Current Media Landscape Research Articles

Review: Cut/Copy/Paste: Fragments from the History of Bookwork, by Whitney Trettien

Book Review| September 01 2022 Review: Cut/Copy/Paste: Fragments from the History of Bookwork, by Whitney Trettien Cut/Copy/Paste: Fragments from the History of Bookwork by Whitney Trettien. University of Minnesota Press, 2022. 328 pp./$112.00 (hb) ISBN 1517904080, 328 pp./$28.00 (sb) ISBN 1517904099. Anne M. Royston Anne M. Royston Anne M. Royston is an assistant professor of English at Rochester Institute of Technology. Her book Material Noise: Reading Theory as Artist’s Book was published in 2019 by MIT Press. Search for other works by this author on: This Site PubMed Google Scholar Afterimage (2022) 49 (3): 118–123. https://doi.org/10.1525/aft.2022.49.3.118 Views Icon Views Article contents Figures & tables Video Audio Supplementary Data Peer Review Share Icon Share Facebook Twitter LinkedIn MailTo Tools Icon Tools Get Permissions Cite Icon Cite Search Site Citation Anne M. Royston; Review: Cut/Copy/Paste: Fragments from the History of Bookwork, by Whitney Trettien. Afterimage 1 September 2022; 49 (3): 118–123. doi: https://doi.org/10.1525/aft.2022.49.3.118 Download citation file: Ris (Zotero) Reference Manager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search All ContentAfterimage Search As we move further into a digitally assisted and digitally enabled (and sometimes, it seems, digitally dominated) future, we inevitably are compelled to return to the past, seeking older ancestors to make sense of new media. Whitney Trettien’s Cut/Copy/Paste: Fragments from the History of Bookwork carves another path into our current media landscape, this time beginning in the seventeenth century. Trettien, a scholar at the University of Pennsylvania, tends to create work that bridges the critical and the creative, including digitally born publications and the well-regarded digital literature piece Gaffe/Stutter (2003). With Cut/Copy/Paste her project is twofold: not only to add a link in the evolutionary history of the book, but also to suggest gentle revisions to our concept of book historical evolution as a whole. Focusing on bookwork at the margins, largely forgotten and ignored, Trettien gracefully draws out an argument for complicating our idea of book history with... You do not currently have access to this content.

Stumble on information or misinformation? Examining the interplay of incidental news exposure, narcissism, and new media literacy in misinformation engagement

PurposeIn the current media landscape where misinformation circulation becomes a primary threat to public health and society's intellectual well-being, incidental news exposure's role in influencing misperceptions and misinformation engagement remains under-explored. Moreover, less is known regarding how and to what extent personal factors such as personality and media literacy may drive the sharing of misinformation.Design/methodology/approachUnder the theoretical guidance of the stimulus-organism-response (S-O-R) model, the authors surveyed 546 college students aged 18 and above to explore the relationship between incidental news exposure and misinformation sharing.FindingsFindings buttressed the hypothesized relationship built on the S-O-R model and revealed a path from incidental online news exposure to misinformation sharing, mediated by misperceptions. The mediated path was further moderated by narcissism and media literacy. Specifically, narcissists have higher misperceptions when they encounter online news more often; higher misperceptions in turn give rise to greater misinformation sharing behaviors. The ability to critically consume new media information only decreases misinformation sharing behavior for narcissists with lower misperceptions.Originality/valueGuided by the S-O-R framework, this study takes the first step in examining the link between incidental news exposure and misinformation sharing and accounts for the moderating influences of personality and media literacy factors. Findings provide a theoretical foundation and practical implications for future interventions to combat misinformation.

Media Convergence-Deconvergence-Coexistence Triad in Indonesia: The Case of Liputan6.com

Media convergence, the dominant perspective to understanding the recent intertwining development of media and digital technologies, has been criticized for not reflecting the phenomenon of the current media landscape. The convergence-deconvergence-coexistence triad is proposed as the better framework to understand such phenomenon. Therefore, this article implements this triadic interaction to analyze the evolution of Liputan6.com, one of the most prominent online news media in Indonesia. This study employs in-depth interviews, observation, and document/archive analysis. This study identifies three periods of development of Liputan6.com since its establishment in 2000, and each period has different relation dynamics of the three aspects within the triad framework. By applying the convergence-deconvergence-coexistence triadic perspective, this article offers a multifaceted and multilayer analysis of the evolution of online news media such as Liputan6.com.

Reviews via Mobile: The Role of Mobile Cues and Typographical Errors in Online Review Adoption.

