Media Genres Research Articles

Językoznawca jako badacz mediów (zarys problematyki)

The author presents the proceedings used by the linguists involved in the media research highlights dominant approaches, distinguishes two hypothetical ones: hegemonic and sovereign, and discusses challenges related to both of them. Hegemonic approach in the media research means the a distinctly defined subject of the study, that is the language of the media, precisely defined subject of analysis, namely the language of the media, and a supremacy of linguistic methods used in the analysis. The linguist as a sovereign prefers an open attitude towards methods applied in the study. Such an approach considers achievements of the media scholarshop as well as other related scientific disciplines. This attitude in the media research means that the linguist analyzes an image of the world in the media, a stylistic differentiation of the media communication, media genres, and the discourse. Furthermore, the linguist as a sovereign claims creating a new linguistic discipline and widens the research field with contrastive issues.

Intimate Documentary versus Political Re-mix Video: Contrasting Approaches to New Media Story-telling and Cultural Politics

This essay examines the implications of a new media genre that the author calls documentary, which is theorized as an emerging storytelling format for online non-fiction content, and compares it with the re-mix tradition. The author describes the ways in which combines the most effective traits of traditional documentary storytelling with the almost ubiquitous accessibility of mobile and online communication, and explores the possibility that this new online genre is not just challenging conventional ideas about the role, structure, and content of the documentary format per se, but is actually introducing an entirely new element into the anthropology of the Internet. Also discussed is the possibility that by over-personalizing issues as a new type of visual narrative, intimate documentary content may achieve widespread exposure through viral Web and social media distribution in a way that outstrips its predecessors in the non-fiction genre. In particular, the author contrasts the storytelling dynamics of with those of another new media genre, the political re-mix video in terms of combating echo chamber politics in the era of social media mentality, especially in terms of their respective implications for informed democracies.

СПЕЦИФИКА МЕДИАТЕКСТА РЕГИОНАЛЬНЫХ ИНТЕРНЕТ-СМИ

The article defines the specific character of the regional media texts in online media. The authors emphasize that the mediatext in regional online media has properties of hypertextuality, multimedia and interactivity that contribute to forming its informative and communicative structure. Communicative elements such as users’ comments complete the body of the main text and transform the direction of its perception. As for the structure of a media text in the Internet media, it is presented in two versions – brief and expanded. A special informative load is given in the title and the leading paragraph. The paper emphasizes that the title of the Internet media must meet the following requirements: refer to the facts or the solution to the problem; be concise, informative and emotionally charged; contain a verb in the past or future tense; be consistent with the principles of SEO-Optimization. The authors point out that the existing types of lead paragraphs are used in various genres of media texts with various degrees of intensity. The most popular in the structure of informative genres are lead paragraphs that have an announcing character (a question-narration, “with one stroke”, a shocking lead, a riddle-lead). The leading paragraphs such as a panoramic lead, “delayed jump”, “just fancy”, a historical lead are prevalent in analytical and publicistic genres of media texts.

Специфика реализации откровенности в масс-медийном дискурсе

In the article the researcher identifies the peculiarity of a sincere conversation in different mass media genres; a definition of a TV-interview in the sincere conversation style is offered, its genre features are specified; such strategies and tactics are reviewed that TV journalists employ to bring out the interlocutor’s personality to the utmost degree.

Fealdad, alteridad y representación de la población latina en Estados Unidos en el discurso televisivo de Ugly Betty

En este artículo analizamos la transformación de las representaciones de la población latina en Estados Unidos en la teleserie Ugly Betty, a través de una perspectiva sociológica y semiótica. Concluimos que dicha transformación constituye una ruptura importante en materia de la adaptación de géneros mediáticos y también una representación cultural más compleja de dicha población en la sociedad estadounidense.

