World of Media-2016
World of Media-2016. Journal of Russian Media and Journalism Studies
The issue was published in 2016 by the Faculty of Journalism, Lomonosov Moscow State University.
LEAD ARTICLE
This article presents the results of content analysis of newspapers in small and medium-sized Russian towns. The study focuses on themes, problems in publication, and communicative characteristics of content: subjects and objects of publications, subjects of opinions, used data sources, genres, headlines and illustrations as ways to attract readers’ attention. The results obtained are compared to the findings of the earlier opinion survey of editors involved in the respective aspects of editorial activities. The analysis showed that the thematic and genre diversity of periodicals is rather wide and corresponds to their functional specifics. But the editors’ vision of the desired content model is not implemented in full, and this is mainly connected to the economic conditions of editorial offices, limited human resources, and lack of employee professionalism.
Key words: local press, media space, thematic model, communicative characteristics of media content, newspapers’ genres.
Received: 05.01.16
Accepted: 17.03.16
ARTICLES
Previous studies have illustrated that ownership of media capital is an important way of controlling media companies in developed countries (Garnham, 1992). However, we suggest that in developing countries, there are other forms of control over the media market. This research analyses the parallel financing models of media in Russian regional media markets. State informational contracts are the main tool of this alternative financing. These practices of state contracts are fully embedded into Russian regional market structure and are accepted by almost all media companies, both private and public. The 1846 samples of contracts collected from four Russian regions of a total sum of over 5,5 billion Russian rubles demonstrates the existence of parallel informational contract markets. This market co-exists with an advertising-based market. Using the mechanism of parallel financing, local authorities establish loyal relationships with media companies. We conclude that these financing models enable authorities to control the media market indirectly through financial tools and informal relations, rather than through participation in media capital.
Key words: regions, media market, state control, state contracts, financing models of media.
Received: 16.05.16
Accepted: 20.06.16
This paper examines the coverage afforded India between 1969 and 2000 on the U.S. evening news programs disseminated by ABC, CBS, and NBC. These years were selected because they allowed for an analysis of network television coverage spanning the final six administrations that served the United States through the end of the twentieth and the beginning of the twenty-first century. Four of those administrations were led by Republicans (Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan and George Bush), and the other two were led by Democrats (Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton). Some presidents (Carter, Reagan, Clinton) enjoyed good relations with the Indian government, while others (Nixon, Ford, Bush) often were frustrated in their dealings with the Indian leadership. The analysis shows that a strong majority of stories suggested India was either not safe or not stable; thus, bad news dominated, regardless of whether the U.S. administration had favorable or unfavorable relations with its Indian counterpart.
Key words: India, U.S. television news, international news coverage.
Received: 14.03.16
Accepted: 27.04.16
One of the questions raised by lobbying campaigns made by citizen-driven organizations and civil society (above NGOs) is the possibility of evaluating efficiency. Researches on NGOs (Scholte, 2009; Reitig, 2011; Betsill & Corell, 2001) underline the lack of efficient strategies that are able to lobby the policy makers. In this paper, we examine methods of lobbying and procedures of communication used for lobbying and we propose indicators to evaluate actions able to define the efficiency of NGO campaigns. Our methodology is based on literary review, and moreover on cooperation with citizen-driven organizations. This cooperation gives us access to events, campaign meetings, communication material, etc. Interviews with policy officers and officials of the European institutions in Brussels complete the methodology. With three campaigns of citizen-driven organizations, the aim is to identify success and failure in their strategies. Our research reveals three different results:
- Lobbying, at least at the EU or UN level, should rely on the complete set of communication tools and channels able to reach different types of publics in order to raise or maintain awareness, and finally convince decision makers to vote for a law (national level) or a resolution (UN level).
- While discovering social media, NGOs would have better results if they followed the trends issued by private companies to promote their products: consideration and dialogue, both with policy makers and their public.
- The proliferation of tools and channels available for delivering messages can deliver several “incoherent messages,” i.e. messages more or less adapted to the specificity of each channel and to each public. In return, this creates an imprecise communication not in favour of the NGO.
Key words: influence, lobbying, social change, NGO, efficiency.
Received: 13.08.16
Accepted: 16.09.16
Peculiarities of “Novaya Gazeta” and “The New York Times” coverage of the conflict in southeast Ukraine are considered in this article. Framing theory as well as attribute agenda-setting theory has become the methodological basis for the research; 98 articles from these newspapers published between March 16 and April 15 form its empirical basis. The temporal distribution of the articles devoted to the events in Russia’s neighboring country is analyzed; the thematic focuses of the publications are compared; frames and sources of citations in the two newspapers are juxtaposed. Having divided all the stories into several content blocks, the authors pay special attention to the most popular of them. The conclusion is made that newspapers’ ways of covering the events in the neighboring country are rather similar. Moreover, sometimes – especially when journalists assessed Russia’s role in the crisis – “Novaya Gazeta” was even more critical of the Kremlin than “The New York Times”.
Key words: framing, attribute agenda, “Novaya Gazeta”, “The New York Times”, Ukraine.
Received: 18.04.16
Accepted: 21.05.16
The paper examines deontological values of popular science journalism. It investigates the reasons for their deformation in response to the commercialization of journalism. Commercial bias affects the conceptual framework of content and reveals itself in the large proportion of purely entertaining material and sensationalism. Topics selected for key stories mostly focus on tourist hotspots attracting international visitors. This paper aims to show how the transformation of deontological values entailed the conceptual transformation of a popular science magazine. The study draws on the data obtained from several similar periodicals. Not only does mass media satisfy the need for information shaped by a person’s outlook, it also forms their outlook. A magazine containing articles about theoretical or pilot studies in a particular field of science, culture, or practical activities serves to disseminate knowledge and encourages self-education. The formation of popular journalism deontology involves methodological, cultural and typological aspects.
Key words: deontological values, popular science journalism, commercialization of journalism, travel journalism, innovation journalism.
Received: 01.07.16
Accepted: 10.08.16
The media effects studies are more precise in a teleological perspective implying that the effects are analyzed in terms of goals. The teleological approach to journalism must be based on an analysis of the transparency and regularity of the goal formation process, the level of consistency and hierarchicality of goals and their compliance with the social mission of the media. The author considers it useful to engage in an interdisciplinary cooperation in the area of teleological studies of journalism and mass media with sociologists, linguists and psychologists.
Key words: journalism, goals, teleological model, social mission, intent analysis.
Received: 09.06.16
Accepted: 12.07.16
CONTEMPORARY DEBATE
The authors of this paper elaborate on the idea that in the modern postindustrial information society, social development is closely connected with the process of communication enhancement. That is to say that the transfer from monologue to dialogue and from isolated communication channels to integrated ones in the field of communications predefines an inevitable activation of citizen participation in shaping the direction and means of social development. The authors consider the transfer from media support to media collaboration to be a new motion vector to the organization of public participation in social development. This paper states that an open and effective dialogue is a sign of conscious and actively realizable media collaboration.
Key words: media support, media collaboration, humanistic approach, dialogue.
Received: 04.03.16
Accepted: 19.04.16
REVIEW
Received: 20.09.16
Accepted: 17.09.16
CONFERENCE REPORT
Received: 21.09.16
Accepted: 18.09.16