Global Media Journal

Digital technologies have influenced greatly not only the form but the content of media too. Media convergence has caused the appearance of such terms as multimedia, cross-media and transmedia which have become very popular in the modern communication sphere. First of all, it is very important to define the semantics of these words. It is noteworthy that most of the works concerned with the problem under analysis were written by experts in marketing, communication strategies and advertising and are largely concerned with the functional aspects of how to create a successful project, for example, such works as “Getting Started with Transmedia Storytelling” by Robert Pratten, “Transmedia 2.0. How to Create an Entertainment Brand Using a Trans medial Approach to Storytelling” by Nuno Bernardo ((Bernardo,) and “Transmedia Marketing” by Anne Zeiser, etc.   Read More>>>>>>>>

Mitra and Watts (2002) provide a theoretical lens to achieve insight into the perspectives of marginalized groups and their use of the internet (p. 480). Muslim girls in the Netherlands are victims of forced marriages, arranged by their families, or victims of beatings by their fathers or husbands.  In particular Ayaan Hirsi Ali, the Somalian Member of Parliament of the liberal right wing party, cites such images of women in relation to Islam (Moors, 2005; Ghorashi, 2003). Mitra (2001) points out that   immigrants are now able to form networks on the Internet, which allows them to have “a sense of belonging” (p. 30). Mitra demonstrates that through voicing their views on homepages a group of diasporic Indians transforms their identities and images, and challenges some of the stereotypical images produced by the dominant culture. Marginalized people can articulate their oppositional ideologies, and question the dominant view of them, on their homepages.   Read More>>>&g

The concept of the right to communicate originates from Article 19 of the United Nations 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which states: “Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media regardless of frontiers.”  Jean d’Arcy, director of radio and visual services in the UN office of public information, is credited with being the first to coin the term “right to communicate”. Indeed, in 1969 d’Arcy said “The time will come when the UDHR will have to encompass a more extensive right than man’s right to information, first laid down 21 years ago in Article 19. This is the right of man to communicate. Read More>>>>>>

Payne (2009) presented a General Process Model of Content Homogenization that combined extant theories regarding gate-keeping, agenda-setting, and homogenization of news content.  Taking a critical stance, Payne argued, “gatekeeping controls over the agenda setting process produce a homogenized news product that curtails opportunities for robust public discourse” (p. 199). Although not flagged specifically by that label, public relations is included as a mechanism used by the “relatively few who dominate news production operations, including the very rich, chief executives, the corporate rich...” (p. 204).After Gandy (1982), public relations professionals provide information subsidies to the media. Read More>>>>>>>>

In the last two decades, the Internet has become an important tool in our daily lives for communication and acquiring information (Metzger, 2007). At the same time, the quality and credibility of the information available on the Internet has also become a concern for online information seekers.  In recent years, weblogs, a kind of online diary websites, which are becoming an intrinsic part of the Internet (Johnson, Kaye, Bichard & Wong, 2007), has begun to attract more attention of mass communication researchers. Winer (2003) defines a weblog as “a hierarchy of text, images, media objects, and data, arranged chronologically, that can be viewed in an HTML browser” (Ho, 2006). Internet users can read blog content and share opinions with bloggers and other readers. This up-to-date type of media is growing rapidly since its emergence in 1998.   Read More>>

Journalists Strike Online: Visibility, Field and The Huffington Post: Online journalism is undergoing a process of institutionalization in the US and elsewhere, which involves both the reproduction of established journalistic structures and the opening of new possibilities through the struggles of actors in the field.  The 2011 strike against the online news organization The Huffington Post was an attempt by competing interests to circumscribe online journalism and demonstrates how journalists, writing online, employ new means to gain attention. This analysis of influential blogs about the strike shows how news organizations and journalists sought to define online journalism through traditional means of directing attention such as a strike and opinion pieces, and means specific to the internet medium. Read More>>>>>>>>