From Blog to Facebook Your Voice Matter? An Insight into the Surge of Citizen Media in Vietnam

London July 2005 - On the first day after the tragic bombing in the city, over 1,000 images and 20 videos were sent into the newsroom of BBC. Featured on the front pages of several mayor newspapers was an iconic image by Alexander Chadwick, a survivor who photographed the chaotic scene in the London underground. The growth of user-generated content from this tragedy, as noted by Jeff Borenstein (2009), marked “a watershed moment” in the journalism industry: passive victims of a terrorist action became participants in the news making process. Hanoi October 2013 - Vo Nguyen Giap, Vietnam's legendary general who masterminded victories against France and the US, has died in Hanoi. The news of his death broke on social media sites on Friday evening and the landmark event was quickly followed by the country's swelling ranks of Internet users. Facebook, the most popular social media platform in Vietnam was erupted into tributes and condolences since Friday after users heard of the military strategist's death. The above examples are only two among hundreds of similar events that we are seeing every day. Across much of the world, thanks to the development of communication technologies especially the Internet, the one-way interaction between readers and news-makers has been ruptured; who and what constitutes the news has considerably changed, particularly in the emerging public zones of the blogosphere and social media. This phenomenon of consumers increasingly participating in the process of making and circulating media leads to a remarkable change in how media is made and consumed; how the meaning of media text and the status of professional journalistic labor is now conceived. During the last few years in Vietnam, social media have risen as an important source of information besides state-controlled media and played an important role in defining and promoting new forms of citizen media in the country. However this is still a fairly new concept in Vietnam and there is little literature written about this phenomenon in the country. Therefore, my aim is to conduct an exploratory research into this field, to provide a preliminary insight into the surge of citizen media in Vietnam. In this paper, after reviewing theoretical background of media and citizenry especially citizen media, I analyze recent developments in the blogging movement and Facebook with a focus on their role in promoting citizen journalism as well as re-shaping the country's media landscape. Specifically, I would like to explore “what are the main contributions of social media (blogs and Facebook) in Vietnam?” and from that to find out “how can citizen journalism in Vietnam progressively integrate itself into today's differentiated media ecology?” In order to answer the key questions, I apply mainly qualitative method as primary sources and related material as secondary sources. A short survey of ten questions has been sent to 100 young Vietnamese people age 18-35. I also carried out deeper interviews with three young people currently living in the cities that have better access to the Internet and also account for the majority of bloggers and social network users in Vietnam. From my research, it shows that social media in Vietnam has seen a spectacular rise in the last few years, which made certain changes to the country's media landscape and to some extent helped facilitate various forms of citizen led initiatives. One of the key contributions of blogs and Facebook in the country is to promote grassroots reporting of “untouched” issues and to provide alternative viewpoints from state-controlled official media outlets. This new genre of media has progressively integrated itself into today's differentiated media ecology of the country, inspiring people to learn, debate and participate further in political discourse. Opening further opportunities for political discussion among citizen, the rise of citizen journalism in Vietnam has contributed to facilitating and sustaining a healthy democratization process. Thus, we see the capacity of social media to bolster critical discussions on public affairs among different groups of the public. However, the facts that both mainstream media and social media in Vietnam still being under rather tight control directly and indirectly from the state, and the narrowing impact of citizen journalism only within a small group of young, urban Internet users remind us that heading to a democratic media is never an easy and overnight story. In the years to come, press freedom, digital divide, media literacy is still complex questions for each and all of us....

Open genre, new possibilities: democratizing history via social media

This article explores social media as a new genre within the history of the twenty-first century. An overview of genre's role within democratizing history is discussed. The authors argue the social media serves a new form of rhetorical action genre within the twenty-first century. The authors conclude that the genre of social media presents a new (post) modern genre within twenty-first century historiography.

Media matters for boys too! The role of specific magazine types and television programs in the drive for thinness and muscularity in adolescent boys

This study examined the role of specific magazine types and television programs on drive for thinness and muscularity in adolescent boys. A sample of 182 adolescent boys with an average age of 15.2years completed questionnaire measures of magazine and television consumption, drive for thinness and drive for muscularity. Different media genres showed varying relationships with drive for thinness and muscularity. Specifically, the consumption of men's magazines and the viewing of soap operas emerged as significant unique predictors of drive for thinness, with the consumption of men's magazines also offering unique prediction of drive for muscularity. A comprehensive approach that considers both type and genre of media is critical in increasing our understanding of the complex relationships between media exposure and disordered eating in adolescent boys.

