Media, Journalism, Social, Communication, Development Communication, , Media Studies, Media Literacy, Media Education, Media Impact and Effect and Usage, Alternate Media, Media Research

Sex Discrimination and New Media in Italy: An analysis of the Abuse of the Female Body and Role in TV and Political Advertisements

by Nicla Rossini

accepted, Fifth ISGS Conference, Lund (Sweden).

The question of sex or gender discrimination in society is a wide topic that has been addressed within diverse... more The question of sex or gender discrimination in society is a wide topic that has been addressed within diverse frameworks and fields of enquiry ranging from psychological (see e.g., Davison & Burke’s study on sex discrimination in employment) and sociological studies to law (see e.g. Rhode, 2001) and economics (see Lahey, 2008; Grove, Massey & Jetter, 2010). However, careful study of verbal and nonverbal aspects of gender discrimination in new media, and in particular in television advertising, is singularly lacking. This is unfortunate, since television remains a powerful medium both as a conveyor of artefactual encapsulations of societal mores, and as medium of large audience manipulation. (see e.g. Harris & Barlett, 1994).This work presents an analysis of both verbal and non-verbal cues of segments taken from television advertisements broadcast seen in Italy in order to reveal strong gender discrimination both as a reflection of and an influence upon social attitudes. Some political advertisements and official communications are also taken into consideration, with particular emphasis on a well known video campaign in support of the ex Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. Prime Minister Mario Monti’s official press release published on the Government’s website on Janury 2nd 2012 is also taken into account.

Kilpert, L. & Shay, S. (forthcoming) Kindling fires: Examining the potential for cumulative learning in a Journalism curriculum, Teaching in Higher Education.

by Legitimation Code Theory

Tourism and self-Orientalism in Oman: a critical discourse analysis

by William Feighery

It is established in the literature that touristic images of the Orient  are grounded in Occidental authority and... more It is established in the literature that touristic images of the Orient  are grounded in Occidental authority and dominant global power relations. Scholars have suggested that indigenous image creators in the Middle East continue to read from an Occidental script, perpetuating oppositional perspectives of us and them, the familiar and the strange, the dynamic and the atrophied – fuelling the development of neo-Orientalist tourist sites/sights. This paper explores the extent to which such scripting continues to persist in official representations of rentier states in the Arabian Peninsula. Through a critical discourse analysis of the Omani tourism promotional film Welcome to My Country, it is suggested that when Oman speaks for itself within a Western discourse of tourism promotion, what results is a form of self-Orientalism.

Some Instances of Violation and Flouting of the Maxim of Quantity by the Main Characters (Barry & Tim) in Dinner for Schmucks

by Parvaneh Khosravizadeh

Co-authored with Nikan Sadehvandi

The focus of this study is to analyze the extent to which the maxim of quantity is either violated or flouted by the... more The focus of this study is to analyze the extent to which the maxim of quantity is either violated or flouted by the two main characters, in a movie entitled “Dinner for Schmucks”. In addition, it seeks to find if there is any occasion in which one party opts out of the conversation. Dinner for Schmucks is an American movie which is the second version of A French film Le Diner de Cons; (dinner game). The reason for selecting this movie is that it has a comedy genre and as it is common in most comedies, one of the characters favorably and expectedly has the most loquacious trait, and there is a great chance that he/she repeatedly either violates or flouts the conversational maxims. The findings of this study indicate that in five occasions the characters violated the maxim of quantity. Based on the findings of the study, it can be concluded that although cooperative principle describes the best practices in communication in order to facilitate the process of conversation to be smoother for both the listener and speaker, people frequently disobey these maxims in order to achieve certain purposes.

Media Monstering: From Tabloid Demons to Transnational Cyberbullies

by Jim Clarke

Won joint first prize.

"Obama and the ‘Arab Spring’: desire, hope and the manufacture of disappointment. Implications for a transformative pedagogy"

by John Schostak

paper just published with co-author Lorna Roberts. It develops themes and arguments in earlier conference versions available on academia.edu: see: ‘Democracy matters in race matters’: Obama, desire, hope and the manufacture of disappointment.

