Judgements of Propaganda Near and Far: National Identity and Media Evaluations

The present study seeks to examine the impacts of using mass media and mass communication networks on national identity. To investigate the relationship, views from Anderson, Riseman, Gidens and Inglehart are used in the study. This research has been carried out through a survey using questionnaire distributed among students from Isfahan University in the academic year of 1387-88 (solar calendar). In the first stage of the research, stratified sampling and in the second stage, quota sampling were used. Some 490 subjects were selected as the sample. The hypotheses’ testing suggests that there is a relationship between mass media consumption and national identity. The findings indicates that individuals consuming domestic media get a high score on the construct of national identity and, contrarily, the score of those individuals who use foreign media is low on national identity. The finding is indicative of attitudes’ shift towards new patterns. Regression Analysis has also been used for examining hypotheses. Other findings show that of all the variables affecting national identity, variables such as gender, the extent of foreign and domestic media consumption, age and marital status are more decisive.

Mass communication media technologies influence the structuring of reality, consolidation of value systems, and construction of common social denominators, and thus contribute to the formation of personal and national identities. While, as Edward Said has shown, mainstream Western (including Israeli) media have been dominated by Orientalist, anti-Arab/anti-Islamic perspectives, new media technologies have opened up a broad range of media options lying beyond the reach of Western media's hegemonic presentations. This article explores the use of new mass communication media technologies and their association with identity formation in connection with Bedouin Arab high schools in the Negev, Israel. The findings of this research indicate that Negev Bedouin Arab youth developed diversified patterns of mass media consumption. They also show a preference for Arab media sources. Media consumption patterns are related to their national and civic identities. The findings also indicate that Bedouin Arab youth have a stronger Palestinian national identity than Israeli civic identity.

According to the results of The Global Media Monitoring Project, gender balance is an urgent problem for the absolute majority of the world's media. This problem is particularly acute for Ukrainian mass media that continue to operate in wartime conditions. The purpose of the article is to analyze the peculiarities of women's representation in the content of Ukrainian national and hyperlocal media in the conditions of a full-scale war. The method to achieve a research aim is a comparative analysis of all-Ukrainian monitoring of national and hyperlocal media data for the second quarter of 2022. The data analysis showed that the monitoring results differ in quantitative and qualitative indicators. Thus, the opinions of female experts were cited in 16% of all cases in national media, 35% – in hyperlocal; heroines were mentioned in national media in 22% of cases, in hyperlocal – 34%. Despite certain differences in the data caused by different research approaches and methods, the results of both monitorings indicate a gender imbalance in domestic media in favor of men. This is partly a consequence of the decades-long situation in the Ukrainian media sphere characterized by a lack of women representation in content, especially in news, and partly due to the full-scale war. At the same time, domestic and foreign researchers note positive changes regarding the destruction of gender stereotypes, the transformation of gender roles, and the formation of new narratives in the coverage of the war in the Ukrainian media. This requires study of the problem and is a promising area for further research.

Current research aims to investigate the relationship between national and ethnic identities and the factors affecting their formation in Yasouj city of predominantly Lur.The research was carried out using a quantitative-survey method, and the research tool is questionnaire.National identity was measured in terms of geographical, political, historical, religious, linguistic, and cultural dimensions, and ethnic identity was assessed with indicators such as more focus on city, language, courtesy, and local habits.The research data were collected out of a sample of 383 people aged between 20 and 40 years old residing in Yasouj, which were selected by a regular random method.The results from the bivariate analysis indicated that there is a significant relationship between demographic variables including religious adherence, social interaction, social confidence, social-economic base, and the use of collective tools, and national and ethnic identity.The relationship between national and ethnic identity is direct and significant, indicating the importance of rapid social changes in identity formation and possibility of co-existence of different identities in the contemporary society.The multivariate analysis showed that the variables namely adherence to religious values, social confidence, ethnic identity, domestic and foreign audio-visual mass media totally explained 50% of changes in national identity.In addition, the variables namely religious adherence values, education, written mass media, age, and social confidence have explained 19.6% of changes in ethnic identity.

