CM1009 - Communication as a Social Force

Summary of the book Media Studies - Key Issues & Debates by Eoin Devereux

Summary by Federica Romaniello

CM1009 - Communication as a Social Force Summary by Federica Romaniello CHAPTER 9. Media, Power and Political Culture by John Corner
Citizenship Normative relationship of individuals to the state in a democracy Involves rights and responsibilities Relationship between Media and Political Systems Totalitarian regimes: Often openly employed media systems Media = highly coordinated means for sustaining popular support for the government Media activity introduced in the steady growth of television services New communication technologies *Mediated Democracies Not all political systems have significant media linkage *mediation is now a defining rather than ancillary aspect of the political sphere Political power works through: Meanings Direct legislative constraints (e.g. penalty forms, etc.) Interaction Media and Politics Media and Politics interact as spheres of activity Two conflicting tendencies: 1. Politics = dominant partner Media activities are framed by political factors Politics reduce the scope and independent agency of media systems 2. Media = dominant partner media logic Media = transforming effect on political sphere Media subordinate partner Central importance economic factors Mediated Democracy Condition Involvement of media representations in the conduct of politics becomes a factor of primary systemic significance History of Media-Political Relations (Europe) 18th Century Enlightenment belief: Media-political relations = HOPE Circulation of knowledge through media (especially newspapers) Spread of rationality Positive for the organization of public affairs *emancipatory possibilities st 21 Century Hope is replaced by FEAR

CM1009 - Communication as a Social Force

Distortion and deception BUT: Habermans idea of the public sphere

Summary by Federica Romaniello

Habermans idea of the Public Sphere Public sphere is a necessary space for the circulation of knowledge and deliberation Looks back to the Enlightenment values Emancipatory possibilities vs. Current tendencies towards the denial of sustained critical engagement Power Economic or cultural Capacity to exert influence over public affairs Open/Hidden strategies Propaganda Application throughout the 20th Century (wartime) Matter of ends rather than means Seeks to generate level of emotional and subconscious appeal Deliberate distortion of knowledge There can be also the virtuous propaganda (e.g. anti-smoking campaigns) Generally negative usage of the term Spin More recent usage (21st Century) Applied mostly to political publicity Seen as anti-democratic Essentially as a comic practice Deliberate distortion of knowledge Political Culture Broader context of meanings and values Setting in which the more formal business of politics is conducted Setting in which the apparatus of politics works Political Subjectivity The way people experience politics Can be conscious and unconscious Everyday phenomenon Four Factors of Change Change = center of debate about media and politics 1. Changing character of political publicity and news management Significant shifts in the way component agencies of national political systems go about the business of producing political publicity Newspapers: 2

CM1009 - Communication as a Social Force

Summary by Federica Romaniello

Primary written reports of political events Radio: Politicians own direct appeals Addressing audience members as individuals in their own homes Television: Visual performance of politicians TV = theatre of political performance Political world = routine news frame for media outlets Media systems = crucial space within which certain aspects of a certain contest become visible and heard (especially during election periods) Government is the elite player in the contest for publicity Spin in politics and media Angled view on a certain topic (*emphasis on own POSITIVE aspects/ideologies) Propaganda in media systems Seen most openly in its commercial application (product advertising) Omissions + various modes of lying = commonly practiced and typical of political speech *strategic communication Changes in the political language More demotic and informal To reduce the division between political class and citizens

2. Changing profile and tone of political journalism within a centered media economy Interest in reporting on political publicity itself Focus on political attempts to spin Increased emphasis on personality politics Politics + Gossip Combinations of traditional hard and new soft stories Increased number of informal routes through which a story can develop Importance of the Internet Importance of audiences choices (e.g. can select the kind of news) Politicians = content providers 3. Shifts in the nature of citizenship Change in relationship ordinary people-official political process Consequence of economic development + shifts in social structure + popular culture National specificity but common tendencies Increasing emphasis on consumer identity in the economic context Purchase of goods + leisure products + services Citizen = Consumer -- {dual relationship} Imposed identity Pressure into convenient forms of consciousness Capitalist development * consumer ideology 4. Consequences of new communications technology

