Media Logic Research Articles

Is This Social TV 3.0? On Funk and Social Media Policy in German Public Post-television Content Production

This article investigates how social media affects German public television. Due to recent dynamics in the field of social TV, notions of social TV as basically “tweeting while watching TV,” or as an “additional function” of television, need to be revised. As an addition to existing ideas of “Social TV 1.0” and “Social TV 2.0” and other characterizations, I refer here to “Social TV 3.0.” Current social TV features need to be characterized in the light of a “network of content” that combines the “media logic of television” and the “logic of social media” by means of their dynamic, flexible, and horizontal integration into the “matrix-media strategy” of TV executives impelled by a social media policy. By taking the content network funk (“a consortium of public broadcasters” [ARD] and “Second German Television” [ZDF]) as a prime example of social TV 3.0 in Germany, I analyze the merging of television and social media.

“Occupying” the Internet: State media and the reinvention of official culture online

The second decade of the new millennium in China has witnessed official media’s high-profile endeavors to “occupy” online sphere. Existing scholarship has examined, for instance, how the government at both the central and local levels assumes an increasingly proactive role in experimenting with new modes of e-governance. However, little critical attention has been paid to the reinvention of official culture that aims at having a stronger voice online, already a dynamic space occupied by numerous players competing for user attention and market share. This article fills this gap in literature and engages in a close reading of the Leon Dai incident in 2016. A renowned Taiwanese actor and director, Leon Dai’s role in Zhao Wei’s film No Other Love was replaced on July 15, 2016 because of his alleged ideological support of Taiwanese independence. The state media, as represented by the Weibo account of the Communist Youth League of China, played a crucial role in arousing nationalistic sentiments among Internet users and mobilizing collective actions online. Drawing on discourse analysis and online ethnographic work, I argue that official media’s appropriation of fan culture and capitalization on digital populism are some of the key strategies to approach patriotic netizens. In so doing, state media sectors not only experiment with online media logic that focuses on attracting and sustaining user attention, thereby cultivating their own fan base, they also foster an alliance between the nation and its citizens.

Rewriting Lolita in fashion photography: Candy, consumption, and dying flowers

Since the release of Kubrick's film in 1962 visual representations of Lolita have proliferated. Yet, such visualisations tend to re-signify ‘Lolita’, departing significantly from the way she is constructed in Nabokov's novel. This article considers why the figure of ‘Lolita’ fits so seamlessly into the logic of the fashion media in the West. It points to the fashion industry's fixation with the ‘woman-child’ and infantilisation, as well as the centrality of clothing and consumption in Nabokov's novel. Particular attention is paid to Marc Jacobs’ advertisement for Oh, Lola!, banned in the UK by the Advertising Standards Agency in 2011. Methodologically, the article presents visual analysis alongside findings from audience studies conducted with female participants.

Learning Political News From Social Media: Network Media Logic and Current Affairs News Learning in a High-Choice Media Environment

With the migration from traditional news media to social media, understanding how citizens learn about politics and current affairs from these sources has become increasingly important. Based on the concept of network media logic, distinct from traditional mass media logic, this study investigates whether using social media as a source of political news compensates for not using traditional news media in terms of political and current affairs learning. Using two panel studies conducted in two different political contexts—an election setting and a nonelection setting—the results show positive learning effects from using traditional news media and online news websites, but not from using social media. Taken together, the findings suggest that using social media to follow news about politics and current affairs does not compensate for not using traditional news media in terms of learning a diverse and broad set of general political news.

Followers, Spread the Message! Predicting the Success of Swiss Politicians on Facebook and Twitter

Politicians have been criticized for not exploiting the deliberative potential of social media platforms. We complement previous definitions of politicians’ success on social media through the lens of network media logic: Despite the lack of deliberation, some succeed in building large digital followerships, which spread their messages via reactions through the network. Analyzing a data set of personal, structural, and social media characteristics of Swiss politicians, we used path analysis to determine which predict their success on Facebook ( n = 63) and Twitter ( n = 108). Politicians, who are active in parliament, represent urban regions and receive substantial amounts of traditional media coverage also have larger digital followerships on both platforms. Digital followership in turn influences the average number of digital reactions on Facebook, but not on Twitter. Thus, politicians’ success on social media depends on their personal background, political activity, and media coverage, and also their followership and the platform.

