Field Of Mass Media Research Articles

A Short Analysis of Quality and Performance in The Radio Segment of Romanian Mass-Media

More than one hundred years ago, once the radio appeared, mass media started to be more pronounced. Mass-media market diversified its offer, and the quality and creativity of economical agents determined a reassert on the competition and performance scale. For our research in mass media field, we distinguish two vital aspects of economic quality and performance: audience and financial results. In this section we will try to follow the evolution of the main players from the Romanian audiovisual market on the radio segment, taking into account these two variables: audience and financial results. Quality and performance in mass-media are two elements desired on one side by mass-media producers: the owners and employees from this field, and on the other side, by mass-media customers: audience and publicity buyers. We analyse the aspects of quality and performance in Romanian media industry in o period of rapid change. The changes are on multiple levels, and the most accentuated regards the consumer’s behaviour, market environment, technological changes and legal regulations. The changes in the consumer behaviour are determined by their perceptiveness towards the digital world. Quality and performance in mass-media are two desired elements, on one side by the mass-media producers: owners and employees in the field, and on the other side by mass-media customers: audience and publicity buyers.

Billboards and Turnout: A Randomized Field Experiment

Scholars argue that mass media appeals and other examples of communications that provide “noticeable reminders” to vote should elevate voter turnout (Dale and Strauss 2009), but a wide range of field experimental studies show that messages delivered via untargeted and impersonal means (such as mass media) are ineffective (Green and Gerber 2008). We test these competing hypotheses in a randomized, mass media field experiment using billboard advertisements to mobilize participation in local elections taking place in November 2007. Despite that outdoor advertising is commonly used in political campaigns to widely reach citizens, no study of which we are aware has experimentally tested the causal effects of billboard advertising on voter turnout. Our findings suggest that billboards are ineffective in generating higher levels of voter turnout. We discuss these results in comparison with other mass media advertisements and other get-out-the-vote methods. Experimental replication and extension is necessary to probe further the impact of outdoor advertising on voting behavior.

Legal status of mass media in the Internet environment

The state and prospects of regulatory and legal organization of relations in the field of massmedia in Ukraine is explored in the article.

F. B. Eyes: How J. Edgar Hoover's Ghostreaders Framed African American Literature

Established in 1908 as the investigative division of the Department of Justice, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) soon moved beyond law enforcement to include monitoring of radical activists and organizations and then after 1936 to conducting “intelligence” investigations. The purpose of the latter was not simply to anticipate planned espionage and sabotage threats but also to monitor those who could influence the political culture. The targets included Hollywood producers, directors, writers, and actors; German émigré writers and playwrights; prominent writers (including prominent sociologists); and liberal and radical journals of opinion (The Nation; I. F. Stone's Weekly). In 1960, FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover authorized a special index, the Reserve Index, to list for possible detention any individuals who “are in a position to influence others against the national interest or are likely to furnish financial or other material aid to subversive elements due to their subversive associations or ideology.” Hoover specified that the Index should include “writers, lecturers, news men and others in the mass media field,” and, as one example, he cited the author Norman Mailer. Two responses by senior FBI officials highlight the capriciousness of the FBI's surveillance operations. First, after Hoover learned that he himself was allegedly the model for one of the characters in Walt Kelley's comic strip Pogo, her ordered his aides to conduct a content analysis of the strip to ascertain whether the portrayal was positive or negative. Second, after learning that Hollywood actor Rock Hudson was gay, FBI officials worried that Hudson might play an FBI agent in a movie.In this vein, William Maxwell's recently published monograph F. B. Eyes offers the promise of expanding our understanding of FBI surveillance operations and the role that race played in determining the targets of FBI investigations. To research this issue, Maxwell filed Freedom of Information Act requests seeking all FBI files on “Afro-modernist writers” (his characterization) listed in the Norton Anthology of African American Literature. He eventually obtained 51 files while discovering that the FBI had no records on 53 other writers and that the records on an additional six either had been destroyed or were “missing” when transferred to the National Archives. In the introduction, Maxwell posits that during the years 1919 through 1972 “a who's who of black protest was spied on, often infiltrated, and sometimes formally indicted by Hoover's FBI” (p. 3).As it turns out, Maxwell's principal contribution to FBI scholarship is his decision to post 49 of the accessible FBI files online at http://digital.wustl.edu/fbeyes. Unfortunately, his own analysis of these files is disappointingly thin. For one, his cursory account of the contents of the FBI files on these 51 African American writers resembles the contents of FBI files on other writers and political activists: namely, information on their personal conduct and political beliefs and associations and at times a close analysis of their published writing. Second, these files confirm that they were compiled because of FBI officials’ ideological conviction that “subversive” writers could possibly influence their readers and not because the writer violated federal laws (including espionage and sabotage). Maxwell, however, does not fully develop this theme, which is not the central focus of his at times rambling, impressionistic assessment of African-American literature and the FBI's response.

