An Introduction to Intercultural Communication: Identities in a Global Community (6th Edition)

By covering underrepresented areas in the world, Al Jazeera English (AJE) can facilitate intercultural understanding among Americans. However, AJE is not widely available on television in the United States. Further, many Americans hold pre-formed suspicions of the channel. Through an online experiment, we find that pre-reception audience bias against AJE exists and correlates with prejudice against Arab Americans, limiting its conciliatory potential. However, Americans can change their views toward AJE depending on how it is covered by other media, or what we call “intermedia framing,” including both satiric soft news and hard news. An experiment finds that satiric news coverage decreases anti-Arab American prejudice and, when combined with exposure to AJE, elevates evaluations of the network.     

People's security: Okinawa's anti-bases movement

Abstract

The evolution of moral panics is dependent on the particular social context and the ability of certain issues to trigger concern within society. In this paper, the authors have employed a cross‐comparative study of the heavy metal music subcultures in Singapore and Malaysia to understand the differences in the issues that generate such panics based on the socio‐political context of each country and its current concerns. Although the youth involved in both cases are marginalised male Malays, the framing of their alleged deviance and criminality permits, in the case of Singapore, only a limited possibility for moral panic creation given the conservative socio‐political governance that limits allegations such as ‘Satanism’. In the case of Malaysia, where a ‘large‐scale’ moral panic involving black metal emerged in 2001, the recent trend towards Islamisation gave fodder for the condemnation of black metal based on the allegations of the anti‐Islamic behaviour of Muslim youth involved in the black metal scene. In both cases, such groups were exploited by parties claiming to defend the social fabric of the moral majority, but in the latter case it took on grave implications due to the extent of the state and public response. This paper thus argues that the framing of these moral panics is an important component determining the relative ‘success’ of the panic or its ability to capture public and state imaginings.     

Challenges of cultural industry knowledge exchange in live performance audience research

ABSTRACT

With live performance audience research frequently relying on cultural organisations to facilitate access to their audiences, this article addresses the issues involved in evidencing spectators’ responses via discursive methodologies. Recalling a series of empirical projects conducted over the past ten years with a range of theatre practitioners, it examines the conflicts involved in carrying out scholarly studies of audience reception against cultural organisations’ pressures to produce their own ongoing audience evaluations. Examining key concerns about audience research raised by creative practitioners in varying theatrical contexts, from site-specific to building-based work, it addresses the difficulties of understanding live performance reception and aesthetic experience via impact frameworks. It begins by situating these three operations in the context of Knowledge Exchange (KE) between academics within Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) and those in the creative industry sector.     

The Story of Two Big Chimneys: A Frame Analysis of Climate Change in US and Chinese Newspapers

Despite mounting research on how the news media portrayed climate change in developed countries, disproportionately little attention was paid to one of the top greenhouse gas emitters in the world—China. This study systematically examined and compared how the US and Chinese newspapers portrayed climate change. An analytical framework, grounded in framing research traditions, took into account both theoretical and practical challenges in frame analysis by creating a hybrid structure of interlocked generic and issue-specific frames. The results showed both convergent and divergent pictures from the two countries’ newspapers shaped distinctly by the sociopolitical realities in both countries. The research also cautioned against making simplistic explanations of the results and offered culturally informed interpretations. A discussion on better research focus and design was offered for future research in this avenue.     

The online place of popular music: Exploring the impact of geography and social media on pop artists’ mainstream media attention

Many authors have pointed to the internet’s potential to increase connectivity across the world, which would imply an equalizing effect, yet few researchers have examined this. At the same time, the increasing usage of social media by popular culture celebrities for self-promotion has been signaled. We study the extent to which social media can reduce inequalities in mainstream media attention between artists from central cities in popular music production (e.g., New York, London) versus more peripheral cities. We distinguish between media attention by institutionally embedded music critics and lay users on the internet. The results show that artists coming from more central cities have higher chances to get attention in mainstream media—both by institutional critics and lay users—than artists from peripheral cities. Building a fan base on social media such as Facebook, Twitter, or MySpace can compensate for some of this inequality, but not for all of it.     

Arts audience segmentation: data,profiles, segments and biographies

ABSTRACT

This article critically examines how segmentation is used to identify, understand and engage arts audiences. Policy reports and academic publications are reviewed to establish the priorities of arts policymakers and practitioners for understanding arts audiences and their continued focus on audience data and segmentation. This article then makes two contributions. Firstly, critical perspectives on the use of data for audience profiling are applied to arts audience segmentation. Secondly, research using biographical methods is introduced as a new approach for critically evaluating arts audience segmentation. This research, employing biographical methods, shows the exploration and negotiation of audience identity positions. This article takes these insights to critically examine the implications of how profiles and segments are used to define and understand audiences for the arts. The conclusion addresses the implications of segmentation in terms of the design and communication of cultural experiences, the complexities of aligning audiences’ identities with segments, and the seemingly inevitability of exclusion. This article will be of relevance in the scholarly study of arts audiences and for arts and cultural organisations and policymakers in reflecting on the implications of quantitative and qualitative approaches in designing and undertaking audience research.     

