Use of the mass media for education in Ethiopia

Mass media, radio and television, have been playing a very important role in the formal education of Ethiopian children for a quarter of a century. The chronological development and future plans of their use for educational purposes are described in this paper. Ethiopia is unique among most Third World countries in the sense that the mass media in Ethiopia function under the Ministry of Education, not under the Ministry of Information, and cover almost ninety percent of the population of the country. This might be an example for other Third World countries.     

Social media for the community college library

Abstract

This article summarizes the experience of a multi-campus urban community college library developing and managing a social media presence. The author describes the organization of social media efforts, institutional rules that affect implementation of social media, developing themes for content, and other considerations.     

Welfare economics and media performance

The author focuses on criteria for assessing the economic performance of media markets using three concepts from the field of welfare economics: efficiency, equity, and externalities. He argues that the ultimate purposes of media economics research are to identify market structure and conduct elements that harm or help these three criteria, and to suggest policy changes that would improve media market performance.     

Social media,legacy media and gatekeeping: the protest paradigm in news of Ferguson and Charlottesville

ABSTRACT

This study investigates the site of intersection between legacy and social media, whereby it asks how local legacy media (St Louis Post-Dispatch and Richmond Times-Dispatch) invoked social media (Facebook and Twitter) discourse within their coverage of the Ferguson (2014) and Charlottesville (2017) events. It thus explores how gatekeeping is manifested and, consequently, how the protest paradigm emerged in a news landscape of proliferating social media. Thematic textual analysis indicates that coverage of Charlottesville and Ferguson clearly relied on indulging the social media sphere in important ways. Common themes of social media as multipurpose platforms, as interfacing with law and order, and as reconciling material and digital modes culminating in social activism were revealed. The study shows that the protest paradigm that has long characterized legacy media’s coverage of social protest is not as “pure” as it may once have been, since a social media component is helping define the contours and content of legacy media’s landscape.     

Composition of board of directors of major media corporations

This article examines major determinants of interlocking directorates of media companies by applying resource dependency theory. The study found that firms with greater dependence upon advertisers and financial institutions have more representatives of those interests on their boards. Diversified media companies were found to have more attorneys and interlocking directorships with competing firms.     

Real options theory,flexibility and the media industry

Abstract

This conceptual paper is based on two propositions: 1.) An efficient flexibility management is a critical success factor for media companies. 2.) The concept of real options theory (ROT) aims at improving a company's flexibility management. As a consequence, it is analysed how ROT can contribute to the flexibility management in media companies. In this context, two research issues are investigated. First, it is shown that real options as substantiations of flexibility are of great importance for media companies: In doing so, it is outlined that options which focus on a company's fixed costs management and options which aim at improving a company's sales situation are of high relevance for all segments in the media industry. Contrarily, options which focus on a company's variable costs are only relevant for media companies engaged in the print segment. Second, it is illustrated how ROT can contribute to the reactive and proactive management of flexibility in media companies.     

Cop talk and media use

This article reports on the ways police officers in their everyday conversations reference the entertainment media.     

New media,new panics

ABSTRACT

When Stuart Hall and his Birmingham School colleagues argued that media technologies were essential to the production of moral panics, they focused on the relationship between mass media and the state. Because new technologies have altered our cultures of ostracism and punishment, we offer a revised analysis of this relationship that examines the role of online shaming in current moral panics. Not only do we analyze the new technological affordances of digital media, we argue that our current shaming culture is symptomatic of a deep-seated political disenfranchisement that leaves subjects grasping to “do something.” Contributing to a social media-driven panic culture that punishes and ostracizes deviants thus stands in for meaningful political participation. Ultimately, we argue that the evolving orientation to public life fostered by these new technologies has created a culture of shaming whereby citizens often prosecute their own discrete moral panics amid the more sustained sense of political crisis that characterizes contemporary life.     

The mass media and young people

The study reported below analyzes differences in mass media attention behavior in Des Moines school children in 1950 and 1958. It is interesting to compare its findings with those of Edwin Parker, starting on page 39 of this issue of the Journal.     

Applying the structure‐conduct‐performance framework in the media industry analysis

Abstract

This article reviews the application of the Industrial Organization (10) framework of Structure‐Conduct‐Performance (S‐C‐P) in media market research. The constructs and premises of this economic model are restated, and the orthodox economic notions of market performance and the logic that underlies the model are clarified. Alongside these elucidations, this article discusses common conceptualizations and interpretations found in media market studies. Media issues such as content diversity and media concentration, which are often studied through the S‐C‐P approach, are also re‐examined. These deliberations are intended to contribute toward a more consistent framework for the study of media industries and markets.     

Gratification seeking,media exposure,and audience interpretations: Some directions for research

Research strategies are suggested for clarifying and advancing understanding of some key elements in uses and gratifications. These elements concern the role of gratification seeking in exposure to mass communication, the relation of gratification seeking to the interpretive frames through which audience members understand media messages, and linking gratifications to the content of mass media.     

The Analysis of Paint Media by Paper Chromatography

Abstract

A method for the detection of egg white in binding media by immunofluorescence was tested on laboratory samples. Although the fluorescence was weak, results were found to be reproducible. Tests were then carried out on a series of ancient paintings and polychromies dating from the twelfth century onwards. Some of these samples, including certain blues from Van Eyck's Mystic Lamb, gave a positive response for egg white.     