All the artists that were selected to present their work at the festival employ digital media as an integral component of their working methods and creative processes. The festival, jointly organised by the University of Porto and the University of Texas (Austin, USA), focused upon the question of how digital media in the creative arts interrelates with local cultures.  Heitor Alvelos (festival co-curator and head of Communication Design, University of Porto) wrote in his introduction to the 2009 event: “If digital media can do so much for global communication, knowledge and creativity, how can it contribute to local cultural development?” The array and diversity of participants in the festival is testament to the interest and relevance in this area of debate, practice and research within sociological, ethnological and pedagogic frameworks. Read More>>>>>>>>>

Students face immense challenges in developing the skills necessary to produce content for consumption in a mobile environment. Not only is it a quickly changing medium, requiring immense flexibility with the tools used to create content, but mobile devices are giving students the ability to tell a story in any way they see fit – be it text, photos, videos, or all of the above. This study examined via pre- and post-test responses students’ perceptions of boundary-free storytelling—a limitless exploration of mobile devices, content delivery and message development. However, the act of pushing the students beyond their comfort zones uncovered some gaps in news consumption, technology exposure and confidence with traditional videography.   Read More>>>>>>

This essay began with a simple question: How does one make sense of Youtube? There is no reliable “sample” of videos on Youtube; no easily identifiable ways to determine it’s dominant thematics; no way to evaluate “quality”; no benchmarks for establishment of impact (beyond the questionable number of times a video has been watched), no seminal literature.  For all purposes, it appears to be a new kind of media animal with rules that are weekly emergent. It challenges traditional relations between consumer and creator (Anybody can upload a video on Youtube) and begs the evaluative question—Who does Youtube serve? This essay emerged from a five-year projecti and offers a theory for deconstructing the textual universe of Youtube videos and the participatory culture that surrounds each video.  Read More>>>>>>>

The social media service has almost become an indispensable part of many people’s lives. Besides the discussion on public issues on the Social network sites, people are posting their personal and mundane daily life events, thoughts, and emotions on SNS that are otherwise inaccessible for other people without social media.  Observers of social media have argued that SNSs encapsulate people in an “ambient intimacy” environment since not only can we observe the personal thoughts, feelings, life experiences of our friends by reading their daily updates, but we can also subject our daily rhythm to our friends on SNS by disclosing ourselves. Self-disclosure is a fundamental human social behavior. Read More>>>>>>>>>

In June 2015, Revolutionary Books in Los Angeles had adorned its storefront window with a large sign that read: “Ferguson Is Everywhere.” Beyond the immediate denotation of Michael Brown’s murder and the subsequent protests in the Missouri town, the sign also indicated the universality of violence both police and ordinary citizens inflict on African Americans, from Eric Garner to Freddie Gray to Trayvon Martin to others.  There is an additional signification here too, and one that will serve as the leitmotif for this article. This other signification bespeaks the pervasiveness of commonsense ideology among many European Americans vis-à-vis the daily realities of Black men and women. This gnarled line of thought typically ends in one thicket: the belief in stereotypes of the order of the lazy welfare cheat, the violent animal, and the drug fiend, etc.1 This ideology, which also has a specific class dimension, is extremely harmful in its casual disregard and willful ignorance.  

Color is an integral part of human life from ancient times. It is the color what controls our attention, helps us to pay it to the main, distracting from the minor or vice versa. This article contains knowledge about coloristics in the world of culture and art, color theory and its harmonious combinations, perception and psychological features of different colors in modern fashion design of the Republic of Kazakhstan.  Referring to design of past centuries (although it did not have such a status, classification and species at that time) this article notes that people have always been and continues to be in a constant search of colors attracting personal attention and giving an optimistic attitude towards life. Regarding the relevance of geographical aspects, territorially expressed by means of Eurasian region – namely, the Republic of Kazakhstan, we note that color contributed to the artistic expression of Kazakh people at all times.   Read More>>>>>>>>

At the beginning of the 21st century, shifts in global economics and the communications revolution have initiated a new collective experience in dialogue, bringing the hope of a better level of mutual knowledge and understanding.  Cyberspace technologies now being introduced have brought the global community into a state of rapid mutation. These changes will undoubtedly alter the way humanity interacts and communicates in the future. As a result of these new developments in information and communication technology, the world is facing an unprecedented fusion and opening of cultures and economies that will impact cross cultural dialogues and relationships as well as stimulate development in cultural, social, economic, and educational arenas. Read More>>>>>

