Commercialization Of Media Research Articles

Real-Time Harmonic Contrast Material–specific US of Focal Liver Lesions

Recent advances in contrast material-enhanced ultrasonography (US) mainly include (a) development of low-acoustic-pressure (low-mechanical-index) harmonic software, capable of obtaining real-time images without disrupting contrast material microbubbles, and (b) commercialization of new contrast media ("second-generation" contrast media), capable of producing intense echo signals in this low-mechanical-index setting. With use of low-mechanical-index continuous-mode contrast-enhanced US, the circulatory kinetic models of various focal liver lesions can be displayed dynamically. Hepatic lesions usually have typical perfusion characteristics and enhancement patterns through the various phases of parenchymal enhancement, which helps characterize lesions and, in most cases, allows definitive diagnosis, even among lesions that exhibit very similar baseline appearances. Because of the use of harmonic technologies at low emission frequencies, there is some loss of spatial resolution and overall image quality, typically resulting in a grainy appearance. In addition, lesion depth affects the detectability of vascularity to some degree in that poor signal arises from deep-seated lesions. Moreover, liver attenuation (eg, in patients with steatosis or chronic liver disease) further reduces the sensitivity of contrast-enhanced US. Nevertheless, with its unique capacity to provide images in real time, low-mechanical-index contrast-enhanced US is the dynamic imaging modality of choice in the differential diagnosis of focal liver lesions.

The Citizen-Consumer: Media Effects at the Intersection of Consumer and Civic Culture

Scholars in various fields have speculated that the commercialization of mass media has contributed to the decline of civic culture. They contend that the personal needs emphasized by product-saturated mass media diminish civic-mindedness by creating an individualistic consumption-oriented culture. Despite this critique, some scholars argue that mass media do not erode civic culture in favor of consumer culture; rather, the two are thought to be positively interrelated. Although these contrasting perspectives have been repeatedly discussed, research has rarely empirically investigated these contending claims. We examine media influences on civic and consumer culture while considering the interrelationships of consumer attitudes and behaviors with civic participation using the 2000 DDB Life Style Study. In doing so, we distinguish between news and entertainment media and between socially conscious and status-oriented consumption. A latent variable structural equation model is used to test hypotheses. Results suggest that consumption behaviors and civic participation are not conflicting, even though media foster commercial attitudes and motivate consumption. Overall, media effects on this dynamic are positive, suggesting that critiques of media demobilization may be misplaced.

Critical Media Research, Globalisation Theory and Commercialisation

In this article, I will look at the status of critical research in contemporary analyses of the media. This kind of assessment should only be done keeping Fredric Jameson’s famous injunction in mind: “always historicize!” (Jameson 1981). Critical communication scholarship is a historically evolving field of research which has, since its inception, responded to key social and theoretical developments, of which globalisation is the most significant recent example. After a brief historical overview of critical media research, I will concentrate in a more detailed way on the question of how critical perspectives relate to contemporary discussions of the media and globalisation (which are mutually constitutive). I will present several accounts of the relationship between media and globalisation and offer an analysis and criticism of these. The critical starting point for this essay is the fact that during the last couple of decades communication research and the development of media have largely followed their own separate paths. At a time when the media has become more and more commercialised throughout the world, the field of media studies has neglected critical economic considerations of the media. Therefore, the “re-introduction” of critical economical considerations of the media is a necessity. I conclude the paper by briefly examining the question of how critical media theory should position itself in light of the changes that the current wave of media commercialisation and globalisation have brought about.

Chemically defined media and the culture of mammalian preimplantation embryos: historical perspective and current issues.

Considerable advances in media development for the culture of preimplantation mammalian embryos have been made since mouse embryos were first cultured and successfully transferred to foster mothers. The purpose of this review is to detail the history of the development of chemically defined media for the culture of preimplantation embryos. Two approaches have been used to determine the composition of chemically defined media: the 'back-to-nature' approach and 'let the embryo choose' or empirical optimization approach. Recent developments, including the supplementation of media with amino acids and the use of sequential media for the extended culture of preimplantation embryos, are critically assessed. Importantly, it is recognized that even the best media currently used are not optimal and inevitably cause imbalances and stress to the embryos. Consequently, preimplantation embryos must adapt to the culture environment in order to survive. The adaptations to stress that occur when embryos are placed in a chemically defined environment are reviewed. The implications of these various stresses on the patterns of gene expression in the early embryo and their potential long-term effects are also emphasized. The scientific and ethical issues raised by the commercialization of human embryo culture media are briefly addressed.

Media Commercialization and Journalism in Greece

This article analyses the effects of media commercialization and market expansion on Greek journalism and argues that although journalism appears to be a profession which plays a more active social and political role in Greece, giving the impression that it sets the agenda and represents the ordinary citizen, it is heavily influenced by the constraints imposed by news organizations. The article first discusses to what extent the `professional model' of journalism can be applied to all countries. Second, it provides a brief account of the contemporary media landscape. It then discusses the implications of media commercialization on Greek journalism drawing from original and other research.

