Mass Communication Studies Research Articles

Hip-Hop Fight Club: Radical Theory, Education, and Practice in and beyond the Classroom

Hip-hop remains a viable method for the teaching of radical theory, emancipatory journalism and Africana Media Theory. Fight Club is an emergent model that builds from existing hip-hop traditions of freetyle battling where critical thought and intellectual challenges of hueristic norms are upended. This article argues in favor of bringing the Fight Club model into the classroom which allows for heightened student engagement and the inclusion of radical theoretical approaches to the study of mass media, communication and journalism.

Constructing and measuring an ‘audience’ for digital games

Abstract What is the ‘audience’ for digital games? This article argues that measurement is a crucial component of conceptions of the audience, exemplifying the complexities of translating theories and models of the audience to digital games. Beginning with mass communication studies, the common audience conception based on invisibility, exposure, institutional agreement, advertising value, and technological measurement found widespread resistance from game studies. This model gave way to reception studies’ focus on interpretation and sociocultural context, more readily aligned with game studies’ emphasis on interactivity. However, the shift towards a constructionist model of the audience, as a discursive construct separate from actual people and reified by measurement technologies, has not been widely applied to digital games. Ultimately, this article argues that a constructionist approach complicates naturalized notions of game ‘players’ and ‘cultures’ as the medium both integrates into and disrupts traditional conceptions of the audience.

Interview with Armand Mattelart

Interview with Armand Mattelart, June 7, 2012 Interview conducted by James Hay, Jayson Harsin, & Jim Cohen Interview translated by Jayson Harsin Interview edited by James Hay, Jayson Harsin, Jim Co...

REVIEW: Journalism at the community media level

Review of Foundations of Community Journalism, edited by Bill Reader and John A. Hatcher. Los Angeles: Sage Publications, 2012, 283 pp. ISBN: 9781412974660 (pbk)This publication adds to a growing body of scholarly work currently being undertaken in the subfield of journalism and mass communication studies known as community media or alternative media. At first glance, the book appears to present a largely American perspective in its coverage of community journalism, but further reading assures one that the editors have fostered an approach that has universal relevance. The term community journalism is broadly defined as ‘journalism at the community level’. While the origins of community journalism in the United States is strongly linked to small-town newspapers, the practice has expanded in the 21st century as the notion of community itself has evolved from its link to geographical ties towards the emergence of global communities linked by ethnicity, religion, culture and interests. This deterritorialisation of community newspapers is demonstrated in the Pacific through the work of Tongan-born publisher Kalafi Moala, who prints weekly editions of Taimi ‘o Tonga for distribution to diaspora Tongan communities in New Zealand, Australia and the United States. With the changing conception of community journalism, it has become necessary to study this subfield within broader theoretical approaches, as the editors of this volume reflect in the book’s preface, ‘to prepare the next generation of scholars for a media environment in which community journalism no longer operates in the shadow of “big J” journalism.’ At the end of each chapter the volume includes reflective contributions from scholars and practitioners who bring valuable insights towards enabling a greater theoretical understanding of the field.

A Computational Framework for Media Bias Mitigation

Bias in the news media is an inherent flaw of the news production process. The bias often causes a sharp increase in political polarization and in the cost of conflict on social issues such as the Iraq war. This article presents NewsCube, a novel Internet news service which aims to mitigate the effect of media bias. NewsCube automatically creates and promptly provides readers with multiple classified views on a news event. As such, it helps readers understand the event from a plurality of views and to formulate their own, more balanced, viewpoints. The media bias problem has been studied extensively in mass communications and social science. This article reviews related mass communication and journalism studies and provides a structured view of the media bias problem and its solution. We propose media bias mitigation as a practical solution and demonstrate it through NewsCube. We evaluate and discuss the effectiveness of NewsCube through various performance studies.

News Media and News Sources in Japan(Articles for the 60th Anniversary Memorial Symposium of The Japan Society for Studies in Journalism and Mass Communication)

News Media and News Sources in Japan(Articles for the 60th Anniversary Memorial Symposium of The Japan Society for Studies in Journalism and Mass Communication)

The New Way of Knowing(Articles for the 60th Anniversary Memorial Symposium of The Japan Society for Studies in Journalism and Mass Communication)

The New Way of Knowing(Articles for the 60th Anniversary Memorial Symposium of The Japan Society for Studies in Journalism and Mass Communication)

Introduction(Articles for the 60th Anniversary Memorial Symposium of The Japan Society for Studies in Journalism and Mass Communication)