Online consumer reviews are increasingly being written on and posted from mobile devices such that some platforms have started to indicate when this is the case with cues such as “via mobile” (i.e., mobile cue). Reviews from mobile devices differ from those from non-mobile devices; for example, reviews from mobile devices are more likely to include typographical errors. For this study, a web-based experiment was conducted to investigate viewers’ evaluation and adoption of online reviews in regard to a mobile cue and typographical errors. The results indicate an interaction effect between the presence of a mobile cue and typographical errors. When a review did not include typographical errors, the presence of a mobile cue negatively affected the evaluation and adoption of information (i.e., the viewer’s attitude toward the reviewed restaurant). However, the effects of a mobile cue were not significant for a review with typographical errors. Further, the results suggest that the viewer’s perception of the review writing effort and the review’s information usefulness are sequential mediators explaining the information adoption mechanism. The findings provide interesting insights into consumers’ perceptions of online reviews in the current media landscape in which the large-scale adoption of mobile devices is a well-recognized phenomenon.

Mediated Messages: Periodicals, Exhibitions and the Shaping of Postmodern Architecture

Mediated Messages: Periodicals, Exhibitions and the Shaping of Postmodern Architecture

Book Review: Hate, Inc.: Why today's media makes us despise one another by Matt Taibbi

Matt Taibbi's “Hate, Inc.: Why Today's Media Makes Us Despise Each Other” (OR Books 2021) might make you angry, but it will make you think. Taibbi's takedown of commercial media, now updated in a post-election edition, offers a striking critique of the news media's slow but steady slide toward polarization “…skewed by a toxic mix of political and financial considerations” (20). Taibbi convincingly argues, using both historical and modern examples along with personal experience, that the press sells people on a simplified worldview where the two political parties are in a constant and perpetual conflict about everything. While Taibbi does offer some advice for independent-minded journalists seeking to navigate the current media landscape, audiences are left with little in the way of solutions, other than to stop reading (and watching) the news.

Brand avatars: impact of social interaction on consumer–brand relationships

PurposeOver the past two decades, technology-facilitated communication between brand and consumer has become common. One way in which technology can be used to build brand relationships in the online environment is by using brand avatars. This study considers social aspects of brand avatar communication, with the aim of determining if including an element of “socialness” adds to the impact of the brand avatar.Design/methodology/approachSpecifically, the authors test three outcome variables core to building strong consumer relationships through experimental design comparing an avatar's communication style (transactional vs social) while considering the potential covariate of motivational orientation.FindingsOverall, multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA) results indicate that social functions provided by the brand avatar are more likely to facilitate the consumer–brand relationship (CBR) process than transactional functions. This study provides managerial support for using an avatar with social communication capabilities.Originality/valueAs social interaction becomes more expected by consumers in the current media landscape, understanding how to meet those demands on a large scale, through brand avatars, is valuable.

Survival Strategies in Freelance Journalism: An Empowering Toolkit to Improve Professionals’ Working Conditions

ABSTRACT Freelance journalism has become a key employment alternative in the current media landscape, with news organizations often relying on these independent professionals to reduce organizational budgets. Although extant research reveals a high degree of job satisfaction among professionals in different markets, such as the United States or Norway, freelancing is a position shaped by the tension between precarity and autonomy and is often related to economic insecurity. To deepen our understanding of this complex reality in Spain, this study explores freelance journalists’ perceptions of the craft through 30 semi-structured interviews. Based on these results, this study proposes the existence of a “freelancers’ shelter architecture”—a group of variables that define personal working conditions and levels of job satisfaction. This study makes a practical contribution to the field insofar as it provides a freelancing empowering toolkit for enhancing the professional situation of freelance journalists.

Excessively Asian: crying, Crazy Rich Asians, and the construction of Asian American audiences

ABSTRACT Amidst the outpouring of conversation surrounding the popular romantic comedy Crazy Rich Asians (2018), a common response by Asian American audience members centered on the experience of crying at the theater. This article asks what provoked this particular discourse and how it is related to broader issues around Asian American media and representation. It triangulates a complex portrait of meaning surrounding Crazy Rich Asians, including the arrival of an Asian American entertainment boom, the targeted marketing of the film, and the activist campaign that accompanied its release. It then analyzes writing from journalists and tweets with gifs, arguing that from assessing this multifaceted portrait we can see how Asian Americans are fighting to exceed and resist the limits of various communication platforms in order to more fully express their frustrations with our current media landscape.