Management of core resources: The case of media enterprises

Abstract

For media firms, convergence is a strategy for value creation. However, the concept of convergence belongs to a field of media research and practice that still is in a pre‐paradigmatic stage (Kuhn). The aim of the analysis is to contribute to the process towards “normal science,”; where the paradox of conceptualisation is solved and the outcome is guiding research as well as business development. The article introduces the concept of “value creation convergence,”; and discusses its potential as a sixth dimension of the convergence concept in relation to Miège's typology of traditional media firms (editorial, press, and flow) and Stabell &; Fjeldstad's typology of value creation configurations (chain, shop, and network).     

Characterization of proteins in paint media by immunofluorescence. A note on methodological aspects

Abstract

A protocol for the characterization of proteins in paint media by immunofluorescent labelled antibodies is proposed. The main difficulties of the technique and their possible solutions are discussed. Positive results on egg white, in model samples, are reported.     

Taking sides in the war on news: exploring curvilinear associations and group differences related to perceptions of news media as threat

ABSTRACT

The free press performs essential democratic functions, but widespread negative attitudes toward the press threaten its legitimacy and effectiveness as a check on formal institutions. In order to combat these attitudes, media organizations must understand who holds them and why. A survey-based study of U.S. adults (N?=?2052) focuses on associations between perceptions of the news media industry as a threat to political performance and a range of politically oriented behaviors (i.e. news media exposure, political talk, political participation). Analyses reveal a series of non-monotonic relationships. Group differences between those who hold the most extreme views concerning news-media-as-threat are also explored. The opposing groups are distinct in some important ways (e.g. ideology, race), but are also found to be surprisingly similar (e.g. income, education, gender, news media exposure). The results suggest new strategies for maintaining and restoring confidence in media organizations.     

The audience product and the new media environment: Implications for the economics of media industries

Abstract

The issues currently facing the book publishing industry are profound and the resolution of these issues will ultimately affect how the industry is defined in the future. One of the most important issues that the industry faces is the emergence of a whole range of new media which have created important managerial tensions within the book publishing firms. These tensions include defining what a book is in light of the multi‐dimensional content available as well as the development of new modes of delivery; whether to remain focused on producing great content or become a more technologically oriented company; and the best organizational approach. While these tensions may be viewed as creating turmoil, they have been catalysts of change and are creating opportunities that will ultimately enable the industry to regenerate its businesses, reach a new generation of readers, and create an environment that is more conducive to innovation.     

Mediated images of success: Hegemonic media representations and social justice

This activity highlights the concept of cultural hegemony, illustrating it by a reflection on the images of success and successful people portrayed in the media. The purpose of the exercise is to introduce students to this concept, and for them to examine how hegemonic views of others and the self affect the way they conceptualize success and perceive who a successful person is. Students will understand the role of the media in reproducing hegemonic representations of reality in terms of gender, race, ethnicity, national origin, disability, and so on, and how these representations limit their world view and are detrimental for those who do not abide by the dominant stereotypical images. The exercise also intends to expose students to complex narratives of what success may mean beyond accumulation of wealth, competition, nationality, whiteness, and patriarchal values, and for them to reflect upon intersectionality, by challenging and critiquing dominant portrayals of human achievement.

Courses: Introduction to Media Studies, Introduction to Media and Culture, or any introductory communication course discussing media representation.

Objectives: Students will (1) identify the role of cultural hegemony in the mediated construction of success; (2) understand and critically evaluate how hegemonic media representations of gender, class, race, ethnicity, physical ability, national origin, and so on limit people’s world views about human achievement; and (3) self-reflect on their own representations of success and reframe “success” moving beyond hegemonic representations attached to patriarchy, heteronormativity, whiteness, physical ability, competition, and capitalist accumulation.     

Candidates’ use of informal communication on social media reduces credibility and support: Examining the consequences of expectancy violations

ABSTRACT

This experiment (N= 476) investigates how individuals evaluate political candidates who use informal communication on social media. We use expectancy violations theory (EVT) to predict that informal communication will lead to negative evaluations. Our results suggest that politicians’ use of informal communication on social media leads to expectancy violation, which decreases perceived credibility and lessens intention to support a candidate. This effect was not moderated by sex (male versus female) or age (young versus old) of the candidate, nor of participants being the same sex as the candidate. These findings suggest that political figures should use informal communication on social media with caution.     

Social media listening and Title IX training crisis: Implications for discourse of renewal

Courses: Undergraduate or graduate organizational/crisis communication or public relations courses

Objective: The goal for this single class activity is for students to apply discourse of renewal to an organizational crisis fueled through social media.     

Leadership,an essential requirement for effecting change in media companies: An analysis of the Spanish market

Abstract

As afield of study, company leadership can be examined from many angles. In this paper our aim is to study leadership in the way it effects change. The qualitative value of the information compiled is considerable since it helps to understand the grounds on which the success of the directors who effected change of the Spanish media market was based. The interviews afford us a closer look at the minds of the leading players in action.

The cases analysed show that, in media companies, radical transformations do not come about without the existence of one or several leaders, capable of mobilising the organisation where they work.

Through the literature review, the companies'internal documentation and interviews with the directors we have been able to demonstrate that our hypotheses on leadership are not only reasonable but also help to explain, to a great extent, the profound transformations which the Spanish media market has undergone in the last 25 years.