Seeking Equality in Broadcasting: The Case for Third Sector Broadcasting

Members of groups which are traditionally economically or socially disadvantaged tend to also suffer from additional barriers in relation to their ability to establish and control mass media outlets and from insufficiency of media output which represents them and addresses their specific needs. These inequalities in the field of mass media can help perpetuate and aggravate a situation of marginalization and are especially notable in relation to broadcasting due to the higher barriers of entry associated with the medium. The present article makes a case for the state promotion and support of third sector broadcasting as an affirmative measure which can be used to combat inequalities in broadcasting while discussing its advantages and disadvantages in comparison to alternative measures. The aim is not to negate the need for other types of measures but to explain why aiding the development of third sector broadcasting outlets is an option which warrants serious consideration by every state seeking to address situations in which specific groups have been disadvantaged in the field of mass media and broadcasting in specific.

Jung, weiblich und Journalistin: Endstation Prekariat?

Change is one of the constants in the media sector for more than four decades now. And while the structural transformations within the field of mass media and journalism have already been basis of academic research, the situation and inequality that young female journalists are confronted with in Austria has not been described yet. Based on empirical research done by the University of Salzburg in 2010 (Hummel et al. 2010) and employing the theory of the French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu this article seeks to display both, the structurally existing and the perceived inequality experienced by female journalists, their reasons, and possible answers to these issues.

On communicational episteme

Este texto dispõe-se a levantar a questão ontológica sobre o fenômeno da comunicação, indagando sobre os fundamentos teóricos de seu discurso. Realiza-se primeiramente a crítica do patamar informacional em que se apóiam os já clássicos estudos de mídia ou as pesquisas sociológicas sobre o campo dos meios de comunicação. Depois, aborda-se a comunicação como uma hermenêutica das novas formas de existência sob a midiatização. E, finalmente, propõe-se a autonomia cognitiva do discurso comunicacional, com um modelo tripartite.

