Media Consumption Patterns: Watching TV in Former Yugoslav States

Author(s): Nataša Simenunović-Bajić,Lucia Vesnic Alujevic / Language(s): English Issue: 02/2013

The period after the collapse of the communist Yugoslav state was marked by wars in several ex-Yugoslav states. Therefore the state-building period overlapped with the transition from communism to capitalism and processes of reconciliation between the disputed states. This is reflected in the transformation of the media audiences in the Western Balkans region as well. Drawing upon the reception studies tradition, the goal of this paper is to explore media consumption in several ex-Yugoslav states, namely: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro and Serbia and to find similarities and differences in audiences’ behaviour. The changes in media consumption are connected to the transition processes in the media that brought new opportunities and challenges as well as different audiences’ responses to them. The selection of countries was determined by their shared history, but also by the possibilities for audiences from those countries to easily access programmes broadcast by the other countries within the region. The research asks whether and what kind of connections can be established between the socio-demographic characteristics, cultural and lifestyle values of the audiences and the programmes that they watch. Quantitative and qualitative methods are combined here. Firstly, data obtained from an initial survey carried out in the four states with a representative sample suggests tendencies and patterns in audiences’ consumption of television broadcasting in the aforementioned countries; these are then further explored qualitatively, using in-depth interviews with selected participants, to reveal common cultural values, based on collective memory, among those audiences. The research design employs a comparative approach that allows us to draw more generalized conclusions for the territory of the Western Balkans.

Reading Cutezătorii and Watching Jackie Chan: Romanian Children and the Communist Propaganda in 1970s and the 1980s

Author(s): Laura Visan / Language(s): English Issue: 02/2013

This article will explore an instance of creative resistance to the intrusion of communist authorities in Romanians’ everyday life during the decades of late socialism – the 1970s and 1980s. It will analyse how Romanian children appropriated and renegotiated the propaganda messages that the Romanian Communist Party communicated through media artefacts targeting children. The article will briefly present the Romanian children’s media, with an emphasis on the ideological tenets communicated through these outlets, and the principal rituals of childhood during the Ceauşescu era, particularly those associated to pioneership. This section will be complemented by an analysis of ethnographic interviews with Romanian immigrants from Toronto and the Greater Toronto Area, who recalled their response to the indoctrinatory messages they received during the Ceauşescu era. The analysis will be anchored in Michel de Certeau’s canonical study of everyday living practices. His conceptual pair strategies, usually understood as the appanage of the powerful, and tactics, the space of manoeuvre for the ‘weak’, will be discussed in relation with the social context of late socialism. It will be argued that strategies and tactics are not situated on positions of adversity, but are rather engaged in a relation of complicity, very useful when attempting to reconstitute the social context of socialism.

Trailer zum Buch – Wie wirken Buchtrailer auf die Rezipienten? Ergebnisse des ersten online-experiments in Deutschland

Author(s): Christian Schaefer-Hock,Daniela Hartmann / Language(s): German Issue: 2/2013

As far as we know, an experiment on the effect of book trailers has not yet been presented to a broader academic public. Our findings: Book trailers are – compared to blurbs – better able to make clear to the future reader which genre the book they are considering buying belongs to. In our experiment, however, they were not able to increase the interest in reading more strongly, nor did they manage to make a book seem more exciting in the comparison carried out to blurbs.

Mediálny multitasking ako percepčná stratégia

Author(s): Pavol Rankov / Language(s): Slovak Issue: 2/2013

Information society has given rise to information explosion which is manifested by information overlap inside a medium or a programme (e. g. bricolage of picture, sound and unrelated crawling text in television news, or web links as permanent invitation to multitasking). A human requires immediate access to information as well as society requires immediate response from the human. Both of these tendencies are promoters of multitasking as information strategy. Conditions for multitasking are intra-personal and socio-cultural (e. g. neurotism and a highly television-oriented household). Several studies have shown that human brain isn´t adapted for simulnateous perception of different information. Heavy media multitaskers demonstrate their problems to concentrate on significant stimuli, because they have developed a habit of treating all of the information with equal attention. Multitasking may become the key communication skill for the 21st century. This is challenge for media production as well as media education. The study gives overview on media multitasking.