Mediatization of Emotion on Social Media: Forms and Norms in Digital Mourning Practices

This article provides the theoretical background for this Special Issue which explores the mediatization of emotion on social media as attested in different digital mourning practices. The overview discusses the affective and emotional turn alongside the mediatic turn in relation to key trends and foci in the study of affect/emotion. Our discussion points to a shift in conceptualizations of affect/emotion from mediated to mediatized practice, embedded in other social practices and subject to media and social media logics, affordances, and frames, which are worthy of empirical investigation. The article also presents key insights offered in the four articles of this Special Issue and foregrounds current and future directions in the study of mediatization, emotional sharing, and digital mourning practices.

Kiai vis a vis Media Logic: Revisiting the Power of Internet and Kiai in Pandalungan Muslim Community

Abstract 
 Internet becomes an integral part of current Indonesian society‘s life. Meanwhile, the figure of kiai clearly cannot be separated from the history of Indonesian socio-religious life up until recently. Both the kiai and Internet are inseparable parts of current Indonesian social reality, in which, each of them possessed their particular share of power and ran according their own logics. Focusing on the case of Pandalungan Muslims community, where the kiai‘s authority is greatly acknowledged, this paper will shed the lights on the logic behind those two powers and the contestation (for authority) occurred between them. This paper concludes that the logic of the kiai-ness is the logic of culture and media logic is in the logic of culture. This made the kiais‘ authority is still standing strong in current media life.

Generating a voice among ‘media monsters’: hybrid media practices of Taiwan’s Anti-Media Monopoly Movement

ABSTRACTThis article assesses how social movement actors strategically use a hybrid mix of social and traditional media to organise political actions in an attempt to influence media and public agendas. Using the case study of the Anti-Media Monopoly Movement in Taiwan, it investigates how the activists’ use of social and mainstream media contributed towards their collective action and mediated visibility. We argue that the effectiveness of social media activism is augmented by the activists’ engagement in protest actions and tactics catering to news media logics. Through their hybrid media practices, the activists were able to mobilise local and overseas groups into forms of collective and connective action and amplify the impact of protests.

Mediatized Spirituality: A Critical Appraisal of the Media-Religion Nexus in Nigeria

Religion in Nigeria is predominantly manifested in three identifiable forms: Christianity, Islam and African Traditional Religion. All three forms, but especially the first two, have in recent years embraced the “media logic,” packaging religious experience in ways that appeal to the media. These religions have adopted the media as platforms for worship, proselytization, image-building and investment. Thus, religion in Nigeria has come under the grip of mediatization, giving rise to a mediatized spiritual experience. This paper contends that the strong infusion of the media into religious life in Nigeria could have both positive and negative implications for society. It advocates a responsible use of the media to curtail the purveyance of hate, incendiary and predatory messages.

Finlandisation or media logic? The Estonian–Russian border incident of 2014 in Finnish, Estonian and British press

This article examines the construction of the Estonian–Russian border incident of 2014, where an Estonian security officer ended captured by Russian authorities, in Finnish, Estonian and British press. It asks (a) How did the press construct the event and the actors in the reporting of the Kohver case in Finnish, Estonian and British press? What happened? Who did what? Who was responsible? What is the outcome of these constructions? Are there differences in national reporting? (b) Can ‘Finlandisation’ explain the discursive choices in the press constructions? By Finlandisation we refer to a hypothesis about the effects that the proximity of a major power in the context of international tension has on media discourse and culture more broadly. We argue that although the discourse of the Kohver case in Finnish, Estonian and British press could be subsumed under the term ‘Finlandisation’ in the case of the first two countries, a more fruitful approach would be to consider the discursive differences in the framework of the ‘domestication’ of news. This implies that explaining the tone of the news discourse is as much a matter of media logic as it is of underlying and/or implicit ideology.