The purpose of this paper is to study the combat and struggle lives of Li, Yingzhang, Xie, Xue-hong and Weng, Zesheng in terms of their cultural backgrounds and respective characters and traits. It mainly explores their power struggle lines and national identities. Moreover, the problems or obstacles Taiwan is facing and the solution to the development of Taiwan are also discussed. Owing to different backgrounds on family, education and ideology, their goals and the practices of the power struggle are different even though they all stood up and organized or participated in anti-Japanese activities during the Japanese colonial period. The main objective of Xei, Xue –Hong is to seek autonomy and liberation of Taiwan which is based on Taiwan identity. However, Weng, Zesheng is devoted to the revival of China. He cares about his motherland and embraces the identity of Chinese nation . As for Li, Yingzhang , an intellectual of bourgeoisie, deeply cares about the social issues and has been dedicated to seeking justice during the Japanese colonial rule, but is eventually forced to walk toward “revolution”. They all go through Japanese colonial period and the Nationalist-Communist Civil War. . They initially fight against the so-called “ Foreign Power”. But later, the problem of national identities- Taiwan identity or the identity of Chinese Nation emerges, which leads to the struggle of the ideological lines and powers. The conflict and contradiction arise because of the distinct ideological lines, different national identities, and the invention of foreign powers which have hindered the development of Taiwan. Whether people in Taiwan can breakthrough the dilemma, settle the tragedy caused by different concepts of national identities and pave a smooth path for the future of Taiwan seems to be the most significant task. Finding a way for Taiwan is what we have to work on.

Given the significance of tourism in national identity construction and promotion in current era along with Iran’s need for such an international image promotion, the present study investigated the linguistic texts on the discourse of the Iranian official tourism website to achieve two objectives. Firstly, considering the convoluted interplay among discourse, tourism, and national identity, it investigates how Iranians, in terms of their identity, are represented in the linguistic texts of the discourse used on the Iranian official tourism website. Secondly, it identifies how the discourse either maintains, challenges, or transforms the existing stereotyped perceptions of its identity, embracing its Western represented portrayal in Western media. The current study adopted critical discourse analysis as its framework and used Fairclough’s three-dimensional model as its approach to CDA. The findings of the study demonstrated that Iranians’ authentic and genuine identity, by which they wish to be seen, contests the Western mainstream perceptions of Iranian national identity. Therefore, there is a tendency to transform the prevailing Western stereotypical perceptions of their identity from the producers of the analyzed discourse.

The article deals with the problem of gender imbalance in the Ukrainian media. Despite the fact that the problem has resonance both in social practice and in scientific discourse, after two years of full-scale war, the situation regarding the balance of media content and representation of women remains complicated, has signs of regressive dynamics and requires careful research. The aim of the study is to analyze the peculiarities of the representation of women in the content of Ukrainian national and hyperlocal media in the conditions of a full-scale war. The main method is a comparative analysis of all-Ukrainian national and hyperlocal media’ monitoring data for the first quarter of 2024. Regular media monitoring shows that the domestic media publish materials with signs of sexism and gender stereotypes. Data analysis showed that the monitoring results have certain differences in quantitative and qualitative indicators. During the monitoring period, in national media, women were experts in 17% of materials, heroines – in 22.5%, in hyperlocal media – in 39.5% and 33.5% of materials, respectively. Despite certain differences in the data caused by different research approaches and methodologies, the results of both monitorings indicate a gender imbalance in the domestic media in favor of men, especially in the coverage of the topic of war; the national media landscape is characterized by an indirect reflection of gender inequality existing in society. This requires a thorough study of various aspects of this problem: social, historical, psychological, etc., and is a promising direction for further research.