CM1009 - Communication as a Social Force

Summary by Federica Romaniello

Reconfiguration of television industry Multi-channel systems Frequently deregulated news provision Assault on resources for public knowledge by the commodity market in private entertainment Impact of the Internet and the Web Hopes of a reinvigorated citizenship Permit interaction Assists the development of group level political formation * electronic democracy Promotional Ethics Lack of clarity regarding the expectations made of political discourse and the norms/ethics by which it can be judged Importance of propaganda and spin Propaganda = level of resort to lies and deception Spin = political statement angles to promote and/or conceal and that it needs careful scrutiny as a basis for knowledge Consequences for the performance of political journalism Political Culture Engagement with the wider contexts of meaning and value within which politics occurs Political subjectivity = politics becomes and experience Aesthetics of politics Concern with pleasing and stimulating imagery, language and bodily self-presentation Strategic perception of the need to reconfigure and brand the political identity

CM1009 - Communication as a Social Force Summary by Federica Romaniello CHAPTER 15. Community Media and the Public Sphere by Kevin Howley
Public Sphere Habermas (Frankfurt School) Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere (1989) Instrumental in the constitution of liberal democratic society Realm characterized by reasoned debate among equals Members of a public discuss matters of common concern Relationship between mass culture + capitalism + authoritarianism Integral to the constitution of civil society *rational-critical debate Basis for political discussion, consensus formation and democratic decision-making Privileges face-to-face communication (Habermas) Vital role played by print media Degeneration of public sphere due to culture industries From a theoretical perspective Fundamental relationship between democracy + modern communication systems Media must provide the resources for a self-governing people to identify and work towards matters of common concern Community Media Participatory media Provide local populations with access to communication technologies Instrumental in supporting popular participation in public discourse Voices and perspectives excluded from the mainstream media Aims: Local cultural expression Civil engagement Social integration Different media used: Access radio Open channel TV Alternative newspapers Ethnic and indigenous broadcasting Community-based computer networks Resource for subaltern Counterpublics Opportunity to re-conceptualize the public sphere Public Sphere and Modern Media Habermas = liberal bourgeois public sphere Critiques: 1) Exclusivity of Bourgeois History = participation limited to bourgeois men Habermas = individuals must abandon their self-interest and ignore socio-cultural differences

CM1009 - Communication as a Social Force

Summary by Federica Romaniello

2) Parallel discursive spaces from the Proletariat Habermas = lack of this option (fact) Existence of multiple overlapping public spheres that provide different groups with the material and symbolic resources to forge a common identity and articulate their particular interests, perspectives and concerns *Habermas assessment of contemporary media culture would consider the extent to which modern communication systems enable as well as constrain participation in public life Subaltern Counterpublics Members of oppressed, subordinate groups Alternative discourse realms Aims: Promoting group solidarity Challenging social, political and economic relations of dominance Deliberative Democracy Habermas normative ideal News should do more than inform Importance of journalists News/Journalists should provide solid basis to actively participate in politics Public Sphere and Deliberative Democracy POSITIVE: Modern media provide opportunities to learn about and participate in social life Matters of common concern Information to the whole population (all strata) bear witness to historic/prosaic events NEGATIVE: Modern media conceive audience = consumers ( citizens) Little evidence media/journalists fulfill Habermas ideal Audiences = consumers Not accuracy of news {quantity vs. quality} Contemporary journalism dependent on official sources (e.g. governments, business) Credibility Certain objectivity Limit perspective on the issues {Alter, 1985} Political campaigns = horse race Denies citizens any sense of political agency Fail to provide a forum for self-governing people Perception-management campaigns Public Relations (PR): Purposively manage public opinion Serve narrow interest of specific categories of people Lippmann (1997): manufacture of consent Delirious effect on quality/character of rational-critical debate Public broadcasters faced charges of elitism PAST: Failure to represent cultural minorities in their national context NOW: adopted the practices/forms associated with their commercial counterparts 6

CM1009 - Communication as a Social Force

Summary by Federica Romaniello

Triumph of privatized communication environment Community media Represent local interventions into contemporary media culture Encourage popular participation in public discourse Rarely parochial Distinctive of emerging global media culture Common in post-industrial and social developing societies Aims: Provide local populations with the opportunity to participate in civil society Promote social integration Promote cohesion within geo-cultural communities Sustain local forms of cultural expression Promote a more democratic media culture Important role played in the constitution of discursive spaces (locally & globally)