Return to a Broadcast Newsroom to Stay Current in the Field

Special emphasis on professional competence It's a syndrome every teacher recognizes: Classroom deja-vu. You're up front of your Video Production class spinning a yarn about the halcyon days of broadcasting when you realize that the story you're relating is 15 years old, and that you've told that story at least 30 times. Even for the most riveting classroom tactician, making that story interesting and relevant is tremendously challenging. So what can broadcasting educators do to keep their instruction current, and to keep up on the latest stylistic and technological changes the business? There are always journals and magazines, and conventions help. One other way I found to stay current is to work an internship at a professional TV station. For five weeks last summer, I interned at KMBC-TV 9, Kansas City's ABC affiliate. The world's oldest intern I know what you're thinking: an adult intern? Aren't those positions just for college kids? Well, no. Many stations across the country would welcome you to their newsrooms and show you the tricks of the trade. I've always tried to have professionals speak to my students, so I already had an in at KMBC. They had provided so many guest speakers for me the past and had some inkling that I'm serious about teaching. Bringing local TV reporters, producers, and photographers isn't only a great way to educate your students, it's a good opportunity to pave the way for your internship. For me, arranging the internship was as easy as making one phone call. Deciding to commit five weeks of an already busy summer to the internship was not as difficult a decision as one might imagine, especially when examined the context of the position's potential benefits. The decision to undertake the internship was based on four factors: I would get caught up on TV technology. Clearly, much had changed since my brief cable TV reporting experience 1982, and I needed some way to integrate those technological advances into my classes. I would understand fully and appreciate what students go through during their internships. Our college recently added an internship requirement for broadcasting majors, so serving an internship myself would provide a great way to counsel students prior to and during their internships. Yes, I interned as a student myself 1982, but that experience hardly seems relevant today. I would improve pedagogically. The numerous approaches used by professionals to put together stories open up a myriad of new techniques that I could teach my students. I would collect raw video, scripts, packages, etc. for use as teaching materials the classroom. Staying current There is an unquestioned consensus among educational professionals about the need to stay current. Edwin Simpson Faculty Renewal Higher Education wrote 1990 that currency within a chosen area is a lifetime career responsibility for those who wish to function effectively as teachers and scholars higher education. Clearly, the importance of Simpson's contention is magnified the broadcasting field, where continuous technological changes make maintaining currency an imperative. Willis and Durbin Maintaining Professional Competence (1990) concur, writing that maintaining professional competence is a challenge compounded by the rapid rate of technological change. Indeed, keeping abreast of technological change is especially vital as broadcast media make the conversion over to all-digital shooting, editing, and mixing systems, a metamorphosis akin to the transition from film to videotape. Judy Oskam How Educators Keep up to Date with Changes the Field agreed 1996, writing that mass communication faculty must place special emphasis on developing their professional competence order to keep pace with the changing mass media field. Some broadcast educators are getting the message about the potential benefits of internships. …

On the threshold of disclosure. The effects of a mass media field experiment

Objective: To assess whether the number of disclosures of child abuse changed as a result of a prevention strategy on a national scale in a West-European country. The child abuse involved child sexual and physical abuse, both ongoing and past. Methods: In order to assess possible intervention effects, changes in calling the Child Line were measured. For this, a 4 year longitudinal design, starting before the intervention and ending 2 and 1 2 years after it was used ( N = 3,117 disclosures). In addition, data were collected from the Dutch Telecom and a newely developed Child Abuse Form ( N = 1,227). Finally, two measures were introduced, the disclosure coefficient and the relative disclosure coefficient. Results: Most calls were silent calls, a phenomenon that deserves more attention in disclosure research. Compared to pre-intervention data, the amount of disclosures almost tripled during the intervention and was even further enhanced in the post-intervention and follow-up. In nine out of 10 cases, ongoing abuse was disclosed. Marked differences between child physical abuse and child sexual abuse were observed. Conclusion: It is concluded that mass media communication, if well implemented, can positively influence the process of disclosure of ongoing child abuse.