This study examines the use of local, Western and Indian media by Ugandancollege students in order to reconsider the media imperialism thesis in the contextof increasingly complex global flows of media and culture. We surveyed aconvenience sample of 193 students at Makerere University in Kampala in June2003 and asked, among other topics, about their media use patterns, theirperception of cultural threats posed by foreign media and their reasons for likingand disliking local and foreign media. We used a combination of closed andopen questions. Consistent with previous studies, we discovered that therespondents preferred local media over foreign. But when asked specificallyabout foreign media, they preferred Western media to Indian media even thoughthey believed Western media posed a more severe cultural threat to Ugandathan Indian media. However, the respondents also may have felt some culturaland political proximity to Indian films despite the language barrier. We alsofound, again consistent with previous research, that respondents were activerather than passive media users. The respondents seemed particularly activewhen they expressed dislike for media. The respondents also raised concernsabout intra-national cultural dominance by the major language group in thecountry. The results suggest that the media imperialism thesis may bereconsidered again to take into account complexities created by South-to-Southmedia flow, but also intra-national concerns about cultural domination andsubordination.

The subject of the research is the formation and transformation of China's image in the global information space under the influence of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). The object of the research is the materials from national (Chinese), Western (primarily American and British), and Russian mass media dedicated to covering this initiative. The author examines in detail such aspects of the topic as differences in the approaches and tone of the initiative's coverage in media from different countries, the influence of media discourse on the perception of China internationally, and the strategies of Chinese national media in shaping a positive image of the country. Particular attention is paid to the analysis of specific examples of media agendas, such as the concepts of "debt trap" and "cultural invasion" in Western media, as well as the emphasis on strategic partnership and mutual benefit in Russian media. Furthermore, the role of major international events, such as the Belt and Road Forums, as catalysts for media activity is explored. The research is based on a comparative content analysis and discourse analysis of mass media materials from various countries, as well as a synthesis of scientific publications on the topic of national image formation.vThe main conclusions of the conducted research are the identification of a persistent trend towards negative coverage of the Belt and Road Initiative and the formation of a critical image of China in Western mass media, while Russian media demonstrate an overall positive or neutral tone, contributing to the strengthening of a positive image of the PRC. The novelty of the research lies in the comparative analysis of media strategies and narratives using specific media outlets (BBC, "Russia 24", "People's Daily") as examples within the context of the initiative's tenth anniversary. A special contribution of the author to the research topic is the systematization of specific tools and methods used by Chinese national media to shape a favorable country image, including large-scale publications in foreign editions and the production of multilingual video content for the internet space. It is concluded that the Belt and Road Initiative has become a key factor and tool for shaping China's national image, and the state's media policy plays a decisive role in countering negative narratives and promoting positive perception globally.

Conquest, Tyranny, and Ethnocide against the Oromo:A Historical Assessment of Human Rights Conditions in Ethiopia, ca. 1880s–2002 Mohammed Hassen This article attempts to assess the human rights conditions of the Oromo people under four Ethiopian regimes. Beginning with the conquest and incorporation of Oromia into the Ethiopian empire, it provides an overview of the brutality and depredations that Oromos suffered at the hands of Ethiopian soldiers and administrators under Menelik (r. 1880s–1913) and the concerted attacks on the Oromo cultural heritage, language, and national identity during the six decades when Haile Sellassie dominated the Ethiopian political landscape (1916–74). Then it examines the violence against the Oromo national identity and the attempt to alter the demographic makeup of Oromia by the Ethiopian military-socialist regime (1974–91) and the massive human rights violations perpetrated against the Oromo since 1992 in the name of democracy and federalism. In all, the article shows that for more than a century, the Oromo have endured unrelenting attacks on their individual rights, their national identity and cultural institutions, and their independent organizations. Ethiopia has yet to produce a government that respects Oromo human rights. Before I proceed, a few caveats are in order. First, the definition of human rights varies depending on cultural, historical, political, economic, and ideological considerations. In this article, I will follow the definition of Mahmood Monshipuri: [End Page 15] The concept of human rights . . . refers to . . . civil and political rights; rights to life, privacy, a fair trial, humane treatment, prohibition of torture and slavery, freedom of movement and residence; the right not to be arbitrarily arrested or detained; freedom of association, political participation, and equal protection under the law.2 Second, "Historians, in general, are most at home when dealing with events that have been allowed to settle over time."3 It is easier to discuss Oromo human rights conditions before 1991, an era that belongs to history, than in the period since 1991, a highly contested period of history in the making. As I have noted elsewhere, "the present is an emotionally charged psychological moment."4 While it is possible to present a relatively objective picture of Oromo human rights conditions based on the record produced by both Ethiopian and foreign writers,5 one cannot escape being accused of exaggerating the Oromo people's plight and indulging in anti–Tigrayan People's Liberation Front (TPLF) propaganda. My purpose is nevertheless to document the human rights conditions of the Oromo as a scholar loyal to the canons and standard practices of my discipline. If this article encourages others to write about human rights conditions in Ethiopia, its purpose will have been served. Third, the Oromo do not have influential friends in positions of power among Western governments and the Western media. Diaspora Oromos do not have the numerical strength and resources necessary to capture the attention of either the governments or the media. Consequently, the sufferings of the Oromo have received little international attention. The apparent Western indifference to the misery of the Oromos has encouraged the TPLF authorities to continue their Oromo human rights violations with impunity. I believe my duty to the victims of human rights violations is "to record their plight so that they are not forgotten by history, and that history is not rewritten to conceal or distort embarrassing facts."6 This article is an attempt to contribute in a small way to the effort of recording the past in its totality so that future generations will not have to relive their tortured past. Space does not permit me to provide a thorough account of human rights conditions in Ethiopia between the 1880s and 2002. Instead of a detailed discussion, I will outline the salient features of the human rights conditions experienced by the Oromo people [End Page 16] during the century after Menelik's conquests in the 1880s, and I will focus especially on the period after 1991. Conquest, Exploitation, and Deculturation: The Imperial Period, 1880s–1974 During the second half of the nineteenth century, the steady flow of European warfare technology into Abyssinia and its virtual absence from Oromia facilitated and increased Abyssinian raids for slave and cattle into Oromo territory. This...