For a period, in the run up to the election (2007–2008) and the months after the election, the name ‘Obama’ signified... more For a period, in the run up to the election (2007–2008) and the months after the election, the name ‘Obama’ signified hope for millions, not just in America but across the world. As the hope turned to disappointment, the financial crisis deepened and the Arab Spring renewed a call for a ‘humanity’ that could transcend the differences of nations and faiths. What can be learnt from such events about the pedagogies of hope, disappointment and public action? Are there lessons for a transformative pedagogy, an education that could underpin and continuously create the conditions for a politics of freedom and social justice? A range of print, broadcast and digital/Internet news media is analysed to explore the political/rhetorical/pedagogical strategies already set into play that ‘manufacture disappointment’ in order to undermine and negate the transformative, transgressive symbolic significance of ‘Obama’ and thus manage the theme of change to reassert the same.

Un estudi sobre interdisciplinarietat , professions socials i acció socioeducativa (2006)

by Xavier Úcar

• ÚCAR, X. (Coord.); LL.Canals; P. Figueras ; E. Aymerich; S. Costa; D. Montejo ; S. Vidal; I. Maestre; J. Feu  (2006) “Un estudi sobre interdisciplinarietat , professions socials i acció socioeducativa” pp. 77-101. Educació social. Revista de intervenció socioeducativa. Nº 34. Setembre –Desembre. (ISNN: 1135-805X)

El porqué y el para qué de la Pedagogía Social: intervención socioeducativa y vida social (2006)

by Xavier Úcar

• ÚCAR, X. (2006) “El porqué y el para qué de la pedagogía social: Intervención socioeducativa y vida social”. Pp. 233-271, en PLANELLA, J./VILAR, J. (Coord.) La pedagogía social en la sociedad de la información. Barcelona: Editorial UOC. (84-9788-431-0)

Anatomy of the Italian Web TV ecosystem. Current issues and future challenges.

by Valentina Bazzarin

Co-authored with Emiliano Trerè

The aim of this article is to provide an overview of the emergent Italian Web TV ecosystem. We begin by sketching a... more The aim of this article is to provide an overview of the emergent Italian Web TV ecosystem. We begin by sketching a summary of the Italian media scenario, focusing on three related aspects: the Rai-Mediaset duopoly, the Berlusconi anomaly and digital revolution of the TV system. We then switch to the Italian digital resistance scenario and describe some of the most interesting experiences developed in the Italian context. In the third part, we dissect and analyze the phenomenon of Italian Web TVs, exploring its roots, legal status, producers and audiences. We conclude by providing a reflection on Italian Web TVs as an ecosystem, both by pointing out some future challenges it will face within the Italian media scenario and by focusing on the role of active citizens and unprofessional producers in changing the scenario and in advocating pluralism and creativeness.

Italian Governmental Media Campaigns to Prevent HIV/AIDS: An Effectiveness Study

by Valentina Bazzarin

Co-authored with Pina Lalli
CHALLENGES IN INTERNATIONAL COMMUNICATION, edited by M. Kefalaki & Y. Pasadeos, Athens, ATINER (Athens Institute for Education and Research), 2012, pp.81-95

Abstract:   
This project consisted of a longitudinal scenario analysis of public health media... more Abstract:   
This project consisted of a longitudinal scenario analysis of public health media campaigns aimed at preventing AIDS transmission over the past 20 years. Using funding and data provided by the Ministry, we determined the types of messages conveyed in these campaigns, the dissemination of these messages, their priority in media coverage, and knowledge of HIV/AIDS risk in the public. Subsequently, we conducted a survey, also funded by the Italian Ministry of Health, to independently verify the social impact of one of these campaigns.

Our analysis shows that new cases of HIV/AIDS have decreased in Italy since the mid-nineties, and the advent of antiretroviral drugs has reduced AIDS-related deaths. Consequently, media attention has waned, as have educational campaigns aimed at sexually transmitted disease (STD) prevention, causing the rate of decline of HIV transmission to slow and transmission of other STDs to surge. Today, there are 120,000 people with HIV/AIDS living in Italy (mostly women and migrants), and 100 new cases are diagnosed each day. These data highlight the importance of returning the issue to the top of the public health and media agendas.

Results from the national survey (n=500, male and female respondents, 15-59 years old) showed that while the ministerial campaign examined effectively returned HIV/AIDS to the public spotlight and promoted condom use as prevention, it was not designed according to social marketing principles. It lacked a specific objective, clear target, effective language, a rational dissemination and integration strategy, and it overestimated current public awareness of the issue. This resulted in public misunderstanding regarding the source and purpose of the campaign and poor memorability of the message. This survey also showed a discrepancy between self-reported AIDS literacy and actual knowledge on the issue in the public.