How Educators Keep Up-to-Date with the Changes in the Field

The field of mass communication is constantly changing. In order to remain on the cutting edge of this changing field, higher education faculty must continue to develop their skills and competencies. A two-pronged research study was conducted to generate data about the professional development interests and activities of mass communication faculty and department chairpersons. The information obtained from this descriptive study will provide framework for understanding the importance of and interest in professional development activities to improve the field of mass communication education. Introduction There are many terms which describe the methods that higher education faculty use to update and improve their professional and academic skills. The terms faculty development, professional development, faculty renewal and staff development have all been used to refer to academic and personal growth. Faculty development is term that denotes self-renewing activities for faculty members (Tucker, 1993). Edwin Simpson (1990) wrote that while development usually involves getting more of what one already has, renewal is broader in scope, often resulting in career transitions. Simpson contended that professional renewal may be equally as important as development in the future. For many academics, faculty development encompasses the areas of teaching, research, service or extension, and expertise in particular content area. Mass communication faculty face an additional challenge. Because of the nature of our industry, it is equally important that mass communication faculty continue to develop their skills as member of the mass media field as well as the academic community. Faculty development. While this study concentrated on the development of mass communication faculty in the area of professional development, it is important to explore the broad range of professional and personal challenges facing higher education faculty. These challenges impact faculty and their roles as teachers, scholars and administrators. Former Director of the Institute for Academic Leadership and Professor of Higher Education Allan Tucker presented simple, clear-cut definition for the term faculty development. According to Tucker, faculty development refers to activities and procedures that assist faculty members in acquiring knowledge, skills and attitudes that enable them to become more effective in performing all functions related to professional academic life (Tucker, 1943, p. 267-268). Nelson and Siegel wrote that professional development refers to a faculty member's continuing growth as scholar and contributor to the intellectual community both on campus and in his or her profession (Nelson & Siegel, 1980, p. 7). In 1979 Nelson served as director of the Association of American Colleges' Project on Faculty Development. Funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the project defined faculty development as encompassing four areas--professional development (scholarship, improved research skills, broadening of scholarly areas); instructional development (pedagogy, improved teaching skills, learning of new techniques); curricular change (preparation for new courses, significant changes in current offerings, development of interdisciplinary courses); and, organizational change (enhancing faculty renewal through alterations in committee systems, reward structures, new campus-wide goals) (Nelson, 1981, p. 15-16). The 1979 Project on Faculty Development of the Association of American Colleges sought to assess the impact of faculty development grants to twenty leading liberal arts colleges throughout the country (Nelson & Siegel, 1981). Researchers discovered that professional development included conventional faculty development activities such as individual study and research projects, attendance at professional meetings, consulting with business or government officials, and research and publication in faculty member's discipline. …

Development cooperation in the field of mass media

Development cooperation in the field of mass media

Mass Media in Health Promotion: A Compilation of Expert Opinion

This paper reports on an open-ended survey of experts in the field of mass media and health promotion. The study was designed to read between the lines of published reports to identify new directions in the use of mass media in health promotion; to identify areas of consensus and controversy in the design and use of such campaigns; and to compare expert opinion with the literature. Survey responses are synthesized and reported in terms of (1) ingredients for successful mass media programs relative to program purpose, structure, and methods; and (2) obstacles to effective use of mass media for health promotion, including information overload and inconsistency, demand characteristics of the target behavior, dissemination, and unsupportive social milieus. Conclusions are presented as guidelines for pursuit of the optimal program and principles to guide further inquiry.

Women, Work and Success: A Study of High Achievers in the Media

This is a study of a sample of women who have been particularly successful in the highly competitive field of mass media, where the pressures and rewards are perhaps more extreme than in most other professions. Case histories of each individual were developed, based on interviews, biographies, autobiographies and other material. These were then analysed in terms of common and contrasting themes at different stages of the life‐cycle.

Communication de masse : mécanismes sociaux d'incorporation et de dépendance

This article describes how the sociocultural and sociopolitical systems are trying to make developing countries resemble more and more the industrial countries. In the field of mass media, international organizations have gained increasing power to sell the techniques and develop advertising and sales volume for American entertainment programs. However the problems of development have been studied as if each country, each social change process were absolutely isolated from outside influences and from integration to the mass media. Local studies on the development and use of the medias in various countries could provide important material for a more complete understanding of the sociocultural processes on an international basis.

What Media Probe Is All About

MEDIA PROBE was founded at a meeting held at York University on May 2, 1973, attended by people active in the field of mass media, university and community college teachers, students and others interested in this field. Donald Montgomery, president of the Labour Council of Metropolitan Toronto, and Professor Earle Beattie were co-chairmen. Barrie Zwicker served as acting secretary.