Introduction(Articles for the 60th Anniversary Memorial Symposium of The Japan Society for Studies in Journalism and Mass Communication)

Rethinking the Crisis of res publica in South Korea(Articles for the 60th Anniversary Memorial Symposium of The Japan Society for Studies in Journalism and Mass Communication)

Rethinking the Crisis of res publica in South Korea(Articles for the 60th Anniversary Memorial Symposium of The Japan Society for Studies in Journalism and Mass Communication)

The Current State of Journalism and Journalists and the Future Outlook : The Case of Western Europe(Articles for the 60th Anniversary Memorial Symposium of The Japan Society for Studies in Journalism and Mass Communication)

The Current State of Journalism and Journalists and the Future Outlook : The Case of Western Europe(Articles for the 60th Anniversary Memorial Symposium of The Japan Society for Studies in Journalism and Mass Communication)

Pleasures of Late Socialism in Soviet Lithuania: Strategies of Resistance and Dissent

This paper deals with popular perceptions of Soviet ideology during the period of Late Socialism. On the premises of colonial theory, mass communication and pop culture studies, the author argues that even totalitarian ideologies are subject to active consumption, excorporation and interpolation. While the official Soviet media provided a rather stable picture of the Soviet citizen, loyal to the Soviet authorities and the Soviet ideals, this paper reveals, on the basis of multiple interviews, how ideology operates at the level of everyday life and popular consciousness.

COMMENTARY

The increased centrality of communication to contemporary capitalism has become recognized within the field of US communication studies, much as it has in many other departments across the social s...

Thoughts on Lazarsfeld’s New York “Radio Studies” from the Perspective of 2010

This chapter explores three topics: Lazarsfeld’s departure for the United States and his attempts to re-establish his academic career; another group’s (Frankfurt Institute) necessity to leave Nazi Germany and its relationships with Columbia’s Bureau of Social Research; and an exploration of the unacknowledged intellectual contributions of Lazarsfeld’s female staff to the theoretical development of U.S. radio and mass communication studies. Among these were Lazarsfeld’s two wives: Marie Jahoda and Herta Herzog, as well as Hazel Gaudet Erskine who worked on The Invasion of Mars (1940) and The People’s Choice (1944), and Marjorie Fiske, who co-authored with Merton Mass Persuasion (1946) and became Deputy Director of Voice of America (VOA) 1949–55.

The Paradoxes of Journalism History

In order to extricate journalism from broader media history, we need to better develop ways of understanding the generic characteristics of journalism over time and across geo-political space. This paper will aim to address what could be termed certain paradoxes of journalism's history; paradoxes which relate to our definitions of the generic boundaries of journalism and flux across those boundaries. Engaging with the complexities of these historical paradoxes will, we may hope, contribute to our understanding of what makes this set of practices distinct in the present and also what we may want to retain of its range of features in some technologically reconfigured future. Journalism's current crises and opportunities, with their implications for the broader qualities of public communication, need us to consider it in all its historical complexity, not just as a profit-making machine which has broken down. Furthermore, the only way to fully begin to grasp journalism's current potential is to consider how it has formed and mutated over the centuries as a global phenomenon. Propelled by both intellectual and technological developments, journalism history is moving out from its confinement in the margins of other disciplinary areas. Journalism studies worldwide is providing a wealth of opportunities for scholars. This paper argues that we need to embrace more ambitious dialogues to clarify our understanding of journalism in itself as well as in its intersections with other fields, at the same time as becoming involved in methodological conversations about the exploitation of digital resources.