CM1009 - Communication as a Social Force Summary by Federica Romaniello CHAPTER 13. From Family Television to Bedroom Culture: Young Peoples Media at home by Sonia Livingstone
Individualization Decline of the importance of classical social distinctions (social classes) Social classes do not necessary determine life courses Fragmentation of norms and values Risk Society Term coined by Beck (1992) Feature of late modern societies Knowledge/calculation about risk and uncertainty Central in the decision-making process of: Social arrangements Economic arrangements Technological arrangements Childhood = key site of risks and anxieties Favored the consolidation of bedroom cultures Leisure Spaces 1st half 20th Century: Model of single family home Begun with middle-class families Strong separation of public and private places home sweet home Private = refugee House = place of positive values 2nd half 20th Century: Growth of domestic mass media Two distinct trends: a) Shifting boundary home-outside Altered the balance between life in community and family privacy Significance of the front door Adults seek to impose/negotiate rules and limits Reconciliation of childrens freedom/security b) Shifting boundary communal family life-private life (of the child) Significance of the bedroom door Due to : change in the social organization of the home {fathers center of attentions} decline of safe public spaces continual multiplication of media goods at home o reduction in price o diversification of forms

CM1009 - Communication as a Social Force

Summary by Federica Romaniello

Decline of Street Culture Childrens lives are ruled by the idea of danger Societal desire to keep children safe Societal desire to keep society safe from youth Restriction on childs access to the outside world = increased media use within the home Modern Family Ideology Goal of the individual self-realization > community solidarity and stability Role of the TV Early times: Transformed spatial and temporal rhythms One TV per house (generally) Where to put it? = living room What to watch? = hierarchical systems (father > mother > children) Modern times: More than one TV per house Living room < bedrooms What to watch? = personal preferences on personal devices Living room = only in specific occasions Bedroom Culture Shift from collective (family) life to individual (bedroom) life Mainly a Western phenomenon New opportunity for targeted advertising and marketing More common among the young population Set of conventional meanings Involves identity + privacy + the self Personal domestic space = (childs) bedroom WHY? Decrease of domestic media prices (e.g. TV in the 50s vs. flat-screens now) Portability of domestic/personal media (e.g. fixed computes v. laptop/iPad) Media devices are now owned earlier (e.g. children in the 60s vs. children now) Meaning of the bedroom altered with the time Child-centered and private space had its own developmental trajectory Intrinsic fascination with the media + unsatisfactory nature of the available alternatives Roles of the Bedroom 1) Convenience Mainly common among children younger than 9-10 years of age Not interested in bedroom culture Not interested in media devices Bedrooms = contain media-related collections Collection linked to personal identity e.g. memorabilia, CDs/DVDs, fluffy toys, etc. 2) Escape Mainly common from middle childhood (girl firsts) Bedrooms = places where to be free/isolated 9

CM1009 - Communication as a Social Force

Summary by Federica Romaniello

Control over when to be sociable or alone Possessing personal values (stuff) and putting them in personal places Being a distinct individual 3) Identity Typical of adolescence Growing interests in how the room is arranged/furnished/equipped Psychological reasons Bedrooms = flexible social spaces in which young people can express their growing independence from family life Personal ownership of media dramatically increases Valued material possessions Self-sufficiency and control Place where to express themselves

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CM1009 - Communication as a Social Force Summary by Federica Romaniello CHAPTER 14. Fan Culture: Performing Difference by Jeroen de Kloet and Liesbet van Zoonen
Fan Abbreviation of fanatic (Latin: fanaticus = temple servant, devotee) Negative connotation of hysteria and pathology Fan Admirer/Connoisseur Extensive knowledge on a topic/figure/etc. Emotional involvement Large amount of time spent on the topic/figure/etc. Exchange of experiences related to the topic/figure/etc. Fandom the act of being fan Relation between the individual fan and his/her text Taxonomy of audience involvement fandom = 1st degree of intensity *Performative politics of identity in which the authentic-self wishes to differentiate him/herself from the inauthentic other Fan Typology Proposed by Brooker & Brooker (1996) a) Admirer b) Fan c) Cultist Fan Psychology Proposed by Cohen (1999) PSI (Para-Social Interaction) a) Identification Sharing of perspective b) Wishful identification Desire to emulate c) Affinity Fandom Theory Proposed by Fiske (1992) a) Semiotic Productivity Making of meanings of social identity and experiences from the semiotic resources of the cultural commodity b) Enunciative Productivity Meaning shared within the fan community Share of meaning through oral communication (face-to-face, mainly) c) Textual Productivity Sharing of text concerning the object of fan and/or the fan community *e.g. Dutch fans of LOTR meet every weekend and perform Shows how delicate the line between fan and non-fan is