The Politics of the Pantry: Stories, food and social change

There is no shortage of books, magazines, lifestyle shows, and academic texts that have something to say about what, where, how, and with whom we should eat. In his book The Politics of the Pantry, Michael Mikulak critically engages with this storied food, a genre of literature, film, and new media that attempts to reveal the “truth” behind the veil of food and the hidden worlds of agriculture. He does so in order to take up key issues and ideas related to food, global warming, and the future of the economy that has been examined in popular texts and mainstream media. His book is “an attempt to understand how we got here, where we are going, and how we can get somewhere else.” Throughout the book Mikulak weaves personal stories and anecdotes related to his journey with local food that informs and enlivens his academic theory and analysis, attempting to rupture the literary boundary between prose and academic inquiry. He knits together an optimism about the power of pantry politics with a more reflexive and realistic picture of the major stumbling blocks the alternative food movement often faces.

Representations of Female Scientists in The Big Bang Theory

:The Big Bang Theory offers a unique opportunity to explore the representations of female scientists within the situation comedy. This article first discusses the representations of scientists across media genres, highlighting the differences created by the situation comedy. Focusing on Bernadette and Amy, this article then analyzes these characters as representations of female scientists through their professional roles, gender roles, and intelligence. It concludes by suggesting that while on the surface there is some challenging and even undermining of these stereotypes, those challenges remain short-lived in light of the situation comedy's goals to entertain while reinforcing the status quo.

Engaging, Persuading, and Entertaining Citizens

This paper draws upon public sphere theories and the “mediatization of politics” debate to develop a mapping of the Australian political public sphere, with particular reference to television. It discusses the concept of a “political public sphere,” and the contribution of both non-traditional news media genres, such as satirical television and infotainment formats, to an expanded conception of the political public sphere. It considers these questions in the context of two case studies: the Q&A program on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), and its uses of social media and interactive formats to engage citizens, and the comedy program Gruen Nation, also on the ABC, which analyzed the use of political advertising to persuade citizens during the 2013 Australian Federal election.

Book Review: The Language of Journalism: A Multi-genre Perspective, by Angela Smith and Michael Higgins

The Language of Journalism: A Multi-genre Perspective. Angela Smith and Michael Higgins. New York: Bloomsbury, 2013. 152 pp. $29.95 pbk.Angela Smith and Dr. Michael Higgins explore the media's use of language to purposely and inadvertently maintain the societal status quo. Smith, a Reader in Language and Culture at the University of Sunderland, United Kingdom, and Higgins, the Director of the and Creative Writing program at the University of Strathclyde, United Kingdom, use Critical Discourse Analysis to examine how journalistic language reflects and shapes social realities and how it articulates values. CDA's explicitly political agenda seeks to raise awareness of the ideological frameworks that inform language choice, and the construction, representation and positioning of its subjects in discourse. In other words, they look at how language is used in different media outlets and how these choices reflect political values.After outlining their method and framework, they divide the rest of the book by media genre: broadcast, magazine, newspaper, sports, and online. In the broadcast section, for example, they talk about language as a means of establishing informality (e.g., anchors referring to each other by first name) and a close broadcaster-audience relationship (e.g. using the pronoun you when talking to the viewers). They talk about newspapers' lack of space necessitating news headline register-or the American headlinese-which causes headlines to lack the nuance of the articles. Across all outlets, they discuss verb tenses quite a bit, in terms of using present tense to convey a sense of immediacy, while using past-perfect tenses (i.e., had said) to distinguish recently conducted interviews from background information. The book provides a unique application of critical discourse to an analysis of popular media.The Language of Journalism is accessible for seasoned researchers and undergraduate students. The introduction provides clear definitions of terms used in critical analysis for those unfamiliar with them (e.g., discourse, ideology, intertextuality). The introductory chapter could stand alone as a text for introductory students. The chapters also are clearly organized with plenty of subheadings throughout and a labeled conclusion, which, again, could be helpful for students. The book also uses relatively modern media examples, such as references to twenty-four-hour networks, Twitter, and reality television. They also make good use of journalistic artifacts, including broadcast transcripts, newspaper articles, photos, and magazine pages. Although some of the British media references might not be familiar to some, the book has a clear and simple tone that makes it accessible for readers across countries. …

Isn’t it romantic? Differential associations between romantic screen media genres and romantic beliefs.