Toward A Renewed Sociology of Mass Media and Popular Culture

In this issue we present a set of papers that examine sociology’s engagement with the study of mass media, communications and popular culture, from the perspective of historical efforts as well as possible future directions. The picture that emerges from the individual articles is rather paradoxical, for it appears that the fields of media and popular culture have been both mainstream and marginal within the discipline. The paradox is perhaps partly explainable in terms of shifts in what Don Levine has called “visions of the sociological tradition.” Thus, for several decades, the field was largely framed as “the science of institutions,” with emphasis on conflict, adaptation and survival (in both Durkheimian and Social Darwinist variants). Within such a perspective, a focus on media and popular culture is not highly valued, not taught in graduate programs, and not highly rewarded as a career path. In the same way, a dominant emphasis on sociology as “the science of inequality,” with particular attention to race, gender, class and sexual orientation, tends to discourage work on media and culture except insofar as it might deal with the overarching issues of power and differential victimization. Now, as sociologists think of themselves more and more within a “postmodern” framing that approaches “society as text” and embraces a “narrative turn,” the subjects of mass media, communications and popular culture take on a new relevance. The recent movement toward a “public sociology” also reinforces the shift, as sociologists become increasingly concerned about the image of the discipline in the popular imagination, and about the most effective means of engaging publics and conveying sociological messages with policy implications. Ronald Jacobs begins our discussion with an examination of the work of Robert Park in the 1920s, which he believes can help sociology regain a proper focus on “culture and the public sphere.” He approaches Park’s writings in terms of two organizing themes: (1) news and the power of the press; and (2) diverse cultural forms of newspaper discourse. Jacobs concludes that renewed attention to Park, Am Soc (2009) 40:147–148 DOI 10.1007/s12108-009-9076-z

Mapping conversations about new media: the theoretical field of digital communication

This article reflects on the current state of digital communication studies in the context of mass communication research. The objectives of the article are: 1) to characterize the enunciators and the contents of scientific conversations about digital communication; and 2) to sketch a map of possible interlocutors who might enrich this new research field. After quickly exploring the paradigms of mass communication studies, the article deals with the main theoretical conversations about digital communication. The second part of the article describes the transformations that the appearance of digital technology has generated in communication processes. The article concludes with an agenda of the main issues and partners that theoretical conversations about digital communication should include. The article analyzes the constitution of a new scientific field and describes the process that may, in the future, lead to the creation of a theory of digital communication.

Promises of Peace and Passion: Enthusing the Readers of Self-Help

Promises of Peace and Passion: Enthusing the Readers of Self-Help

The growth and development of African media studies: perspectives from Nigeria

The paper discusses how Nigerian journalism education has been heavily influenced by the American model. Nigeria, being a former British colony, at first followed British models of vocational training in journalism. This is evident in the fact that the country's universities did not initially embrace journalism and mass communication studies. Formal university-level training in journalism only started in Nigeria in 1962, with the establishment of Jackson College of Journalism at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. The college later developed into the Department of Mass Communication. Other departments/schools of journalism or mass communication have sprung up at various Nigerian universities, notably that of the University of Lagos. In the past few years, there has been an upsurge in the number of mass communication programmes across the country. The programmes, apart from journalism, offer courses in broadcasting, public relations and advertising, among other areas. The paper also discusses how contemporary postcolonial Nigerian media education has achieved a large degree of uniformity in all the programmes as a result of initiatives taken by Nigeria's National Universities Commission.

The growth and development of African media studies: perspectives from Nigeria

The paper discusses how Nigerian journalism education has been heavily influenced by the American model. Nigeria, being a former British colony, at first followed British models of vocational training in journalism. This is evident in the fact that the country’s universities did not initially embrace journalism and mass communication studies. Formal university-level training in journalism only started in Nigeria in 1962, with the establishment of Jackson College of Journalism at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. The college later developed into the Department of Mass Communication. Other departments/schools of journalism or mass communication have sprung up at various Nigerian universities, notably that of the University of Lagos. In the past few years, there has been an upsurge in the number of mass communication programmes across the country. The programmes, apart from journalism, offer courses in broadcasting, public relations and advertising, among other areas. The paper also discusses how contemporary postcolonial Nigerian media education has achieved a large degree of uniformity in all the programmes as a result of initiatives taken by Nigeria’s National Universities Commission. Introduction A number of challenging but interesting questions arise in any conscientious attempt to interrogate the evolution and trajectory of African media studies. One of these questions is that of defining exactly what African media studies is all about (or should be about). Does the expression ‘African media studies’ refer to the study of media by Africans or the study of African media by any interested party? If we accept the second option, which seems more logical, how do we reconcile this with the assertion that ‘the media are American’? If the media are American, would it still be logical to talk about African media? In this article, I attempt to define African media as well as African media studies as an entry point into our discussion of the evolution and trajectory of African media studies from a Nigerian perspective. Contextualizing the two key concepts: ‘African media studies’ and ‘the African media’ Two key terms are germane to this discourse. They are ‘African media studies’ and ‘African media’. In this section, I attempt to clarify the meaning of these terms as used in this article. 81 JAMS 1 (1) pp. 81–90 © Intellect Ltd 2009

マス・コミュニケーション研究における理論と調査 : テレビの影響の問題を中心として

マス・コミュニケーション研究における理論と調査 : テレビの影響の問題を中心として