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CM1009 - Communication as a Social Force

Summary by Federica Romaniello

3 Dimensions in fan-studies a) Cultural Dimension Jenkins + Fiske + Lewis Rather celebratory ethnographic insight in fan cultures Dualism: resistance vs. compliance Focus on ideological discourse Fans = active agents that appropriate media texts to make sense of everyday life Characteristics of fandom a) Reception involves fierce discussion with others b) Involves a particular set of critical and interpretive practices c) Base for activism d) Constitutes alternative economy outside the mainstream e) Functions as an alternative social community (e.g. weekend only world) b) Performative Dimension Focus on the cultural practices of fandom Focus on text-reader interaction Two distinct schools: 1) Philosophical School Focus on performativity Austin + Butler How words impact upon reality Subjectivity constituted through discourse Discourse = Performative Subjectivity = Performative Act 2) Sociological, Anthropological and Theater Studies School Focus on performance Sensitive to the social context in which performances occur Fandom = conspicuous consumption of collectors items Consumption = strong performative dimension Most apparent moment = impersonation Fan oscillates between his self and the other Fan oscillates between intense self-reflexivity and selfabsence c) Local Dimension Fandom = way to express and construct locality Fandom = response to specific historical conditions Context of debates on globalization Two different schools: 1) Globalization is flattening the world 2) Globalization is increasing heterogenization Local starts appropriated to local fan cultures *heimat (= feeling of home) e.g. US rap (lower-class street-culture) vs. Japanese rap (middle-class)

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CM1009 - Communication as a Social Force Summary by Federica Romaniello CHAPTER 5. News Content Studies, Media Group Methods and Discourse Analysis: A Comparison of Approaches by Greg Philo
Ideology Used by the Glasgow University Media Group (GUMG) Analyzed the construction of public knowledge and the role of the media within this News programs + other genres (soap operas, documentaries, etc.) Interest linked perspective Discourse Abstractly: statements in general Language or system of representation that developed socially in order to make and circulate a coherent set of meanings (Fiske) Serve the interests of a section of society Van Dijck: Analysis of racism in news accounts Traditional approaches = focus on stereotypical words or images Discourse analytical approaches = systematically describe the various structures and strategies of text or talk and relate these to the social or political context Fairclough: Discourse = ways of representing aspects of the world Ideological Effects of Discourse Fairclough, 2003 Ideologies = representations of aspects of the world Ideologies can contribute to the establishing + maintaining + changing social relations of power, domination and exploitation Van Dijck, 1998 Ideologies = promote + coordinate the interests of a group Ideologies develop precisely in order to sustain, legitimate or manage group conflicts and relationships of power and dominance Approaches have origins in structuralism Constructions determine how the world can be seen and what can be known and done within it Concern with how language embodies systems of thought which structure what can be understood Content Analysis Traditional approaches: AIM: attempt to measure something (e.g. bias rate) within a text METHOD: break up the main text into texts and count the specific words used to discuss a certain issue PROBLEM: words used become blurred and the contextual meaning is not considered {tended to count words instead of meanings} *e.g. Cumberbatch:

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CM1009 - Communication as a Social Force