The goal of the present study was to investigate the associations between exposure to different genres of romantic screen media and idealistic romantic beliefs. Participants were 625 college students who completed a survey that assessed exposure to 3 romantic screen media genres (marriage-themed rea

Portrayals of Sex and Sexuality in Gay- and Lesbian-Oriented Media: A Quantitative Content Analysis

Media serve as vital sources of sexual information for adolescents exploring their sexual identities. Research suggests that mainstream media sanitize depictions of lesbian, gay, or bisexual (LGB) individuals, preventing LGB characters from engaging in realistic sexual talk or sexual behaviors. Beyond mainstream media, however, a niche media industry designed, produced, and marketed specifically for gay and lesbian audiences has become increasingly accessible. Despite the growing visibility of gay- and lesbian-oriented (GLO) media, no empirical research has quantified the depiction of sex and sexuality in this media genre. The current study reports the results of a quantitative content analysis of sexual instances in GLO television, film, and music popular with LGB youth. Results indicate that LGB depictions occur with greater frequency than heterosexual depictions in GLO media, most LGB depictions are validating in nature, and gay males are depicted significantly more than lesbian women or bisexual individuals. The diversity of LGB relationships, sexual interests, and sexual behaviors are also acknowledged in GLO media, suggesting that LGB individuals are portrayed in realistic sexual situations rarely portrayed in mainstream media. Additionally, comparisons between GLO media and mainstream media suggest that GLO media depict LGB sexualities more frequently and in more validating contexts than mainstream media. Possible effects of exposure to GLO media among youth are discussed in terms of the social identity perspective.

Introduction

This special issue of Budapest Management Review is guest-edited in collaboration with the Working Group on “Audience interactivity and participation” of the COST A ction I S0906 “Transforming Audiences, Transforming Societies”. COST is an intergovernmental framework for European Cooperation in Science and Technology, allowing the coordination of nationally-funded research at the European level. The Action “Transforming Audiences, Transforming Societies” (2010–2014) is coordinating research efforts into the key transformations of European audiences within a changing media and communication environment, identifying their complex interrelationships with the social, cultural and political areas of E uropean societies. A range of interconnected but distinct topics concerning audiences are being developed by four Working Groups: (1) New media genres, media literacy and trust in the media; (2) Audience interactivity and participation; (3) The role of media and ICT use for evolving social relationships; and (4) Audience transformations and social integration.

Life imitating art: Asian romance movies as a social mirror

As a genre of mass media, the romance movie has the potential to influence and shape audience’s views on socio-cultural issues of the time (Rahman, 2013). Asian romance movies often depict behaviours that challenge thei moral code such as obeying authority, adherence to cultural norms and putting society before self. For dramatic effect, such movies would often showcase scandalous themes and socially objectionable behaviours which are eventually resolved, indicating a return to socially accepted codes of conduct. There is a clear appreciation of values considered ideal in romantic partnerships including honesty and fidelity. Interestingly, such movies appear to capture the Asian diaspora, challenging social norms and negotiating its values, behaviours and beliefs against foreign elements. This article explores the scandals and consequences portrayed in some of these Asian movies, evaluating the effect this might have on their actors and a receptive audience. Elements of scandal in the personal lives of some of the actors make a case for life and art imitating the other in a cycle of challenge, compromise and conformity.