This article deals with the objective factors of transformation of the education system in Russia.Author discovers that nowadays a fundamentally new system of internal and external threats to the security of individuals and the societyrevealsin Russia, as well as the security of the educational process, which it isn`t associated with the traditional understanding of the enemy and the aggressor. As a result of the research, the author argues that the introductionthe globalist types of thinking and behavior, western reform of education, the copy of the Western media in the education system of the Russian society for the specified purpose is having a devastating impact on people, destroy the national identity. It should be noted, the decisive role of the people in decision of their life matters and the life of the state.The developed nation that has preserved its national values, their mentality capable morally, intellectually, aesthetically resist any destructive information and psychological influence.One of the public sphere, in which the formation of the national mentality is certainly a Russian education and science. Thus, they can identify as a certain set of mainly educational (intellectual) public safety, which is a component of national security. A significant role in ensuring the security of educational system plays education as a basic element of creating intellectual development of individuals and society in the whole. In modern conditions, it is regrettable to note that the processes taking place in the field of education in Russia, pose a significant threat to the national security of the Russian Federation.

This study examines how the use of a foreign country's media and culture influences perceptions of that country. A total of 315 Korean and 290 Japanese college students were surveyed in 2002 to facilitate the author's analysis of the flow of cultural products between Korea and Japan and the impact of their use. Between countries cultural products flow in one direction because of differences in market size and cultural competitiveness. This paper aims to reconfirm the asymmetric flow of cultural products between Korea and Japan. Its results reveal that Korean college students spend 25.40% of their media usage time consuming Japanese media products, whereas only 1.79% of Japanese students devote any time at all to Korean products. Next, studying both domestic and foreign media use, the author examined the effects of asymmetric cultural consumption on how Koreans and the Japanese perceive each other. Perception of a country is described in terms of three variables: cultural affinity, product purchase intention, and preference for the country. Use levels of foreign media, cultural exposure to the foreign country, and social demographics were hypothesized to influence these variables. Traveling experience to the counterpart country and preference for that country's food were measured to represent cultural exposure. Gender was a significant variable influencing cross-cultural perception. For Japanese students, first-hand exposure to Korean culture affected their perception of Korea significantly, whereas Korean students were more strongly affected by media use. Interestingly, Korean students’ domestic media use negatively affected their cultural proximity to Japan, while Japanese students’ domestic media use positively affected their intentions to purchase Korean products.