Summary by Federica Romaniello

TV news coverage of the miners strike in Britain in 1984-85 !!! it is perfectly possible for a subject to be covered very extensively on the news, while journalists might also cue the audience into seeing it as not very significant Methods in Textual Analysis 1) Thematic Analysis Developed by the GUMG Studies of TV news Ideas linked to interests Ideology linked to struggle for legitimacy Different reporting methods = different ways of understanding Importance of language Different language = different ways of understanding Importance of individual meanings Conflict and division within the society as a whole !!! interests behind an ideology may remain the same, but its immediate content does not HOW? Identify the range of arguments which existed on an issue Explore conditions under which the arguments were developed *key issue = absence/presence of explanations + manner of highlighting/preferring some accounts in the texts o Collocation = habitual pattern of co-occurrence between words {e.g. poor old man} o Explanatory theme = assumed explanation which gives a pattern/structure to an area of coverage 2) Production Processes *key issue = professional ideology of journalists and the institutions they represent TV news credibility depends on its claim to be fair in controversial areas TV news often seen as in favor of the powerful Textual analysis alone does not reveal what occurred (need to talk to journalists Crucial relation to outside sources Journalists depend on the access granted to them Influence of politicians in media systems regulation Media openness directly related to political + economic + institutional factors Importance of ideologies in order to understand and analyze the media texts 3) Critical Discourse Analysis Fairclough (2001) Discourses can be differentiated: a) Semantic relations Synonymy + hyponymy + antonymy Classify parts of the world b) Grammatical features Collocations + assumptions (*master category)+ etc. Used to frame a description

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CM1009 - Communication as a Social Force

Summary by Federica Romaniello

WEAKNESSES: 1. Do not sow origins of competing discourses + relation to different social interests 2. Do not show diversity of social accounts compared to what is present/absent in a specific text 3. Do not show impact of external factors on the manner of representation 4. Do not show what text actually means to different parts of the audience 5. Issue of accuracy of representations o Need to go beyond the immediate text o Need to examine the original speech asses the significance of what it is actually included 6. Question of the significance to our own audience o Gives power to critical analysis for the readers o what makes people sit up and take notice? 7. whose rhetoric is it anyway? o Need for an account of the social and political structures which underpin the content of texts *critical discourse analysis would be more powerful if routinely included a developed account of alternatives Analyzing textual strategies of political speech? Issue of the difference between what is said and what is done Sometimes politicians speak in favor of policies in which they do not actually believe in and which have no interest in pursuing Gaps between rhetoric and reality ! needs analysis of political structures, purposes and strategies ! requires account of social and political systems and conflicting interests within it Ideological Square Van Dijk = issue of reproduction of racism in discourse First to acknowledge the contradiction in the report and then to attempt to resolve it by reinterpreting the text Need to develop methods which can trace the communication of messages from teir inception in contested perspectives vs. traditional studies of lexical terms superficial analysis not enough focus on opinions and assumptions that may be expressed in several ways Importance of agency + responsibility + blame for actions Importance of the perspective from which events are described and evaluated Importance of quantitative demonstrations To establish if there are overall strategies to have differential descriptions of social groups Key functional moves in developing an ideology (1998): a. Emphasize our good properties/actions b. Emphasize their bad properties/actions c. Mitigate our bad properties/actions d. Mitigate their good properties/actions 15

CM1009 - Communication as a Social Force

Summary by Federica Romaniello

Weaknesses: Does not include production study + analysis of conflicting pressures which affect content Lacks of prior investigation that goes beyond the text Production, Content and Reception of a Message News accounts of certain events (e.g. Palestinian vs. Israeli conflict) have measurable influence on the understanding and memory among viewers TV news can shape not only the language viewers will use in ascribing meanings to events, but also the way in which audience groups and organizes the memories

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CM1009 - Communication as a Social Force Summary by Federica Romaniello CHAPTER 6. Framing and Frame Analysis by Jenny Kitzinger
Framing Fluid concept Process through which people organize reality Involves categorizing = paying attention to some aspects of reality rather than others Involved in any kind of daily representation *journalists frame a story by selecting and organizing content and facts in a certain order Frame Analysis Researchers try to unpick the process through which a frame is presented Frames = Frameworks = Frame Analysis Overlapping meanings in diverse disciplines Goffman (1974) = first who popularized the concept of frame Social interaction + Everyday cognitive structures System of classification that allows to locate + perceive + identify + label diverse phenomena encountered during life Giltin (1980) HOW do we frame? a. Negotiate reality b. Manage reality c. Comprehend reality d. Choose appropriate repertories of cognition and action Pan & Kosicki (1993) = cognitive windows through which stories are seen Gamson (1992) = maps helping us to navigate through a forest of multiple realities Framing strategies are not linked to positions Framing strategies change over time Media and Communication perspective: Selection of some aspects of a perceived reality and making them more salient in a communicating text Important in questionnaires/surveys {operates variations in measured opinion} Important in social movements: How questioning the status quo is able to negotiate shared understanding of some problems + articulate alternative approach + urge others to join the cause All reports are framed Reports are framed even is are balanced (can incorporate diversity) Framing Bias Agenda Setting Bias = there is an objective and factual way of reporting an issue correctly, but it is distorted Agenda Setting = media do not say what to think, but what to think about Framing = all accounts of reality are shaped in some way or other Frame analysis applies to all levels of mass communication: Examine the production of media coverage (how journalists operate)