Crooked Views and Relaxed Rules: How Teenage Boys Experience Parents’ Handling of Digital Gaming

Digital gaming is a major part of the current media landscape. Parents employ a variety of practices, such as limiting gaming time and discussing games, when addressing their childrens’ gaming. Yet, there is still a notable gaming-related generational gap between adolescents and their parents. In this qualitative study, gaming-related parenting practices and parents’ and teenagers’ views are examined through a thematic analysis of reports from Finnish, 16–19-year-old, active game players. The results suggest a core tension between elements of protection and understanding. Perceived parental attitudes towards gaming ranged from excessively negative to indifferent to very positive. These attitudes were not static, but instead changed according to life situations and parents’ familiarity with gaming. Young game players’ perceptions and views were also not uniform. Respondents indicated the need for both parental understanding of games and gaming, and parents’ responsibilities in limiting gaming, particularly in the case of younger children. Implications for parenting and future research are discussed.

The Origins of Argentina's Current Media Landscape

The Origins of Argentina's Current Media Landscape

Ursula Ganz-Blättler. “Signs of time: Cumulative narrative in broadcast television fiction”

TV series are one of the very few ‘traditional’ media formats that continue to thrive in the current media landscape. In Europe, the format of TV series (i.e. serial audio-visual fictional narratives) has been surging for some time in terms of numbers of suppliers and consumers, as well as in shares of distributors’ offerings and consumers’ media use. Homegrown high-end original productions have become ‘calling cards’ for suppliers active in the European market(s). Subscription-based, pay-per-view, and advertising-based networks, as well as public service suppliers order and finance serial fiction. International players like Netflix, HBO, Sky, and Amazon invest in original (co-) productions in many countries. From a media economic perspective, the market entry of more and more ‘big tech’ and conglomerate players into the production and distribution of TV series is another indicator of the importance of the product TV series. The success of the format warrants extensive investigation. Nevertheless, compared to, e.g., cinema, ‘new’ media, and political communication, the attention of scholars in communication/media science and other disciplines still seems surprisingly modest, particularly in Europe. Some noteworthy European works on fictional TV series are Schlütz (2016), Redvall (2013), Gormász (2015), and the scientific journal Series – International Journal of TV Serial Narratives (series.unibo.it). Ursula Ganz’s work Signs of Time was accepted as a habilitation thesis in 2009, and an adapted form was published in 2018. The thesis thus represents somewhat of a European premiere in discussing in great detail and depth what the term ‘(audiovisual) cumulative narrative’ entails and how the central feature of accumulation impacts the analysis of narrative as communication and reflective stance.

A disconnect in media accountability: Spanish journalists’ and citizens’ perceptions of established and innovative instruments at the organizational level

In the current media landscape, accountability can be promoted through a wide range of established and innovative instruments. Focusing on the Spanish context, this article examines journalists’ perceptions of in-house accountability instrument effectiveness and analyses citizens’ knowledge and understanding of these mechanisms. A mixed- methods approach was employed: an online survey was administered to Spanish journalists (N = 228), and six citizen focus groups (38 participants in total) were established in several regions of Spain (Andalusia, Basque Country, Catalonia, Galicia, Madrid and Valencia). Findings showed that journalists’ evaluation of media accountability instruments is remarkably limited, scoring 5.82 out of 10 points in the highest case. From the citizens’ perspective, the overwhelming lack of visibility and relative distrust towards these instruments are revealed. This double disconnect from accountability brings to light the need to rethink and reinvigorate the existing instruments so they can effectively contribute to the goal of rebuilding trust in journalism.

Online video channel management: An integrative decision support system framework

In the current fragmented media landscape, online video is becoming an important outlet for content dissemination. Online video channels provide content creators a way of organizing content and building an online following through subscriptions and social sharing. This paper describes a decision support systems (DSS) based framework for online video channel management and content creation. The relevant DSS literature was reviewed along with both modeling and behavioral aspects of online videos and video channels. An empirical case study was run on a dataset consisting of views, shares, and subscriptions from over 1000 videos from nine YouTube channels. This paper contributes to DSS theory by proposing a flexible framework for incorporating both behavioral and empirical work into an integrative process for online video content creation. This framework builds on existing data-driven DSS theory, but includes specific entities and processes for online content creation.

What makes an effective antismoking campaign - insights from the trenches.

This paper describes traditionally effective approaches for anti-smoking mass media advertising and explores challenges and future directions for campaign planning. The changing characteristics of the current smoking population and media landscape are examined. Type of program or service: Anti-smoking mass media advertising campaigns. We present a commentary on the established creative and media strategies proven to be effective in prompting quit attempts among smokers, discuss new challenges facing anti-smoking campaign managers today and propose considerations for the future. Although evidence of effective approaches for tobacco control messaging and execution remains clear, the media landscape in Australia has changed dramatically in recent years with some audiences moving away from frequent and heavy television consumption towards online platforms and digital media channels. In addition, as smoking rates continue to fall, characteristics of current smokers are becoming increasingly relevant considerations for anti-smoking messaging and placement within a media environment that is becoming more expensive and fragmented. Funding anti-smoking advertising at the levels required to effectively prompt and maintain smoking cessation remains a high priority considering the extensive social and economic costs of smoking. Although it is known that hard-hitting, emotional and/or testimonial anti-smoking advertisements can be effective in prompting quit attempts, optimal media channel selection and media mix for reaching and engaging audience segments is dynamic in an ever-changing media landscape. Targeting media channels popular with lower socio-economic status (SES) smokers can efficiently achieve wide population exposure as well as effectively reaching population groups with higher smoking prevalence. A collaborative approach between health professionals, researchers, creative directors and media buyers is required to ensure advertising materials are communicating the right message for the audience, and that it is being delivered effectively.