Hovoří Moskva - Moskva hovoří / Československé rozhlasové vysílání ze Sovětského svazu v letech 1939-1945

Author(s): Jiří Křesťan / Language(s): Czech Issue: 01/2014

Skupinová ideologie v médiích určených lidem s tělesným postižením

Author(s): Martin Vejvoda / Language(s): Czech Issue: 03/2013

The paper raises the question, whether it is possible to trace a group-specific, intellectually elaborate worldview in Czech magazines dedicated to physically challenged people. The aim is to find out, whether these periodicals offer a form of group ideology to the reader and what are its main characteristics. In order to identify this, I use the concept of group ideology by theorist Teun A. van Dijk and his method of ideological discourse analysis.

Užívání internetu a sociabilita: kořeny, vývoj a současnost výzkumu

Author(s): Petr Lupač / Language(s): Czech Issue: 03/2013

Since the very inception of social-scientific research on the Internet, the influence of the Internet on sociability has been an important issue. In the past twenty years, there has been an explosion of the volume of empirical evidence on this subject that has largely left students of this field with the impression of being confronted by a labyrinthine mass of observations replete with contradictory conclusions but offering little or no theoretical syntheses. In this article, the author seeks to systematize the broad range of findings on the Internet and sociability by posing three fundamental questions: does the Internet enrich a user‘s social life and if so in what ways; how are the benefits of Internet use as a medium of interpersonal communication distributed; and, what is the interaction between Internet effects and long-run structural changes in social behaviour. In order to answer these questions, the author compares the leading hypotheses on these issues with empirical evidence. The article offers two original contributions to the field. The first is that it links implicit ‘social theory’ of the computer networking inventors to the early stages of social scientific reflection on the issue of changes to sociability. The second is that the author offers the generalized conclusion that the Internet is merely an amplifying intermediary in a specifically structured transformation of social life (that is occurring irrespective of it) and possesses no inherent added value with the capacity to magically transform a user solely by the act of usage. Therefore, the distribution of benefits seems to a significant extent mimic the distribution of resources postulated in the ‘rich-get-richer’ hypothesis. In the concluding part, the author briefly discusses Wellman‘s concept of networked individualism, which is today both the most elaborated answer to the third question and the one most compatible with existing social theory.

Událost a sémiodynamika: Napětí mezi rychlostí a srozumitelností v komunikačních procesech

Author(s): Palo Fabuš / Language(s): Czech Issue: 03/2013

The critical study focuses on the logic of tension between speed and intelligibility in all social and communicational levels. Presuming a discursively shaped world with its figures and background one can follow the fundamental conditions of communication under the pressure of speed itself, arrived at only at the price of reduction. With the help of Lyotard’s concept of event and Peirce’s categories of firstness, secondness and thirdness, the study analyzes intelligibility as a degree of reduction needed for discoursive praxis to run smoothly and in a self-confirmatory fashion. This autopoietic logic of communicational processes is coined as semiodynamics. The influence of social sciences is briefly accounted for in the concluding part.

Typológie hier nezaložené na herných mechanikách

Author(s): Silvester Buček / Language(s): Czech Issue: 03/2013

The article introduces typologies of computer games used by gaming community (players, journalists, developers, scholars) that are not based directly on game mechanics. The first part of the text frames the research object in contrast with other similar phenomena (media, sports) and explains the specifics of the immersion caused by the game. The specific characteristic of a game is presented by means of game mechanics, which causes a distinct kind of immersion in comparison to other media experiences. However, the text focuses mainly on a typology defined by factors external to the game itself: the factors taking into consideration a position of game developer. The typology is thus based on the producer type, on the type of used distribution channels, and on the type of virtual platforms – the three external factors considered as partly defining the character of the game.