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CM1009 - Communication as a Social Force

Summary by Federica Romaniello

Social institutions + power structures + professional practices + values impact on the shaping of news/reality HOW to research? o Examination of press releases o Study of funding and regulatory structures o Observation in newsrooms o Interviews with journalists Carragee & Roefs (2004) = critique to usual researches - Researches often do not pay attention to frame sponsorship (wider political and social contexts) Analyze content (how an issue is represented) Most popular level of framing analysis Researchers often concerned with 4 main Qs: 1. How is the problem defined? 2. How are the key players portrayed? 3. Who is presented as responsible? 4. What solutions are proposed? Researchers often work with opposing/alternative frames Some researches aimed at discovering overarching or generic frames o Patterns that cross-cut media coverage of diverse stories o Focus also on articular styles or genre of reporting HOW to analyze frames in texts? a. Immersing themselves (researchers) in the media coverage Varying degrees of methodological rigor + sophistication + sensitivity (depends on the topic under study) Can help identifying a particular set of frames b. Identify key discursive cues associated with the different frames Can help identifying how an event is categorized c. Look out for words and images with powerful cultural resonances Based on the underlying idea that frames have condensing symbols d. Traditional Discourse Analysis and/or systematical tracing and testing patterns of association e. Mapping of how particular frames dominate the representation of an issue How different frames compete In terms of implications for audiences (how peoples reactions are influenced) Frame analysis assumes that framing has impacts on audiences perceptions HOW to investigate it? 1) Experimental Audience Research o Different people with different doctored framed articles o See how point of view is modified o Used by cognitive psychologists + political scientists o Iyengars study:

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CM1009 - Communication as a Social Force

Summary by Federica Romaniello

How news reporting which is episodic might impact on people Compared results to thematic reporting impacts Findings? episodic news makes viewers less likely to hold public officials accountable for the existence of some problem and also less likely to hold them responsible for alleviating it 2) Qualitative Audience Research o How people frame issues during discussions in focus groups o Transcripts from group discussions can be analyzes rather like media texts o Study of discursive cues and frames + interactions Multi-level framing research Address all three levels of the circuit of mass communication Track frames across production, content and reception Uncommon Help to illuminate how frames are produced, circulated and sustained Clarify the role of specific discursive cues Reflecting Research a) Significance of Words and Labels Media production processes and values intervene in the type of labels used in reporting *e.g. embryo vs. blastocyst b) Significance of Facts and Statistics Facts/Stats do not speak for themselves Importance of how facts and statistics are presented and framed c) Complexity of Frames (and limitations) Different frames identified from different perspectives Many researchers: positive framing vs. negative framing Limitations of framing = exceptions in framing (e.g. immigrants as a resource for the economy) Sociological Imagination Frames are often so implicit that they seem like common sense Need to step outside common-sense understanding and research in an adequate way Good frame analysis includes reflection on the different ways in which the debate could be framed