Escaping to the country: Media,nostalgia, and the new food industries

Over the past decade in the West, television cooking shows have popularized interest in the provenance of food against a backdrop of public concern about the practices of industrial food production. This article explores two series that offer self-sufficiency as a solution to the problem of industrial agriculture. Escape to River Cottage and Gourmet Farmer each centre on a narrative of a city-dweller moving to the country to set up a smallholding. With their nostalgia for an earlier—simultaneously unproblematic and emotionally fulfilling—time of food production, these series imagine a Utopian lifestyle in which audiences are encouraged to choose to produce and consume differently. That it is (middle-class) men who are rediscovering traditional food practices highlights how media discourses surrounding food production can become entangled in gendered representations that give rise to niche food products and experiences designed to ameliorate feelings of risk and uncertainty in contemporary food systems.     

Spontaneity and planning in arts attendance: insights from qualitative interviews and the Audience Finder database

ABSTRACT

Arts managers frequently use customer relationship management systems to identify early and late ticket bookers, but to date there has been no comparable investigation of spontaneity and planning through qualitative academic audience research. This paper combines two radically different datasets to draw new insights into booking patterns of audiences for contemporary arts events. Quantitative data from Audience Finder has been analysed to look for trends in early and late booking amongst audiences for contemporary art forms. Qualitative data has been drawn from the Understanding Audiences for the Contemporary Arts study, which used in-depth individual interviews to investigate the contemporary arts attendance of audience members in four UK cities. Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis was then used to draw out insights about where the purchasing point sits within the longer decision to attend. Following a review of marketing and audience research literature on the decision to attend, we present the findings from each of these analyses, looking at moments where they confirm, supplement, contradict, or say something completely outside the remit of the other dataset. We show how the timescale of the decision to attend is influenced by (1) art form conventions and price, (2) geographical region and availability of the arts, (3) attending arts events with companions, and (4) personal preference for planning or spontaneously choosing activities. We end by suggesting a new three-part model for understanding booking patterns, and considering how these insights might be acted upon by arts organisations.     

Cultural Diplomacy,Branding and the American Film Institute's Project: 20/20

The Global Cultural Initiative (GCI) was a flagship cultural diplomacy effort introduced by the Bush Administration in the mid-2000s; one project of this initiative was the American Film Institute's Project: 20/20, a program of 19 films from five continents scheduled to tour the United States and abroad. This paper is a historical exploration into how the Bush Administration reconstructed American identity and culture through framing, and how that framing was embedded within cultural diplomacy initiatives like the GCI. This paper contributes to an understanding of how intercultural dialogue is often based on key messages and constructed ideas.     

“Piety Stories”: Muslim Tatar Women’s Identity Performance,Negotiation, and Transformation through Storytelling

This article examines “piety stories”—Muslim Tatar women’s narratives about adopting daily Islamic practices, such as five prayers or headscarves, in Tatarstan, Russia. I argue that sharing piety stories is a communicative way of performing identities, negotiating group memberships, and reaffirming one’s commitment to Muslim piety. These narratives provide a discursive way for the speaker to practice being a Muslim and for the audience, a blueprint for becoming one. By detailing a way of being where Muslim piety becomes one’s moral compass and source of agency, piety stories illustrate a culturally meaningful relationship among identity, Muslim piety, and local communicative practices.     

Once a refugee: selfie activism,visualized citizenship and the space of appearance

ABSTRACT

This article examines the social media campaign “Once I was a refugee” by former refugees as a response to the increasingly hostile political climate in Finland against refugees. With selfie activism, the campaign expanded the “space of appearance” and introduced new voice and visuality to the public debate. The case depicts politics of claiming citizenship and social value through self-presentation to counter views of refugees as economic burden, noncitizens, and surplus humanity. The empirical material is based on analysis of the Facebook and Twitter campaign and interviews with the participants. It is argued that selfie activism may occasionally, through new voice and visibility, expand the space of appearance and contribute to the rise of affective or counter-publics that can come together and make use of digital media for political action. However, the case also reveals how difficult it is to speak from a refugee position without being drawn into the discourse of deservingness.     

Review of Scottish Arts Council Report,Taking Part in Scotland 2008

The review looks at the 2008 report by the Scottish Arts Council (SAC) into audience involvement in the arts and culture in Scotland. It notes that the research is part of a continuing attempt by the SAC to map trends in audience participation in the arts, and that the survey often provides an in-depth account of how people spend their leisure time. However, it notes some deficiencies in its remit and questions whether the limitations of the report make it a valuable contribution to the SAC's future direction and policies.     