Monitory ČTK aneb co zajímalo komunistický režim na vysílání Rádia Svobodná Evropa

Author(s): Ondřej Diblík / Language(s): Czech Issue: 01/2014

In paper ‘Monitors of the Czechoslovak News Agency or What Interested the Communist Regime in the Radio Free Europe Broadcasting Station’ analyses the so-called ‘monitors’, i.e., the daily transcripts of radio broadcasts given by the Western radio stations. The authors of these monitors were employees of a special department of the Czechoslovak News Agency, and the recipients were a narrow circle of people, mainly from the political and media environment of communist Czechoslovakia. Using more than 200 monitors, broadcasted in three historical periods, we have analysed the form and, above all, the contents of these monitors and we have described, analysed and interpreted what the communist regime and its representatives were so interested in regarding the broadcasting of the Radio Free Europe station.

Mediální konstrukce apokalypsy: Návrat Halleyovy komety a konec mayského kalendáře optikou diskurzivní analýzy

Author(s): Johana Kotišová / Language(s): Czech Issue: 01/2014

The research paper deals with media representation of apocalyptic predictions. It aims at describing how the apocalypse is represented/constructed in media discourse and what functions the apocalyptic predictions may perform. The theoretical background is highly interdisciplinary: the research is formed and inspired by the concepts of Carl Gustav Jung´s analytical psychology and by the historical context of the apocalyptic visions, including contemporary theories of collapse. Moreover, the paper associates classic anthropological conceptualisations of ritual, as well as the psychoanalytical/sociological notion of ontological security, with the media- apocalyptic seriality. The research paper employs a discourse analytical approach suggested by James Paul Gee, enhanced by selected Jungian categories, for in-depth comparative analysis of printed and online media texts dealing with the return of Halley´s comet in 1910 and the end of Mayan calendar in 2012. The paper suggests that – by various forms of ritualizing the apocalyptic events´ prediction – the media have the potential to symbolically revitalize the society and strengthen ontological security of its members. The objects of prediction (the comet and the calendar in this case) can actually serve as objects of projection of collectively unconscious anxieties, activated by social-political context. However, the research suggests that the media discourse on apocalypse articulates a historically invariable cause of the apocalypse – the self-destructive tendencies of the human race.

Divačka „růžové knihovny“: „U sci-fi žehlím, u Růžovky si sednu, ani se nehnu.“ Preference postav na základě genderového vztahování se publika

Author(s): Iva Baslarová / Language(s): Czech Issue: 01/2014

This article explores how the Czech female and male audiences of television soap opera The Surgery in the Rose Garden construct their gender identities in relation to their interpretations of the show’s characters. It takes the paradigm of interpretative sociology for its starting point and uses the methods of ethnographic approach to gender. Its theoretical background comprises gender theories of audience of the “women’s genres”. The research was conducted from 2006 to 2011 targeting the male and female viewers of The Surgery in the Rose Garden in the city of Šumperk. The methods used were in-depth interviews, group interviews and participant observation. The research also concerned part of the production of this soap opera, particularly its creative team. The article shows how members of the audience work with gender categories and how they “do” and “display” gender in their own lives.

Aktuálny obraz úrovne jazykovej kultury v hlavnej spravodajskej relácii RTVS/Slovenskej televízie

Author(s): Miloš Horváth / Language(s): Czech Issue: 01/2014

The present contribution represents a partial research probe into the problems of the theory of codified language and linguistic culture of the contemporary Slovak language applied to the practice of mass media communication. On the basis of the analysed language material, we relativize the frequently cited argument of unflattering or even disrepair status of use of the Slovak language in public journalistic sphere. On the contrary, by means of linguistic-stylistic interpretation of the four editions of main news programme of RTVS/Slovak Television, we prove that language culture of particular assessed presenters/anchors and editors is at the relatively good level, as their public utterances do not significantly violate the current valid codification standard.