Endelig! Historien om en tiltrængt public service succes

The article discusses why and how SKAM, as a public service production, has become a success. The article presents two interconnected challenges for public service broadcasters today. The first challenge pertains to the fact that young people in particular turn away from traditional television; the second challenge relates to the concept social media logic, a logic that is largely incompatible with public service logic. The article presents a discussion on how SKAM has met these challenges. The article focusses mainly on its Danish reception. Through SKAMs thematic emphasis, the series offers its intended audience (young people) a contemporary guide to Nordic values. Furthermore, its transmedial distribution has engaged a large audience of people who are otherwise moving away from traditional public service content.

The use of teaching materials in religious education in Sweden: a quantitative analysis of Swedish religious education teachers’ reported use of teaching materials in RE classrooms

Recent studies show that religious education (RE) and various media outlets serve as increasingly important arenas for religious socialisation among Swedish youths. At the same time, it has been shown that media material, for example in the form of various news media, often make their way into RE classrooms to be used as materials alongside the more traditional textbooks. However, little quantitative research has been conducted in order to map RE teachers’ selection and use of materials in their classrooms, and what factors are involved in this selection. A nationally representative survey among 1292 RE teachers was conducted, and the results clearly show that textbooks are the most popular form of material, followed by pictures, sacred texts, documentaries, television news and news articles. Out of the relevant background variables, it was primarily school form, age, gender and religiosity that seemed to influence the teachers’ choices of material. The author concludes that familiarity with a certain form of material through personal experiences is a likely explanation for many of the correlations found and that further research is needed in order to explore the potential complexities that arise in the juxtaposition of classroom and media logics.

Mediatization of journalism: Influence of the media system and media organization on journalistic practices in European digital mediascapes

Journalism is known to be culturally specific in historical terms, while cross-country studies have demonstrated differences in journalistic milieus in different political regimes. This article applies a multilevel, cross-national comparative research design to explore the patterns and sources of influence that act on the professional practices of European journalists as well as the ways they differ across different media systems. The research is more broadly framed within the mediatization approach, and it aims to explore the relationship between increased media logic and journalistic practices within specific digital mediascapes. This study also identifies the ways in which journalistic practices are influenced by both the macro level of the structural framework of the media system and the mezzo level of media organization. The institutional framework defines the digital media system/mediascape in terms of four dimensions: contemporary multimedia markets, globalization processes, cultural industry, and institutional inclusiveness. The data concerning the influences on journalism are drawn from surveys conducted in 28 Western, Central, and Eastern European countries as part of the 2012–2015 Worlds of Journalism Study. A cluster analysis produced four digital media systems. Furthermore, hierarchical multiple regression confirmed the predominant influence of structural levels on the perceptions of the influences on journalism – the mezzo organizational level and macro level of the digital media system additionally explained the variance of the contextual influences on journalistic practices beyond individual differences. Variations in the different influences are shown between media system clusters. Moreover, the study introduces new questions regarding the mediatization of journalism and the mediatized condition.

The Personalisation of Conflict Reporting

This study explores the question of the blurring of traditional boundaries between the personal and the professional in relation to images tweeted during the Ukraine conflict. The study focuses on two Moscow-based correspondents, Shaun Walker and Alec Luhn, and a photojournalist, Paul Hansen, all of whom created parallel conflict narratives on Twitter while reporting on the Ukraine conflict for legacy newspapers. Their use of Twitter is examined here in the context of “personalised reporting” that allows for more opinion and displays of emotion than are typically acceptable in traditional news reporting. The results demonstrate the coexistence of the traditional media’s visualisation of conflict with that driven by social media logic.

Understanding media mentalities and logics: institutional and journalistic practices, and the reporting of teachers’ work

ABSTRACTThis paper explores the ‘media mentalities’ about teachers and their work in the Australian print media. The notion of media mentalities draws on the theoretical concepts of discourse, mentalities, and mediatisation. This refers to the constructed realities and forms of thought in media coverage that circulate particular accounts. These are linked to institutional and journalistic practices in media that are governed by media logics. Drawing on newspaper text and interviews with journalists, the following practices are addressed: agendisation and accountabilisation which are both institutional practices; and the journalistic practices of factualisation, emphasisation, and sensationalisation – all of which operate globally, to some degree, across and within media institutions and media practitioners, and produce the news about teacher's work within the framework of these practices.

