WORLD OF MEDIA-2020. ISSUE №3
World of Media-2020. Journal of Russian Media and Journalism Studies. Issue №3.
The issue was published in 2020 by the Faculty of Journalism, Lomonosov Moscow State University.
LEAD ARTICLE
Bamezai, G., Roy, A., Roy, An., Chhetri, S. (2020) Gender mainstreaming as an essential part of journalism education in India // World of Media. Journal of Russian Media and Journalism Studies, 3: 5-33.
The present paper posits relevance of gender mainstreaming (GM) in journalism education, which can redress rising gender discrimination, violence, and gap in media ethics, professionalism and journalistic practices. Reasons are embedded in the structural, spatial and temporal aspects of the media profession, especially in the digital media content and practice. Gender mainstreaming framework (UNESCO/ UNITWIN, 2018) has been used in this paper to explore the progress in gender mainstreaming in journalism education in India. The findings are based on a survey of 34 Journalism schools of public and private universities in India for an exploration of pedagogical and transactional practices in gender mainstreaming. Findings suggest that epistemological and ontological perspectives in teaching and research programmes fall short of a consistent gendered approach and are universally sporadic. Any conscious agreement on ‘gender mainstreaming’ is either restricted to a ‘topic’ or a paper and offers limited scope of influence on changes in the interpretation of content, gender sensitive pedagogical perspective or diversity of issues in research. The position of faculty on gender mainstreaming does not actually show a deep gender polarization, but such feelings essentially could not change the orientation of the curriculum of the course, their delivery and professional standards. If enrolment of female students in journalism, as part of higher education, has shown a significant rise, yet their entry in the media industry has not dented the status quo of discrimination, or stopped women from deserting the profession mid-way. Mapping of gender mainstreaming in journalism education holds the promise of ushering in affirmative policies and actions in changing the media discourse pertaining to exploitation, disempowerment and marginalisation of women.
Key words: Gender mainstreaming, digital media, journalism and media education, women in media, women media professionals, India.
Received: 14.06.20
Accepted: 12.08.20
ARTICLE
Chobanyan, K. (2020) Up for a challenge? Digital practices of 24-hour news channels // World of Media. Journal of Russian Media and Journalism Studies, 3: 35-56.
Nearly 35 years ago 24-hour global news channels proved to be the fast, efficient and popular way of news production and delivery. They re-defined television news and used to sell this product successfully until the spawn of digital era. However, today younger audience prefers to get their news mainly from digital sources. 24-hour news channels are facing the tough challenge, having to conquer the new ways of packaging and delivering the news. This study uses quantitative content analysis to explore the different practices some of the biggest global news channels are using on YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram. The findings suggest that TV news powerhouses are abandoning video as their main specialty on digital platforms and mostly use traditional production formats to create the digital news product. We also come to conclusion that each platform is being used for different purposes: YouTube offers mainly the same content viewers would find on traditional TV; Facebook mainly drives traffic to the company web-site; and Instagram so far is the platform lacking clear content strategy, used for strengthening the brand rather than distributing news. The quality of some video materials offered by 24-hour news channels often does not meet conventional professional standards.
Key words: 24-hour global news channels, digital platforms, digital news, audience activity, social networks, traditional TV news.
Received: 02.04.20
Accepted: 30.08.20
Aduloju, E. T. (2020) Undergraduate students and time spent on social networking sites: A study of the University of Port Harcourt, Nigeria // World of Media. Journal of Russian Media and Journalism Studies, 3: 57-72.
Social media sites allow students particularly in tertiary institutions to adopt different types of social networking sites to interact; keep in touch with their families and friends and keep up with their academic assignments. Conversely, there has been a growing concern that students at the tertiary level in Nigeria have devoted much of their time to communication through social networking sites at the expense of serious academic work. Thus, the study investigated how the undergraduate students of the University of Port Harcourt, Nigeria make use of social media sites for academic purposes. It also examined how much time the students allotted to socialisation and academic work in the use of online media. Anchored on the Uses and Gratification Theory, the survey research design was adopted while questionnaire was used as the instrument of data collections. Data were generated from a sample of 600 respondents randomly selected from six faculties from the University of Port Harcourt, Nigeria. Findings showed that most undergraduate students devoted more time to social networking sites mainly for socialisation and only used the sites for academic purposes when they were given assignments or when researching on a particular topic. The findings also revealed that the length of time spent on social networking sites socialising reduced the respondents’ ability to concentrate on academic work and eventually led to poor performance of undergraduate students. Based on the findings and conclusion, it was recommended among others, that media literacy education as a course should be introduced and integrated into the tertiary institutions’ progammes, especially at the undergraduate level.
Key words: Academic work, social media, social networking sites, socialisation, undergraduate students, youth.
Received: 20.05.20
Accepted: 31.08.20