As an important field for cross-cultural communication, the discourse construction of cultural heritage news reporting plays a not inconsiderable role in reflecting the value orientation and cultural concepts of different civilizations. The present study aims to conduct a comparative study of Chinese and Western cultural heritage reporting by exploring the similarities and differences between Chinese and Western media in terms of thematic content, discourse subjects and communication purposes, based on the framework of cultural discourse studies, while also analyzing the underlying cultural and historical factors as well as their engagement in international communication. The study adopts a quantitative and qualitative combined method, and data are collected from the heritage-related news reports in such influential media as China Daily, The New York Times, and the British Broadcasting Corporation during a time span from 2020 to 2025. Results show that while both Chinese and western media pay attention to the sustainable development of cultural heritage, Chinese media tend to combine cultural heritage with national identity, traditional festivals and tourism development, emphasizing cultural continuity and national pride, and the communication strategy is dominated by official narrative; on the other hand, western media pay more attention to the global sharing, modern application, and market value of cultural heritage, and their communication strategies highlight diversified narratives and individual experiences. Those similarities and differences in discourse construction patterns are deeply influenced by their respective cultural and historical backgrounds. The study offers some insights for the different discourse patterns between Chinese and Western media in cultural heritage reporting, providing new theoretical support and practical inspiration for the international communication of cultural heritage.

The authors examine the process of a value-oriented context implementation by Western media in the coverage of the radical group’s activities. A specifi c form of content analysis as a method was used, expressed in a sentiment analysis of specifi cally selected material based on news publications. The scientifi c novelty of the study is the application of a text tone analyzing method in the little-studied subject of the radical organizations’ media image. In addition, in the context of the Taliban terrorist group formation as a political system in Afghanistan in 2021, it is relevant to research the banned organization media image from the point of political communication view. As a theoretical basis, an actor-oriented approach was used through the prism of the society mediatization theory as well as the theory of value identities. During the study, value-oriented triggers were analyzed in the publications of CNN, Daily News, The New York Times. The choice of these media is due to a reassessment of the foreign policy priorities of the United States of America, being the main antagonist of the banned Taliban organization. Thus, the study is devoted to the main topical issues: is the topic of the Taliban relevant in the US mass media today and what is the media image of the Taliban in the US mass media after the withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan. As a result of the analysis, the authors conclude that despite the change in the US foreign policy strategy and the transformation of its priorities, the topic of the Taliban is not only still relevant in the US mass media but also has a structured system for constructing a negative media image of the Taliban movement, where the Western media highlights the destructive actions and the economic and social consequences incurred as a result of the policies pursued by the Taliban. In further research, the banned radical Taliban group as a media phenomenon should be studied more carefully, as well as the social consequences of the formation of one or another media obsession in the mass media within the framework of this issue. In the future, additional studies of foreign and domestic media are needed to determine the trends in the development of media images of banned radical organizations

Upon its independence in 1957, Malaysia was in the process of becoming a modern nation and therefore required modern totems to bind together its diverse population. Malaysia’s postcolonial plural society would be brought under the imagined ‘nation-of-intent’ of the government of the day (Shamsul A. B., 2001). Music in the form of the national anthem and patriotic songs were and remained essential components of these totems; mobilised by the state to foster a sense of national cohesion and collective identity. These songs are popular and accepted by Malaysian citizens from diverse backgrounds as a part of their national identity, and such affinities are supported by the songs’ repeated broadcast and consumption on national radio, television and social media platforms. For this study, several focus group discussions (FGD) were conducted in Kuching, Kota Kinabalu and the Klang Valley. This research intends to observe and analyse whether selected popular patriotic songs in Malaysia, composed and written between the 1960s to 2000 could promote and harness a sense of collective identity and belonging amongst Malaysians. There exists an evident lacuna in the study of the responses and attitudes of Malaysians, specifically as music listeners and consumers of popular patriotic songs. The study finds that unlike initially hypothesised, patriotic songs – instead of commercial popular songs – are more popular and wide-reaching in appeal across different professions, ethnicities, religions and geographic locations of Malaysians. Patriotic music provides a means for social cohesion, not via the propagation of dogmatic patriotic content, but through the personal, intimate and affective associations that such songs solicit from individual citizens.