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CM1009 - Communication as a Social Force Summary by Federica Romaniello CHAPTER 10. Proximity and Scope as News Values by Pamela J. Shoemaker, Jong Hyuk lee, Gang K. Han and Akiba A. Cohen
Proximity News value Geographic distance between the event and a media organizations newsroom and/or its audiences Can be: a. Local b. Regional c. National d. International Physical distance between the event and media organizations offices Helps to predict which event will become news or not, but DOES NOT ALWAYS LEAD TO NEWS COVERAGE *events topic is more important than geographic closeness Adams (1986): strength of cultural, political or economic ties between nations, with connected nations being more likely to appear in one anothers news Cohen (1990): proximity has a psychological component WHY proximity? Historical reasons: news media couldnt reach far places and therefore focused on local communities Now: many news organizations have offices around the globe (can direct different pieces of news to different places) Todays news organizations are everywhere = journalists have in mind an intended audience (nearby vs. across the world) Localization Extent to which an event has meaning for the community in which a news organization exists Can overcome the negative force of long physical distance that would make events unlikely to become news Scope Characteristics of news events given by journalists Psychological judgments about which domains the event reaches and how wide the implications are Can be: a. Local b. Regional c. National d. International Consistent with the gatekeeping process (there are multiple causes for all events) Despite its proximity, impacts of an event can expand beyond the immediate locale in which they occur Control whether an even will be given a local/regional/national/international spin

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CM1009 - Communication as a Social Force

Summary by Federica Romaniello

Addresses the domains that the event reaches or the implications that it has Physical distance < (important) <than psychological distance > scope of the event = > likelihood to become news Cohen (1990): journalists can manipulate the scope by changing the dominant angle given the event

(in)Congruence Congruence: scope level = proximity level (!!! NOT all the congruent events become news!) Incongruence: scope level proximity level Newsworthiness Cognitive assessment of: how deviant or socially significant the event is how complex the event is Deviance Characteristic of people/ideas/events that sets them aside as different Dimensions: 1. Normative o = breaking of norms or laws 2. Social Change o = challenges the status quo 3. Statistical o = idea/person/event very different from average/odd Social Significance Characteristic of people/ideas/events that sets them aside as important or interesting Dimensions: 1. Politic o = potential/impact on the relationship people-government or between governments 2. Economic o = potential/impact on the exchange of goods and services 3. Cultural o = compares the event to a social systems traditions/institutions/norms (e.g. religion, art, ethnicity, etc.) 4. Public o = enhancements or threats an event has for the publics well-being

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CM1009 - Communication as a Social Force Summary by Federica Romaniello CHAPTER 16. Media and Diaspora by Karim H. Karim
Diaspora diasperin (Greek) = scattering of seeds Generally exist in small numbers of scattered communities within countries and across continents Movements of people to different parts of the planet Variations in connections and attachments within world-wide networks Diasporic Communication Major topic of discussion in media studies over the last two decades Ethnic media operated by community groups = channels for transnational media flows Diasporic members + news technology = major involvement and participation in globalitation from below Nation and Diaspora 1648. Peace of Westphalia (notion of nation-state) Nation-state (past): ethnicity + territory = ancestral homeland belonging to a particular group Multiculturalism is redefining the nation as comprising an ethnically pluralist polity New approach seeks to contain conflicts between competing ethnic groups within a country and to harness their skills + intellectual + economic resources for national goals Diasporas (common view, sometimes) = deterritorialized nations Diminish the physical links of those who leave the homeland demand for cultural products that maintain and celebrate the links of the diaspora with the homeland Ethnic Media Human beings feel comforted when moving to another country to communicate with those with whom they share a common set of cultural meanings Need to create ethnic media WHY? 1. Contribute to cultural maintenance and ethnic cohesion 2. Help members of minorities integrate into the larger society WHAT? (mainly) Newspapers: o Most common o Tend to be in the language of the group that consume them o Easier to establish than broadcasting companies/channels Diasporas and Satellite TVs Ethnic media have frequently been at the leading edge of technology adoption Satellite TV = remarkable opportunities for diasporic communities Exponential growth of diasporic programming using satellite TV (e.g. Orbit TV in Rome for Arab community)

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CM1009 - Communication as a Social Force

Summary by Federica Romaniello

Diasporas in Cyberspace Internet-based media seem especially suited to the needs of diasporic communities WHY? Decentralized nature of the Internet Interactivity Relatively inexpensive Easy to operate Importance of: - Email - CD-ROMs - Usenet (cultural heritage, family groups, etc.) Way to mitigate the effects of cultural imperialism and to foster a worldwide cultural diversity Attempt to create a virtual community that eliminates the distances that separate people in real world *a number of diasporic websites are designed to correct what are considered misperceptions by outsiders and to mobilize external political support

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