Bearing witness in 40 years of Greenpeace chronicles

by David Robie

Robie, David (2012). Bearing witness in 40 years of Greenpeace chronicles [Review]. Pacific Journalism Review, 18(1): 232-237. Review of: Rainbow Warrior Mon Amour: Trente ans de photos aux côtés de Greenpeace, by Pierre Gleizes. Paris: Glenart, 2011, 379 pp. ISBN 978-2723484558
Warriors of the Rainbow: A chronicle of the Greenpeace movement from 1971 to 1979, by Robert Hunter [40th anniversary edition]. Perth: Greenpeace and Freemantle Press, 2011, 451pp. ISBN 978-1921888809.

MY DOG-EARED yellow-covered copy of the late Robert Hunter’s Warriors of the Rainbow still has pride of place among my... more MY DOG-EARED yellow-covered copy of the late Robert Hunter’s Warriors of the Rainbow still has pride of place among my bookshelves. It was inspirational in many respects before I embarked on Rainbow Warrior I’s journey to the Marshall Islands in May 1985 which led to the bombing in Auckland’s Waitemata Harbour two months later and my own book Eyes of Fire about that ill-fated humanitarian voyage, so very different from most Greenpeace campaigns.One of the original Greenpeace environmental crusaders, journalist Hunter provided a powerful and insightful tale of the Canadian birth and early years of the global movement ‘from Amchitka to Moruroa’. Even before the corporate trend to mission statements, Greenpeace had one provided by the Cree Indians and popularised by Hunter.

Periodismo y literatura

by Oleski Miranda

Artículo de opinión aparecido  en el Diario Panorama 28-05-2008

Diversity reportage in Aotearoa: Demographics and the rise of the ethnic media

by David Robie

Robie, D. (2009). Diversity reportage in Aotearoa: Demographics and the rise of the ethnic media. Pacific Journalism Review, 15(1): 67-91. ISSN 1023 9499

For more than two decades, diversity has been a growing mantra for the New Zealand news media. Initially, the concept... more For more than two decades, diversity has been a growing mantra for the New Zealand news media. Initially, the concept of biculturalism—partnership with the indigenous tangata whenua—was pre-eminent in the debate, but as the nation’s Pasifika and ethnic media have flourished and matured and demographics have rapidly changed, multiculturalism has become increasingly important and challenging. The regional media relationship in the context of contested notions such as the ‘arc of instability’ and the impact of coups and crises on journalists has become critical. Projected demographics by Statistics New Zealand indicate that the country’s Asian population will almost double by 2026. The Pasifika and Māori populations are also expected to grow by 59 and 29 per cent respectively. Māori, Pasifika and ethnic media in Aotearoa/New Zealand are also steadily expanding with implications for the media industry and journalism educators. This article examines the regional trends and how initiatives such as the Pacific Media Centre and new journalism courses with an emphasis on diversity are addressing the challenges.

‘Drugs, guns and gangs’: Case studies on Pacific states and how they deploy NZ media regulators

by David Robie

Robie, D. (2012). ‘Drugs, guns and gangs’: Case studies on Pacific states and how they deploy NZ media regulators. Pacific Journalism Review, 18(1): 105-127. ISSN 1023 9499

Media freedom and the capacity for investigative journalism have been steadily eroded in the South Pacific in the past... more Media freedom and the capacity for investigative journalism have been steadily eroded in the South Pacific in the past five years in the wake of an entrenched coup and censorship in Fiji. The muzzling of the Fiji press, for decades one of the Pacific’s media trendsetters, has led to the emergence of a culture of self-censorship and a trend in some Pacific countries to harness New Zealand’s regulatory and self-regulatory media mechanisms to stifle unflattering reportage. The regulatory Broadcasting Standards Authority (BSA) and the self-regulatory NZ Press Council have made a total of four adjudications on complaints by both the Fiji military-backed regime and the Samoan government and in one case a NZ cabinet minister. The complaints have been twice against Fairfax New Zealand media—targeting a prominent regional print journalist with the first complaint in March 2008—and twice against television journalists, one of them against the highly rated current affairs programme Campbell Live. One complaint, over the reporting of Fiji, was made by NZ’s Rugby World Cup Minister. All but one of the complaints have been upheld by the regulatory/self-regulatory bodies. The one unsuccessful complaint is currently the subject of a High Court appeal by the Samoan Attorney-General’s Office and is over a television report that won the journalists concerned an investigative journalism award. This article examines case studies around this growing trend and explores the strategic impact on regional media and investigative journalism.

