Suchergebnisse

Assesses the importance of print technology on petitioning in the English Revolution & investigates the emergence of a British public sphere in this period as an extension of new practices of petitioning. It is shown that economic aspects of printing were responsible for the wide dissemination of printed petitions. Moreover, printing fostered the creation of an anonymous body of readers, the public, to whom reasoned debate was directed. It also was directly implicated in the organization of new political bodies called parties, which mobilized to put their arguments into print form. Thus, it is argued that, as a new means of communication, printing was central to the development of the modern public sphere. Other variables, eg, Protestantism & capitalism, commonly associated with the formation of the public sphere are demonstrated to be mediated by their linkage to communicative changes brought about by print culture. This historical study indicates that current debates on the public sphere would do well to focus more closely on the nature & significance of contemporary changes in the means of communication. 74 References. D. Ryfe

Following an overview of the ways that power relations have been constructed & maintained throughout history, it is suggested that, in the modern world, the power of "transnational" classes of the "intellectual elite" & the "hegemony of global capital" are sustained by consumerism & its promises. The central role of the body in these relations & in the social reproduction of class interests is discussed, expanding Antonio Gramsci's (1972) analysis of ideology to include the ways that a society uses ideology to "colonize individual desires & subjectivity at the level of consciousness & the reproduction of the habitus in the actions of everyday life." Dominant ideologies of the ruling elite, who control both the means of production & communication, are shaped & disseminated via the media, which, in turn, impacts the individual & collective body "in ways that dispose the acceptance or rejection of what is transmitted." Ways that the acceptance of such ideologies is ensured via the interaction of the economy, ideology, & media are discussed, demonstrating how they interact to regulate & discipline the body, colonize desire, & shape consciousness. Comparisons are made between these hegemonic processes & their use in controlling the body in early oral cultures, print cultures, & the contemporary electronic culture. 45 References. K. Hyatt Stewart

Draws on data from a 1976-1984 field study on the anthropology of mass communications in Benin City, Nigeria, to analyze the 1984 documentary, "A Squandering of Riches," which offered a scathing analysis of political & military crisis through the eyes of popular singer Onyeka Onwenu. However, content analysis of Nigerian newspapers following the documentary's broadcast revealed criticisms of this personal style of journalism, focusing on issues of tribalism & encroaching individualism, both antithetical to national unity. Onwenu was chastised for transgressing accepted rules of discourse, eg, airing "dirty laundry" in public & promoting an individualism associated with Western hegemony & cultural imperialism. Further analysis of leading newspapers & magazines revealed a marked absence of personal or biographical stories about public figures in general. This is attributed to the economic, social, religious, & political factors governing the production of print media in Nigeria. K. Hyatt Stewart

The erosion of media trust raises concerns about the ways in which the conduit of political information could undermine citizens' trust in democracy. While a large body of research in western democracies shows that media trust is contingent on specific media-system, political and cultural factors pertaining to national contexts, little is known about the sources of media trust in the new democracies from Central and Eastern Europe. Based on statistical analyses of public opinion surveys, this research tests if levels of trust in various traditional (television, radio, written press) and alternative mediums (Internet and online social networks) are differentiated along political party lines and depending on media consumption patterns in post-communist Romania. The results reveal a stronger association between trust in political parties and trust in traditional mediums, while trust in online media is more strongly linked to consumption patterns. These findings have practical, theoretical and normative implications for the functioning of democracy in post-communist societies.

"Die öffentliche gesellschaftliche Auseinandersetzung mit Rechtsextremismus ist ein sehr diskontinuierliches Phänomen und entzündet sich in der Regel an wenigen resonanzstarken Skandalereignissen. Der Beitrag hat zum Ziel, Ursachen für diese diskontinuierliche gesellschaftliche Auseinandersetzung mit dem Rechtsextremismus zu erfassen und mögliche Folgen zu reflektieren. Die empirische Basis für die Analyse der Ursachen, Dynamiken und Regularitäten solcher Thematisierungswellen des Rechtsextremismus bilden Daten zur öffentlichen Kommunikation, die durch eine umfassende Inhaltsanalyse aller für die gesellschaftliche Bewertung des Rechtsextremismus relevanten massenmedialen und parlamentarischen Diskussionen seit 1998 in der Schweiz gewonnen wurden. Auf der Basis dieser Daten werden drei Fragen diskutiert. Erstens: Inwieweit sind diese Skandalisierungswellen Ausdruck einer gesellschaftlichen Sensibilisierung für das Phänomen Rechtsextremismus? Als Indikatoren für die Diskussion dieser These dienen den Verfassern einerseits die Nachhaltigkeit der öffentlichen Kommunikation über Rechtsextremismus und andererseits ihr Differenzierungsgrad. Zweitens: Inwieweit sind diese Skandalisierungswellen getrieben durch eine befürchtete resp. bereits beobachtete Diffusion rechtsextremer Deutungsmuster in die Mitte der Gesellschaft? Als wichtigster Indikator hierfür ist die Verwendung rigider Differenzsemantiken durch definitionsmächtige etablierte Akteure zu nennen, die rechtsextreme Deutungsmuster erst anschlussfähig machen. Drittens: Inwieweit sind diese Skandalisierungswellen zurückzuführen auf Veränderungen der Strukturen und Bedingungen der öffentlichen Kommunikation selbst, die als Effekte des neuen Strukturwandels der Öffentlichkeit beschrieben werden? Im Licht der Strukturwandelsthese sind die Skandalisierungswellen und der 'medienplebiszitäre' Druck auf das politische System vor allem durch die Ökonomie der Aufmerksamkeitsgenerierung zu erklären - ein Prozess, der zu Aktionismus verführt und die Nachhaltigkeit der politischen Moral zu entwerten droht." (Autorenreferat)