Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Vidura, July-September, 2015, Professor Vibhuti Patel

Professor Vibhuti Patel

When an ad is ‘not an ad’ / Sakuntala Narasimhan • Indian media and reporting of her neighbours / Shastri Ramachandaran • A losing battle for social justice? / Vibhuti Patel • The transformation of a women’s magazine / Sakuntala Narasimhan • A writer recalls her innings with Screen / Shoma A. Chatterji • The feminisation of urban poverty / Vibhuti Patel • Changing face of India’s disinherited daughters / Pamela Philipose • When radio proved to be a lifeline / John K. Babu • Linking folk musicians to new opportunities / Bharat Dogra • Bangladesh war widows have reason …

Proximity And Journalistic Practice In Environmental Discourse: Experiencing “Job Blackmail” In The News, Barbara Johnstone, Justin Mando

Barbara Johnstone

How To Be A Girl: Mainstream Media Portrayals Of Transgendered Lives In Japan, Vera C. Mackie

Vera Mackie

Just before the turn of the twenty-first century changes to Japanese laws concerning the modification of reproductive capacity resulted in the removal of some legal barriers to the surgical modification of sexed bodies. These operations are variously known as "sex change", " sex adjustment", or "sex reassignment" , operations. Medical facilities that perform such surgery usually do so ony after the client has spent a substantial period of time living as a member of the gender they wish to acquire. Now there is a significant number of individuals in Japan who have undergone such surgery or are planning to do …

The 'Afghan Girls': Media Representations And Frames Of War, Vera Mackie

Vera Mackie

In this article, I survey almost a decade of visual representations of Afghan women, which have emanated from first world media organizations and have circulated in transnational media space. Only one of the photographs is explicitly linked with a political discussion. However, all of the photographs contribute to a set of possible statements about veiling and unveiling. Through discourse analysis informed by a genealogical approach, I demonstrate how these photographs contribute to the constitution of a set of power relations whereby the United States and its Allies have sovereignty and where it seems 'natural' that these sovereign nations can intervene …

Saving Lives Or Raising Revenue: Analysing Media Coverage Of The Alcopops Tax In Light Of The Evidence On Its Effects, Sandra C. Jones, Laura Robinson

Sandra Jones

The Australian Government increased the tax on ready-to-drink (RTD) alcohol beverages in 2008, in order to address concerns about increasing alcohol consumption among young people. This decision resulted in significant debate and discussion in the media, and in academic circles. The aim of the current study was to examine media coverage of the debate – and particularly the arguments posed in favour of and against the tax – now that we have objective evidence of its impact. We find that business owners and industry groups were vocal in the media, raising a number of arguments in opposition to the tax; …

Clash Of Civilization Or Clash Of Newspaper Ideologies? An Analysis Of The Ideological Split In British Newspaper Commentaries On The 2002 Miss World Riots In Nigeria, Farooq A. Kperogi

Farooq A. Kperogi

Riots that erupted in the northern Nigerian city of Kaduna over a newspaper article that some Muslims interpreted as blaspheming the Prophet Muhammad on account of Nigeria’s decision to host the 2002 edition of the Miss World beauty pageant captured the attention of the media around the world. This article investigates how the British press framed the riots in their opinion columns and editorials. Through an interpretive textual analysis of the opinion pages, the study shows that while the ideological persuasions of left-leaning British press predisposed them to express opinions on the Miss World riots that resonated with what might …

Realising The Potential Of Peer-To-Peer Learning: Taming A Mooc With Social Media, Emily Purser, Angela Towndrow, Ary Aranguiz

Emily R Purser

We report on peer-to-peer learning online, describing the role of cooperative, student managed groupings in successful learn-by-MOOC experiences. We found that to expand learners’ potential in digital culture, it helps to by-pass traditional notions and tools of online learning support, and embrace networked social media.

“100% Authentic Pittsburgh”: Sociolinguistic Authenticity And The Linguistics Of Particularity, Barbara Johnstone

Barbara Johnstone

As Bucholtz (2003), Coupland (2007, pp. 25-26), and others have pointed out, what counts as an authentic linguistic variety or an authentic speaker depends on who is counting and why. Sociolinguists have often unthinkingly privileged as their object of study the most unselfconsious, “vernacular” speech in relatively closed, homogeneous communities like traditional working-class neighborhoods, with their dense, multiplex social networks, and in the relatively self-contained symbolic economies of schools. This has allowed us to explore social correlates of variation and processes of change in communities where these things appear least muddied by outside influences, and doing so has given us …

Antipodean Media Ecologies: Journeys To Nowhere And Back, Su Ballard

Su Ballard

In summer 2005 the Association of Freed Times (AFT) published an article in Artforum. "El Diaro del Fin del Mundo: A Journey That Wasn't" described environmental damage to the Antarctic ice shelf and the subsequent mutations occurring within the Antartic ecosystem. One of these mutants is rumoured to be a solitary albino penguin living on an uncharted island near Marguerite Bay. The article documents French artist Pierre Huyghe's journey to find the island and its mysterious inhabitatnt, and forms the first part of an event that culminated in a musical on the Wollman ice rink in New York's Central Park, …