‘Drugs, guns and gangs’: Case studies on Pacific states and how they deploy NZ media regulators

by David Robie

Robie, D. (2012). ‘Drugs, guns and gangs’: Case studies on Pacific states and how they deploy NZ media regulators. Pacific Journalism Review, 18(1): 105-127. ISSN 1023 9499

Media freedom and the capacity for investigative journalism have been steadily eroded in the South Pacific in the past... more Media freedom and the capacity for investigative journalism have been steadily eroded in the South Pacific in the past five years in the wake of an entrenched coup and censorship in Fiji. The muzzling of the Fiji press, for decades one of the Pacific’s media trendsetters, has led to the emergence of a culture of self-censorship and a trend in some Pacific countries to harness New Zealand’s regulatory and self-regulatory media mechanisms to stifle unflattering reportage. The regulatory Broadcasting Standards Authority (BSA) and the self-regulatory NZ Press Council have made a total of four adjudications on complaints by both the Fiji military-backed regime and the Samoan government and in one case a NZ cabinet minister. The complaints have been twice against Fairfax New Zealand media—targeting a prominent regional print journalist with the first complaint in March 2008—and twice against television journalists, one of them against the highly rated current affairs programme Campbell Live. One complaint, over the reporting of Fiji, was made by NZ’s Rugby World Cup Minister. All but one of the complaints have been upheld by the regulatory/self-regulatory bodies. The one unsuccessful complaint is currently the subject of a High Court appeal by the Samoan Attorney-General’s Office and is over a television report that won the journalists concerned an investigative journalism award. This article examines case studies around this growing trend and explores the strategic impact on regional media and investigative journalism.

Misyurov D.A. Dialectical formulas based on the binary notation as the development formulas // Credo New. 2012. №2

by Dmitry Misyurov

The article suggests dialectical formulas based on the binary notation as the development formulas: formula with... more The article suggests dialectical formulas based on the binary notation as the development formulas: formula with dominant and the non-dominant elements; universal formula; formula with symbolic weight of elements; tautological formula. For example, it suggests an opportunity to use the dialectical formulas for modeling and artificial intelligence creation, etc.

Published MEDIA LITERACY

by Semiu Bello

Malaysian-owned daily claims 'We speak for PNG'

by David Robie

Robie, David (1994). Malaysian-owned daily claims 'We speak for PNG'. Australian Journalism Review, 16(2): 47-54. ISSN 0810-2686

Two transnational media conglomerates own all the major circulation newspapers in the South Pacific. Through their... more Two transnational media conglomerates own all the major circulation newspapers in the South Pacific. Through their subsidiaries, Rupert Murdoch's News Ltd and French media magnate Robert Hersant's group in the French territories own five of the eight dailies in the region. The newest daily, The National, began publishing in Papua New Guinea in mod-November 1993. It is owned by a company associated with Rimbunan Hijau. Although the Tiong family is not in the big news media league of the Murdochs and the Hersants, it has significant media interests, including the publishing of Malaysia's largest Chinese-language daily newspaper, Sin Chew Jit Poh.

Perverse effects of other-referenced performance goals in an information exchange context

by Nico W. Van Yperen

Critical Media Literacy: A Pedagogy for New Literacies and Urban Youth

by Jeff Share

Mohammed Choudhury and Jeff Share, "Critical Media Literacy: A Pedagogy for New Literacies and Urban Youth." Voices from the Middle, Volume 19, Number 4, May 2012 by the National Council of Teachers of English.

Using new literacies critically can be an excellent pedagogy for motivating and empowering students who feel alienated... more Using new literacies critically can be an excellent pedagogy for motivating and empowering students who feel alienated from their school and society.  This article describes how one middle school teacher engaged his inner-city English language learners with critical media literacy as a way of making their learning more meaningful and motivating.  The students interviewed and photographed community members, analyzed portrayals in the media of themselves and their neighborhood, and created their own alternative representations of their concerns and findings.  Not only did the students increase their self-esteem and sense of pride in their community, they also demonstrated substantial academic gains in their English language development.