Profesní vzdělávání a uplatnění rockově zaměřených publicistů v období normalizace

Author(s): Martin Husák / Language(s): Czech Issue: 01/2014

The advent of rock music in sixties has fundamentally changed the entire field of popular music all over the world including Czechoslovakia. Rock music played an irreplaceable social role, especially in relation to young generations who were using it as a significant voice of their feelings. The evolving area of rock music did not correspond to its professional reflection in official mass media. Serious rock music journalism significantly developed only at the end of the sixties. In the period of normalization, the Czechoslovak communist government restarted to hold rigidly to Marxist- Leninist ideology in its political and cultural practise. This turn also resulted in a new official approach to rock music characterised by differentiated forms of media regimentation including prescriptive media coverage the rock music or massive reduction of popular music periodicals. The article is focuses on the description of music journalism training based on university studies as well as on less formal ways of further training provided by interest groups or illegal platforms in the period of normalisation. This article also attempts to give deeper thought into how the area of rock music can become ideologically an unwanted way of making a living.

Cenzura wobec problematyki „odwilży” 1956 roku na łamach Gazety Poznańskiej

Author(s): Piotr Swacha / Language(s): Polish Issue: 1 (217)/2014

The purpose of the article is to point out the outlook of Local Censorship Office in Poznań to articles about political changes in Poland in 1956, which were published in Gazeta Poznańska. The previous research on the attitude of the press and censorship during the “Polish October” focused primarily on newspapers which were considered revisionist. Gazeta Poznańska was edited by Regional Committee of the Polish United Workers` Party and presented an official conservative point of view. The article was based on the documents from State Archive in Poznań. The basis of arrangements presented in the article were the result of the analysis of source documents created by Local Censorship Office in Poznań. They made it possible to create a category of texts which were consistently excluded from publication. This group included articles on the increase in wages and focused on the movements of Soviet troops in Poland. Censorship also blocked opinions that evaluated the earlier period of the Communist Party governments too critically and suggested dissatisfaction with the ongoing changes. The activity of censorship in Gazeta Poznańska in the year 1956 also indicates what type and level f criticism of the Communist Party at that time was considered to be admissible. The outlook of Local Censorship Office in Poznań to Gazeta Poznańska in the period of 1956 changes in Poland showed what type and level of criticism was acceptable in the Polish United Workers’ Party’s press.

Afryka na łamach Newsweeka, Polityki i Wprost w latach 2001–2010

Author(s): Krzysztof Tlałka / Language(s): Polish Issue: 1 (217)/2014

The aim of this article is to analyze the manner in which the chosen Polish weekly news magazines – Newsweek, Polityka and Wprost – presented Africa in the years 2001–2010, mainly the problems of its current situation and prospects for the future, as well as the issue of the most prominent leaders of the continent. Using two research methods – content analysis and discourse analysis – the author establishes that none of the magazines published articles about Africa in a systematic planned manner. The magazines focused mainly on political and security issues. Economy, societies and religions were also on the agenda but to a lesser extent. The problems of the continent were often presented through the activities taken by the dictators – Muammar Gaddafi and Robert Mugabe. As far as the perspectives of Africa for the future are concerned, the most critical and pessimistic was Wprost, whereas Newsweek and Polityka took a more optimistic approach to the issue

Teoretyczne podstawy badań nad wydarzeniami medialnymi

Author(s): Agnieszka Stępińska,Małgorzata Kołodziejczak / Language(s): Polish Issue: 1 (217)/2014

The aim of this paper is to present and discuss theoretical background for media events studies that have been conducted since the 1980s. The paper collects all major perspectives and studies in order to provide a complete picture of a theoretical approach to research on the media events. First, the paper reviews concepts developed by E. Durkheim and so called neodurkheimists, including E. Rothenbuhler and W. Shils. These concepts provided the background and led to a deeper understanding and an explanation of symbolic dimensions of social relations, contemporary ceremonies, rituals (including political ones), and the role of the media in creating the social and political reality. One of Durkheim’s fundamental concepts distinguishing sacrum and profanum provided the background for a concept of media events developed by E. Katz and D. Dayan. While the classic version of this concept included just three main types of the media events (conquest, coronation, and contest), the more recent one is extended and includes six types. Based on the empirical studies conducted by T. Liebes, E. Rothenbuhler, and G. Weimann (to name just some of the scholars), three more types have been added, namely: coercion, disaster, and war. They share a disruptive character (instead if integrative one) and they describe relations between the organizers of an event, media organizations, and the audience in a different manner than the classic version of the concept. For this reason, the idea of including them into a classic concept seems to be criticized by some scholars, including E. Rothenbuhler. Instead, he proposes that a concept of ritual communication as a broader frame for studies on media events should be used.