Using Open-Source Platforms For Digital Media Production, Brogan Bunt

Brogan Bunt

Media art, like contemporary art generally, has a strong critical aspect. Media art practice involves a crucial dimension of interrogating the cultural, social-political and material-aesthetic conditions of media. From Dada photographic collage through to contemporary hardware hacking there is a clearly evident concern to unsettle the representational transparency and taken-for-granted character of media. How does this inform the teaching of media art? It has obvious thematic importance, indicating paths of conceptual access and orientation, but what of the dimension of practice? What of the technical frameworks that we employ and the skills that we teach? How do they obtain a …

Providing Language And Academic Skills Support In A Multi-Media And Distributed Learning Environment, Jeannette Stirling, L. Celeste Rossetto

Jeannette Stirling

[extract] This paper examines the role of the language and academic skills (LAS) lecturer in a multi-media and geographically distributed learning environment at the University of Wollongong. By this we mean providing language and academic skills support where subjects comprising various degree programs are taught simultaneously across a range of networked satellite campuses including, at times, the central campus: hence the idea of a ‘distributed learning environment’. Subject delivery to this network of campuses is variously achieved through the use of multi-media teaching and learning technologies such as videoconferencing, web-based resources, online discussion spaces, pod-cast lectures, and face-to-face tutorials. We …

A People's History Of Baseball, Mitchell J. Nathanson

Mitchell J Nathanson

Baseball is much more than the national pastime. It has become an emblem of America itself. From its initial popularity in the mid-nineteenth century, the game has reflected national values and beliefs and promoted what it means to be an American. Stories abound that illustrate baseball's significance in eradicating racial barriers, bringing neighborhoods together, building civic pride, and creating on the field of play an instructive civics lesson for immigrants on the national character. In A People's History of Baseball, Mitchell Nathanson probes the less well-known but no less meaningful other side of baseball: episodes not involving equality, patriotism, heroism, …

Course Syllabus: Harry Potter And International Politics - Identity, Violence And Social Control, Emma Norman

Emma R. Norman

The themes we draw from J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series are used to illuminate parallels in contemporary world politics and to apprehend in detail some of the key problems that revolve around the three core themes of the course (identity, violence, and social control). How, for instance, does life in Hogwarts help to illuminate the multiple, crosscutting identities produced by globalization? How does the divide between wizards and muggles, or Hermione’s obsession with elvish welfare, serve to illuminate continued discrimination in current liberal democracies and do these narratives help to widen our options when it comes to minimizing it? What …

Mediating Christianity In Asia, Francis Khek Gee Lim

Francis Khek Gee Lim

No abstract provided.

Qatar, Al Jazeera, And The Arab Spring, Ahmed E. Souaiaia

Ahmed E SOUAIAIA

No abstract provided.

Balancing Bias In The Media, Sharon Beder

Sharon Beder

The news is presented to give the impression it is factual, uncoloured by journalistic bias, so each side of a controversy is accurately reported. This paper outlines the way that the influence of editors, owners, advertisers – as well as journalistic conventions – are more important to the final result of journalism than the reporting skills or biases of individual journalists.

Sport And The Media In Ireland: An Introduction, Seán Crosson Dr., Philip Dine

Seán Crosson

[Introduction to Media History Special Issue on Sport and the Media in Ireland]. The symbiotic relationship that has existed since the mid-nineteenth century between sport and the media - from the popular press, through newsreels and radio, to television, and beyond - is so well established as hardly to require comment. However, the very familiarity of this long and successful marriage should not blind us to its abiding, and abidingly remarkable, affective power, both for individuals and for communities, real and ‘imagined’, of all kinds. We may thus legitimately pause to reflect on the key role played by the media …

Crise & Democracia, Paulo Ferreira Da Cunha

Paulo Ferreira da Cunha

Vivemos num mundo em grande medida imaginado. Nunca foi tão real a criação artificial de realidades, que se tornam realidades mesmo. O mundo das Finanças é um desses reinos. O problema é que elas afectam - e de que maneira - a vida real das pessoas. E a comunicação social é o eco dessa magia, de que dependemos cada vez mais, por todo o Mundo. Este artigo tem como base o publicado no semanário "Grande Porto", mas acrescenta-lhe um pequeno texto de Paulo Bonavides sobre a ligação entre democracia e Estado social. É que sem um e outra, é impossível …

Women & Language: Essays On Gendered Communication Across Media, Melissa R. Ames

Melissa A. Ames

The present volume of essays examines women's communication as it has evolved historically across multiple mediums. Part I explores how women became "gossip girls" and the important role of gossip in the perception and practice of female communication. Essays in Part II cover the convergence of oral and written communication in women's literature. Gendered performance in such arenas as salsa dance, Dr. Phil and the Internet is examined in Part III, and essays in Part IV discuss women's communication in the technology-rich 21st century. This excerpt features the introduction and one essay from the co-editor.