Does the Political System Determine Media Visibility of Politicians? A Comparative Analysis of Political Functions in the News in Sixteen Countries

News coverage of politicians is very unequally distributed: a few powerful politicians receive the bulk of media attention, while the large majority hardly gets into the news. However, case studies show that news outlets in some countries give more attention to ordinary politicians compared to other democracies. This study examines and explains the variation in media visibility of politicians with different institutional functions across Western democracies. We employ a large-scale content analysis of television news, newspapers and online news in sixteen countries to analyze whether a political system logic determines the distribution of political functions appearing in the news. This logic suggests that journalists follow the political hierarchy of the country when covering politicians. We also check for an additional media logic that would push journalists to focus on a limited number of high-standing politicians. The results confirm that both logics matter, but that mainly the structural characteristics of the political system have an impact on the distribution of news coverage of politicians. In countries where political power is more equally distributed across politicians, a broader range of (elite) politicians makes it into the news. Our results suggest that the media logic is nested in the broader political context and in some cases even strengthens the logic of the political system.

Social media’s breaking news: the logic of automation in Facebook Trending Topics and Twitter Moments

This article draws on van Dijck and Poell’s framework of social media logic to examine two platform news functionalities: Facebook Trending Topics and Twitter Moments. It uses the walkthrough method to investigate their technical features while also examining how they fit into platforms’ economic interests and regulatory processes. While the framework of social media logic enables the identification of platforms’ influential elements – programmability, popularity, connectivity and datafication – embedded in news functionalities, a fifth element becomes apparent. The logic of automation naturalises these elements into processes of news distribution through claims that platform news functionalities are free from human intervention. By perpetuating the logic of automation, platforms position themselves as neutral conduits of news information. Expanding the framework of social media logic to include automation enables future analysis of platform developers’ evasion of accountability for shaping social and institutional processes, supported through their claims to produce unbiased automated technologies.

Microphone pokes as prank or political action?

Abstract The production of political talk is changing in response to ongoing changes in the overall media ecology. The rise of web TV challenges the previously dominant mediated politics of traditional broadcasting. In this paper we examine the practices of the mediatization of politics in the web TV environment via a humorous encounter between a self-declared “prankster” posing as a web TV broadcaster, and several Swedish politicians. The discussion reflects on various data emanating from this encounter to reveal how Web TV challenges traditional broadcasting norms, and offers fresh challenges for politicians who are continuously adapting to new media logics for exposure.

Making the most of Twitter: How technological affordances influence Swedish journalists’ self-branding

Journalists are among the most frequent users of Twitter, and Twitter has become an important platform for personal branding. Social media logic promotes not only a chase for virality and impressive metrics but also a mix of professional, personal, and private content, as well as sharing, interaction, and dialogue. Focusing one aspect of social media logic, the aim of this study is to analyze how the technological affordances of Twitter shape journalists’ self-branding in their account presentations and whether there are differences between groups of journalists. The study draws on a quantitative content analysis of Swedish journalists’ Twitter presentations and account information (N = 2543). The findings suggest that Swedish journalists on Twitter brand themselves as being more audience oriented, networking, and individualistic, projecting a mixed identity including both professional and personal features, and that social media logic influence journalists’ self-branding.

Governance and Media Attention: A Research Agenda About How Media Affect (Network) Governance Processes

This article looks at the influence of media attention on governance processes and explores some new thoughts to incorporate in our theory building on governance. It systematically discusses recent theories about mediatization and connects them to what we know about governance in the field of Public Administration. The article identifies a tension between backstage logic (the world of governance and networks) and front-stage logic (the world of media). This tension requires modern leaders and (network) managers to engage in a balancing act between the requirements of media logic and those of today’s networked society: how to connect to or in networks and be a strong leader. This current dilemma alone justifies the field of governance paying more attention to the relation between media attention and governance.