Przekaz mediów a populizm penalny i jego znaczenie społeczne (na przykładzie sprawy „polskiego Fritzla”)

Author(s): Ewelina Kamińska / Language(s): Polish Issue: 1 (217)/2014

On November 5th, 2009, the Polish Parliament passed an amendment to the Penal Code, introducing a new preventive measure against pedophilia perpetrators, commonly known as chemical castration. The amended Article 95a, section 1a of the Penal Code concerns, among others, a mandatory referral of the perpetrator of rape of a minor under the age of 15 to outpatient treatment or placement in a closed institution, where they will undergo pharmacological and psychotherapeutic treatment aimed at reducing sex drive. The amendment has been widely criticized by professionals; doctors, sexologists, and criminologists, who underlined ineffectiveness and possible adverse health consequences of the so-called chemical castration, not to mention how its mandatory nature violates the basic rights of the individual. Nevertheless, this law has an extremely large popular support: according to a Millward Brown SMG / KRC survey lab, 79% of Poles approved of the amendment. It is also worth noting that the first announcement of the introduction of the above-mentioned Act took place on September 9th, 2008, and thus on the same day on which the media revealed the so-called Polish Fritzl case, whose perpetrator, Krzysztof B. is currently held imprisoned for sexual abuse of his daughter. The topic of this paper is to answer whether and to what extent the introduction of the so-called ‚chemical castration act’ was infl uenced by the phenomenon of penal populism, and what the role played by media was in this process. It is a research attempt to determine how the Polish media report the allegations of pedophilia crimes and whether the manner of reporting could have infl uenced the public opinion about this kind of crimes and the political decisions about the employed ways of combating it.

Prawno-etyczne uwarunkowania zarządzania mediami

Author(s): Bogusław Nierenberg / Language(s): Polish Issue: 1 (217)/2014

The article discusses ethical and legal conditions referring to media management. The following thesis is discussed: tendency for manipulative behaviors in the media is conditioned primarily by needs. Their expressions are rather independent from socio-economic system. For the purpose of proving the thesis the case study analysis was applied, including Watergate scandal, being the most substantial one and perceived widely as acknowledgment of the power of American democracy. The author proves that it is a faulty belief. An alternate element that proves the rightness of the assumed thesis is the analysis of legal documents referring to media institutions and deontological codes accepted by journalist associations.

Komunikowanie lokalne wobec nowych możliwości i oczekiwań. Prasa drukowana czy elektroniczna?

Author(s): Jolanta Kępa-Mętrak / Language(s): Polish Issue: 1 (217)/2014

Apart from TV digitization the Internet and local press have been the most important events in the Polish media in the recent years. The former has been developing very intensively, the latter, which exists in the traditional form, for many years has been said to be bound to fall due to the Internet itself. But it is still doing quite well and has more and more in common with the Internet. Local communication as well as regional or national ones seem to be exceeding the limited territorial environment more and more and getting transferred to the global network with better and better results. Many publishers offer subscriptions and e-copy sales releases. On the other hand, the local printed press has still priority over the virtual media in many communities. These are the theses which the author tries to prove through the analysis of the selected local newspapers. Among them there are both local weeklies-the best-selling in the country, and short-run periodicals, especially popular in smaller towns and villages. Some of them are still very traditional and they use paper as the only carrier transfer. It mainly concerns the press of a very small range. One can clearly observe that the smaller the community, the greater the role of the traditional print media. However, it is difficult to notice the relationship between the time of launching the new titles and their form. The recent ones are not necessarily the most multimedia ones.