Dialect Enregisterment In Performance, Barbara Johnstone

Barbara Johnstone

In recent work I have been exploring how one set of linguistic forms has become enregistered as the dialect known as “Pittsburghese” ( Johnstone 2007a; 2007b; 2009; Johnstone, Andrus, and Danielson 2006). In this paper I analyze dialect enregistration in highly self-conscious performances of Pittsburgh speech and social identity. My data consists of three comedy sketches performed by the cast of WDVE radio’s “’DVE Morning Show.” One, called “Mother”, alternates lines of a somewhat parodically sentimental song about the singer’s mother with spoken-word illustrations by a “mother” character who uses elements of Pittsburgh-sounding speech. The second is an advertisement for …

The Nigerian Press, The Public Sphere And Sustainable Development: Engaging The Post Amnesty Deal In The Niger Delta, Uzoechi Nwagbara

Dr Uzoechi Nwagbara

The coalescence of effective media and the public sphere is a synergy that brings about democracy, sustainable development and good governance. Irrespective of its shortcomings, the Nigerian media has been described as a bastion of people’s agitation, which impacts on the public sphere, a realm where private individuals meet to address societal questions with the state. This is the case with the Nigerian press, whose duties and ideals have been called to action in the wake of the amnesty deal in the Niger delta. In order to achieve peace and good governance in the region, serious grassroots and national information …

Inside Out: Queer Theory And Popular Culture, Mark J. Mclelland

Mark McLelland

This paper looks at the proliferation of gay characters and subtexts in late 1990s media.

Engaging With The Media, Hamish Mclean, Richard Phillipps

Richard Phillipps

Extract:

Presenting the public face of an organisation is a key role of the public relations practitioner. Often this is done through achieving media coverage for the organisation. The mass media are important because of their reach, their believability, and their timeliness, although the bombardment of information from them can be overwhelming. This chapter discusses a wide range of traditional media - newspapers, radio, television, magazines, and newsletters (see Chapter 12 for new media).

Higiene Da Língua, Paulo Ferreira Da Cunha

Paulo Ferreira da Cunha

Não interessam as ideias, ou o que se diga, mas apenas "passar na TV"? A nossa Língua não denota, nos maus tratos que sofre, doenças sociais e políticas? Antes de tudo, para haver saúde social e política, é preciso ter ideias claras. E elas não existem sem palavras apropriadas - uma lição de Confúcio a meditar. A alternativa é venerarmos apenas, acriticamente, os ídolos que passem na TV.

How To Write About The Media Today, Raul Tovares, Alla Tovares

Alla V. Tovares

Constructing Legal Narratives: Law, Language And The Media, Jane Johnston, Rhonda Breit

Jane Johnston

This paper proposes using the theory of narratology to connect to legal discourses and processes with the way the media translate the law into news. Focussing on the Australian context, it looks at the choice of language used my media in covering courts, how stories are told and retold within these primarily textual environments, as well as the selection processes used by journalists in covering these rounds. The paper extends the argument for a narratology of courts, to a narratology of court reporting, suggesting fundamental criteria of story, discourse and the interpretative context be examined. It foreshadows the need for …

Contemplative Video Art Interview, Joanna Spitzner

Anne Beffel

Hamas Controlled Televised News Media: Counter- Peace, Allen Gnanam

Allen Gnanam

The hegemonic force of Hamas censored televised news media in Gaza, can not be fully comprehended and appreciated without recognizing the role of propaganda, censorship, and the historical context of the middle east. These 3 interrelated dimensions will be analyzed using functionalism, the mass society theory, the dominant ideology framework, the critical criminology framework, and the symbolic interactionist framework. Through censorship, Hamas news media outlets were able to unilaterally inject culturally relevant propaganda, into the minds of children and citizens. The hypodermic syringe model can be applied to the state controlled news media situation in Gaza, as the people of …

Moulding And Manipulating The News, Sharon Beder

Sharon Beder

The media are accused of bias by people from both ends of the political spectrum, but journalists, editors and owners maintain that they provide an objective source of news. This chapter will consider the ways in which the news is shaped and how this in turn influences the way environmental issues are reported and constructed in the mass media.

China- Tibet Conflict, Allen Gnanam

Allen Gnanam

China- Tibet tensions are continually growing, as Tibetans are protesting for total independence from China, despite condemnation from their spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, who is only seeking a sense of autonomy for Tibet (Sinder, 2008). As Tibetan protests are becoming violent and aggressive, the Dalai Lama has also threatened to resign as Tibet’s government in exile (Sinder, 2008), however, his rhetoric is not being exposed to the Tibetan people, due to government censorship in China. Therefore the Dalai Lama, an exiled institutional entrepreneur, has to find new methods that will enable his influential message, to be received by the …