descriptively, the articl
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e charts the presence and provision of investigative journalism across the region and inventories and assesses the various funding forms that exist against the background of the recent (2008–2009) financial crisis. Analytically, the article focuses on assessing the relative autonomy (defined as autonomy from external actors) and effects (defined as the removal from office and sentencing of political actors revealed to be engaged in legal and moral transgressions, commonly various forms of corruption). The article finds investigative journalism across the region in general to be weak in terms of autonomy and effects, but stronger in countries that have had more stable and richer media markets (notably Estonia, Poland, and the Czech Republic). The article further finds that in some countries (notably Romania and Bulgaria), alternative news online sources play an increasingly important role as providers of investigative journalism." (Abstract)
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