Authority and Carnival: Preservice Teachers’ Media Literacy Education in a Time of Truth Decay

This qualitative, longitudinal study traces the development of preservice social studies teachers’ awareness of and reaction to the current climate of truth decay over the course of their initial certification program. By drawing a parallel between Bakhtin’s concept of the carnivalesque and the current online media landscape, this study found that teaching media literacy in a post-truth society can be complex and may indeed be asking teachers to reconsider how they conceptualize, truth, authority, and trust. Ultimately, even with targeted intervention from teacher educators, this phenomenon may lead preservice teachers to feel less confident in their own ability to identify truth and occupy an authoritative space.

Our affair with current affairs

This article is a practice-led investigation of the current media landscape using print and humour as a means of resisting the barrage of imagery and the noise of contemporary news cycles. I will present a critical reflection on my own works in relation to other artists and commentators of photomontage and modern image culture. Silicon Valley CEOs want us to be connected 24/7, tuned in, switched on and hyper-notified. With screens an everyday essential and being online an imperative, entertaining yet inaccurate content feeds get the most hits and interaction. Negative news sells and divisive issues can hold attention, but in this era of information warfare, the impact on mental health is increasing. An Internet unhindered by national boundaries or regulation has incurred a storm of misinformation that not only divides opinions online but can instigate offline actions that radically change our societies. We could be living through a watershed moment where the technology to create deepfakes derails democracy, or this could be a turning point where scientists and researchers fight back over misrepresentation of their research and the population can assert control over our own content feeds and thoughts.

The absence of a media literacy toolbox: working towards an evaluation tool

ABSTRACT This paper discusses the fragmented nature of media literacy and its relationship with technology. It highlights the need for standardised media literacy strategies, particularly the strand that deal with evaluation, which can help address the challenges of the current media landscape (e.g. the fake news phenomenon). Subsequently, we introduce early work towards developing a new evaluative media literacy tool that can empower media consumers to think strategically about the information they are exposed to. This tool, called Fallasigns, is based primarily on research that suggests news topics can attract specific logical flaws. Fallasigns cultivates the ability to anticipate the most likely logical and rhetorical pitfalls to emerge in a news story before being exposed to it. We argue that this strategy may work to effectively inoculate media consumers and provide a more systematic approachwhen evaluating information.

It Takes a Village to Combat a Fake News Army: Wikipedia’s Community and Policies for Information Literacy

The fake news crisis points to a complex set of circumstances in which new media ecologies struggle to address challenges related to authenticity, rhetorical manipulation and disinformation, and the inability of traditional educational models to adequately teach toward critical information literacy. While social media sites such as Facebook acknowledge the culpability of their platforms in spreading fake news, and create new strategies for addressing this problem, such measures are woefully inadequate. Wikipedia, nearing its 20th year, however, has developed numerous practices and policies to ensure information validity and verifiability. This article explores the connection between participation in the Wikipedia community, the development of critical information literacies, and the ability to navigate the current new media landscape. Analysis and review of Wikipedia’s community policies and the procedures resulting from these policies demonstrate the encyclopedia’s unique capacity to protect against problematic information. We ultimately argue that Wikipedia has become and remains one of the few places on the internet dedicated to combating fake news, and make recommendations on how to leverage Wikipedia practices and policies for information validation outside of the encyclopedia.

Why advocate for public service media? Perspectives from organizations for media development

In this commentary, we discuss how five prominent media development organizations (BBC Media Action, Council of Europe, DWA, PMA and UNESCO) define public service broadcasting (PSB)/public service media (PSM) and how they envisage its role and functions in their recent projects and reports. In view of the increasing challenges of the current media landscape, international donors are looking at models to provide a path to independent media and journalism and several international organizations support projects and institutional arrangements they label PSB/PSM. However, given the fundamental questions that existing PSBs face, is PSB a meaningful tool for media development? And how do these various advocates for PSB/PSM understand the concept and why do they feel that it is worth supporting? We find that there seems to have been a shift, common to all five organizations, towards defining PSB/PSM in terms of public service ethos, and we explain why this should be seen as a welcome development.