Social Structure, Media System, and Audiences in China: Testing the Uses and Dependency Model

Much has been written about the structure and processes of China's mass media changes before and after the late Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping initiated the economic reform and open-door policies in the late 1970s. Many of them focused on the commercialization, depoliticalization, and internationalization of Chinese media as a result of the market economy and external openness. Little known, however, is how the audiences get caught up in the interplay between the fast changing social structure and the evolving media system in China. Using the uses and dependency model as a framework, this study seeks to determine the effects of the media transformation on the audiences and their media use in the new environment. In this article we argue that the uses and dependency perspective best helps explain why Chinese readers prefer a particular kind of news and why the Party organs are losing ground to other more market-oriented media.

How to Combine Media Commercialization and Party Affiliation: The Italian Experience

Click to increase image sizeClick to decrease image sizeKeywords: Civic Engagement European Mass Media Italian Mass Media Mass Communication Media And Political Parties Media And Politics Media Commercialization Political Journalism

National and International News Agencies

National news agencies tend not to excite the same scholarly or even the same popular attention as the international or `global' news agencies. Yet both international and national news agencies contribute to the simultaneous processes of globalization and localization. The number of major general news international agencies has reduced in recent years, while national news agencies are faced with a broad range of difficult challenges that may threaten the future viability of at least some of them. These challenges particularly have to do with relations between agencies and media owners, relations between agencies and the state, changes in the composition of the market as a result of growing media commercialization, concentration and globalization and new sources of competition in the supply of news. The range of possible defensive strategies includes diversification, redefining the relationship between national news agencies and national identity, linking up with the new global media conglomerates, partnerships between agencies, identification of new models for relating to the state and reassessment of the respective benefits and weaknesses of the cooperative model of news agency organization.

Ethical issues and the commercialization of embryo culture media

Ethical issues and the commercialization of embryo culture media

China's Journalism: the emancipatory potential of social theory

This article explores the liberating and empowering potential of social theories for China's authoritarian-bureaucratic journalistic practices. By relating them to empirical studies, it analyzes the sociology of knowledge-cognitive interests, social positions and politico-economic contexts-of (a) liberal-pluralism, (b) the reformist Chinese ''Old Left'' of the 1980s and (c) the radical-critical Chinese ''New Left'' of the 1990s. These social theories converge on the central importance of democratizing China's party-state, but diverge on the role of the market in this process. While liberals empower the market to foster ''negative freedom'' for journalism, radicals attack the anti-democratic tendencies of media commercialization. Among the Chinese intelligentsia, the ''New Left'' is sharply critical of both liberal-pluralism and the ''Old Left''. New democratic discourses must explain the relationships between China's journalism and the state-market nexus in the context of globalization, thereby balancing universalistic principles with national narratives.

The effects of media commercialization on journalism and politics in Greece

This paper tries to describe the effects of media modernization and commercialization in journalism and politics, taking as example the case of contemporary Greece. This paper is organized into two parts. The first deals essentially with the effects that the new structure of the Greek media system has imposed on professional journalism, while the second deals with the changes that this new media environment has caused in the political world. It argues that these changes have led to a new battle between the media owners and politicians over who will control the public and political agenda and a new relationship between them.

Asian NICs' Broadcast Media in the Era of Globalization

This study examines the trend of commercialization in the broadcast media in Asia's four newly industrialized countries (NICs) - Taiwan, South Korea, Singapore and Hong Kong - and its impact and implications. The central theme of this study is to investigate the `Asian characteristics' of media commercialization and their significance and limits. The direct and indirect, immediate and profound impact and the various implications in the Asian political and social context are discussed. As the focus of the study is on the four Asian NICs, changes in other Asian countries are also discussed as a reflection of some general traits of the region. In particular, this research suggests that: (1) the trend of media liberalization and deregulation in Asian NICs has been mainly manifested through media commercialization, and: (2) the most profound significance of media commercialization in the Asian political and social context is that media commercialization is an alternative or indirect way to achieve media democratization, which is the first step toward political and social democratization.

The Growth of News Media and Political Communication in China and Taiwan in the Early 1990s: A Comparative Study

abstractThe study starts with a comparative analysis of press development in China and Taiwan. Results indicate that news media of both sides of the Taiwan Strait benefited from the sweeping political and economic changes. The study further analyzes factors as influences on individuals’ media use and found age and education as important demographic predictors in addition to political efficacy, attitude toward authorities, and political interest. Results also show that the democratic reform in Taiwan has created a favorable climate for demands of timely and diversified political information. People on the island with a participative attitude in political affairs tended to have a greater desire to seek information from the news media. Political efficacy, attitude toward authorities, and political interest emerged as significant influences on media use in Taiwan. But in China, despite the unprecedented economic reform and increasing commercialization of the news media, this is not the case.

Public Broadcasting and the Global Framework of Media Democratization

Public broadcasting remains a key institution of democratization in the context of globalization, marked by the shift from the national to the transnational as the site of media power and, increasingly, media activity. In the face of rampant commercialization of media, public broadcasting is essential to the promotion of pluralism in the public sphere. In a multichannel environment, public broadcasting must find its particular place. At the same time, multilateral politics present a specific new challenge to public broadcasting. As media politics go global, public broadcasting must be rethought and new structures and mechanisms put in place at the global level.

Teaching Menu Terminology From Major Beef Cuts: Are Media Commercials Effective?

Teaching Menu Terminology From Major Beef Cuts: Are Media Commercials Effective?