‘Enthusiasm,Experiment and Gallantry in Action’: Developing Light Entertainment on the Fledgling BBC, 1922–1932

This article explores the working culture of early BBC radio, programming decisions and the challenges faced in recruiting professional stage and music hall entertainers. These challenges led to the BBC’s reliance on amateur acts during the first decade of its existence. Early acts developed successful microphone techniques and content that appealed particularly to the domestic listening audience, and thus influenced radio and television entertainment for the rest of the century. Several of these early acts are discussed, with a primary focus on the works of two early pioneers of radio comedy, Norman Clapham (aka John Henry) and Mabel Constanduros.     

Understanding Interpersonal Manifestations of “Reverse Discrimination” Through Phenomenological Inquiry

This article reports on a study that explores the ways individuals describe being the targets of ‘reverse discrimination’—times when those traditionally discriminated against turn the tables against majority group members. Using an inductive, phenomenological form of inquiry, the study examines 104 narratives of ‘reverse discrimination’ (based on race, gender, age, and sexual orientation) collected as part of a larger study on uncertainty in oppressive forms of communication. Five essential themes are explicated: (1) being an (innocent) target; (2) discrimination due to cultural norm violations; (3) shifting power dynamics; (4) a case of mistaken identity; and (5) effects of reverse discrimination. The article concludes with a discussion of the implications of the study, as well as implications for future research.     

Of Photographs and Flags: Uses and Perceptions of an Iconic Image Before and After September 11, 2001

After the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in New York City, media pundits summoned the memory of Joe Rosenthal's classic "Flag Raising on Iwo Jima" photograph, comparing it to a new image of a flag raising at Ground Zero, where the attacks occurred. Such use of an iconic photograph reflects a widely-held belief: Photographs have a direct and powerful effect on public consciousness. However, this powerful effects approach has not been supported by empirical evidence. By examining how media have encoded Rosenthal's photograph with cultural meaning, and by conducting surveys of audience recognition and interpretation of the photograph both before and after September 11, 2001, this study systematically explores how meaning and identity can be constructed through media uses and audience interpretations of a single news photograph.     

Media Framing of Integration in Belgian Newspapers

ABSTRACT

I deconstruct the distinctive facets of mediated framing of integration through a textual analysis of Flemish newspapers. Using Entman’s framing theory, I identified four primary integration frames: Fortress Europe, Streamlined Labour, Solipsistic Representation, and Competing Integration Frames. Specifically, I describe the ambivalence of media framing, which intertextually borrows from dominant representation of (im)migrants. The papers simultaneously frame integration as an assimilative social contract to be agreed to by (im)migrants and as a responsibility of the host society to integrate (im)migrants. Counter-framing, present in all four media frames, is critical to both dismantling systemic marginalization and ameliorating processes of integration.     

Age,aging and mega-serials in Tamil Nadu

This qualitative, exploratory study examines issues of age and aging surrounding mega-serial (daily soap opera) production in Tamil Nadu, India. This study is timely for demographic reasons (a rapidly aging Indian population) and for the centrality of mega-serials to India’s entertainment landscape, coupled with the genre’s long history of engaging global audiences with real-world social issues. Two data sources are utilized: focus groups with 16 mega-serial viewers and interviews with 25 members of the Tamil mega-serial industry. Situated in scholarship on gerontology/age studies and media/culture industry studies, analysis yields two broad themes related to (a) representations of age/aging and elder-oriented storylines in contemporary Tamil mega-serials and (b) recent industry changes that may forestall mega-serials’ potential to center age and aging as core narrative elements. Overall, evidence points to an industry and audience(s) in considerable transition.     

Social inclusivity,cultural diversity and online film consumption

It has been argued that the circulation of film online is a “democratising process”, evident in the breadth and depth of international film now available online, and in the greater ease of access to this content for audiences across the world. This is seen by some to present greater commercial opportunities for film-making from countries marginalised by previous distribution networks, and to foster a more globally diverse and inclusive film-viewing culture, with particular benefits for diasporic populations. Others, however, have pointed to the way in which audiences’ engagement with film online may be constrained by the economics and technology of online distribution and cultural competencies rooted in social stratification. These factors may limit how and what audiences watch, extending beyond issues of physical access to those of cultural access. As such, they raise questions regarding the demographic composition of the audience for online methods of film distribution and different types of international film. We lack sufficient understanding of these issues, however, due to the limited emphasis upon socio-demographic variables in existing academic research into online film consumption, and the limited consideration of particular film content in relevant market research. This article uses original audience research to interrogate the extent to which online distribution is able to connect audiences to a diversity of international film in comparison to other methods of distribution. It also considers some of the socio-demographic characteristics of the audiences for different methods of distribution and types of international film. In doing so, the article grants us a clearer understanding of the degree to which online film distribution fosters diversity and inclusivity through the connections it facilitates between audiences and content.