Methodology and Experience of Building the Retrospective Corpus of Lithuanian Broadcast Media

The article aims to introduce the corpus of broadcast media (radio and television), which was compiled in the framework of the project Lithuanian Language: Ideals, Ideologies and Identity Shifts to the academic community. The corpus includes about 63 hours of transcribed recordings from 1960 to 2010. The article discusses theoretical principles of corpus sampling, which were based on the criteria of time periods and genres; the methodological issues encountered when constructing the sampling scheme; shares the practical experience of selecting and gathering recordings to be included into the corpus; and presents the actual structure of the corpus.One of the main requirements for any corpus is its representativeness and balance. One possible way to achieve them is to distinguish objectively defined text types and to build the corpus along these lines. Thus the composition of the corpus of the broadcast media was designed on the basis of two criteria: periods of broadcast media development and genre. There are three periods distinguished: Soviet 1960–1987, transitional 1988–1992 and contemporary 1993–now. In respect of genre, three groups of programs are included: talk programs (further subdivided into the types of interview, debate and talk-show); documentaries, features and journal programs; information programs. The article discusses problems that were encountered when trying to implement the corpus along these lines: problems of availability of materials due to technological peculiarities of different periods and organisational factors of archive institutions; the issue of balance between the periods; the problems of genre comparability and different extent of diversity of genres in different periods, and continuity of genres.Finally, the composition and the size of the corpus are presented (63 hours of recordings, about 350 thousand words). The paper concludes that despite the limited availability of materials and other problems discussed above which is why the corpus cannot be regarded as perfectly representative and balanced, it is sufficient for research into public language change. This was confirmed by tentative research studies done on its basis. The corpus meets the usual technical requirements: the transcriptions have been made in CLAN software developed within the CHILDES project, the recordings have been transcribed, coded and morphologically annotated following the conventions of the CHILDES project, the speakers have been assigned individual codes, and the transcriptions have been linked to the sound/image files.

Modeling Meanness: Associations Between Reality TV Consumption, Perceived Realism, and Adolescents' Social Aggression

Although research documents connections between adolescents' television exposure and both their physical and social aggression, less is known about contributions of reality television. Might this genre be even more influential than other media formats because it features real-life people and may be perceived as more realistic? To examine this question, we surveyed 174 adolescents who indicated their regular exposure to five media formats or genres, their consumption of 23 socially aggressive reality TV programs, their perceptions of the realism of reality TV content, and their engagement in each of 22 socially aggressive acts. As expected, frequent consumption of socially aggressive reality programming was associated with higher levels of social aggression, contributing above and beyond other media. Moreover, findings were particularly strong among adolescents attributing higher levels of realism to this content. Gender, however, did not moderate these associations. Implications for future analyses of adolescent media use are discussed.

Cultivating Political Incivility

Various scholars, pundits, and journalists, along with a majority of the American public believe incivility in politics is increasing. Nevertheless, the Annenberg Public Policy Center’s (APPC) baseline measure of political incivility remains relatively flat. How can these incongruous conclusions be reconciled? This article suggests that perceptions of political incivility are a function of viewing distinct genres of television news media: “hostile” cable news versus network news. Using a content and secondary data analysis, this article demonstrates that (1) cable news outlets provide more coverage of elite political incivility than do network news outlets and that (2) cable news viewers perceive politics to be more uncivil than do network news viewers. Combined with previous research, the results suggest cable news viewers may perceive more incivility in national politics than actually exists. Theoretically, this article provides support for genre-specific media cultivation effects. Implications for cultivation theory and incivility are discussed.

Media Coverage of Medical Decision Making at the End of Life: A Belgian Case Study

This article presents a content analysis of Belgian media coverage of end-of-life decision making. The authors examine a selection of press articles and the differences among media genres in covering the issue. In general terms, they found an overreporting of euthanasia; a focus on dying processes resulting from cancer and Alzheimer's disease; and an attention to political discussions and political voices, which outnumber patient voices. In genre-specific terms, unlike mainstream media, niche media reported less mediagenic aspects of the end of life. Finally, although popular mainstream media focus on personal aspects of the end-of-life, elite mainstream media privilege political aspects.