Much has been written about the power and influence of the Disney corporation (Dorfman & Mattelart, 1975; Shickel, 1968; Smoodin, 1993; Wasko, 2000; Maltin, 1980; Mosley, 1985).  With enterprises in film, video, theme parks, cable and network television, cruise ships, toys, clothing, and other consumer products, Disney leads in the construction and promotion of U. S. popular culture. Yet, despite its position as global media giant—second only to Time-Warner-AOL, its sordid past as cold war propagandist and union-buster, and its current exploitation of sweatshop workers (e.g., $1/day for Haitian Disney employees), Disney maintains the Mickeyesque-aura of Uncle Walt and wholesome family entertainment. Read More>>>>>>>>>>

Many minds in the U.S. government are working unusual overtime these days trying to figure out a seeming dilemma. How can the United States be doing so much for the world, yet continue to be so unpopular? How is it possible to welcome U.S. products, and yet hate the U.S. government?  There may be no easy answers yet, but any solution mix that emerges must include high dosage of cultural exchanges that genuinely reconnects Americans to the world. Not too long ago, American youths wanted to be like Mike. It’s hard to believe that this kind of admiration for all things America did not begin with the basketball star. Sometime ago, without much government urging and hype, youths all over the world wanted to be like JFK. Even down to the hairstyles. Read More>>>>>>>>

Latin American scholars have been at the forefront of academic research about telenovelas. In the 1970s,country-specific studies dominated the research agenda, which included the work of Rector (1975) about Brazil, and Coccato’s historiography of Venezuelan telenovelas (1979).  In addition, this decade saw the theoretical work of Morana (1978) and Verón (1978) that established semiotics as one of the dominant approaches to the study of the genre. In the 1980s and 1990s, Latin American communication scholars drew on sociology and cultural theory as they searched for a theoretical framework to explain how telenovelas are linked to questions of nationality, cultural identity and modernity (Aprea & Mendoza Martínez, 1996; Fadul, 1993a, 1993b; González, 1993; Lopez, 1995; Lozano, 1989; Martín-Barbero, 1987, 1988, 1993, 1995; Martín-Barbero & Muñoz, 1992; Martín-Barbero & Rey, 1999; Verón & Chauvel, 1997). Read More>>>>>>>>

Since 9/11 violence associated with Muslims has raised questions about Islam’s values and ideals. While the Western media daily represent Islam as steeped in “fundamentalism” and “terrorism” many Muslims and their allies have challenged the accurateness of these claims. One of the foci of this discussion about Islam has been Muslim women, their roles, their rights and their oppressions. Mass media are replete with narratives that feature honor killings, prohibitions against educating girls and women, and other instances of women’s curtailed rights in Muslim-majority nations.   Read More>>>>>

I have worked in a steel mill in northwest Indiana for ten years. While the mill now employs more women than ever before we are still treated as outsiders in this male-dominated environment. Hence from personal experience I know what it means to be objectified by the male gaze. I am routinely ogled and tested to gauge my reaction to blatantly inappropriate sexual comments. Over the years I’ve cultivated a reputation as a bitch in order to deflect this harassment. But even this label—bitch—does not stop my male co-workers from eyeing me lustily or occasionally inquiring whether I am in a sexual relationship. Indeed, I have been propositioned, asked out on dates by married men, and threatened with physical violence. Decades after the most dynamic years of the twentieth century women’s rights movement, I have no reasonable expectation that my male co-workers will respect me or my privacy.   Read More>>>>>>>>>

One of the relatively recent developments in the media world is the recognition of the traumatizing effects certain journalistic activities can have on the psyche of media people.  Journalists are no less at risk of burnout and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) than are professionals in other high risk areas involving emotionally challenging work activities. Around the world, workshops are now being offered for traumatized journalists. The main objective, as the author is aware from working with traumatized war refugees, is to assist individuals to find better ways of processing their traumatic experiences, come to terms with their current life reality and achieve better levels of functioning. Read More>>>>>>>>

The Case of Al-Manar Television: During a social gathering among fellow Lebanese, a friend greeted the twenty-first century with the phrase “welcome to the age of globalization.” While it is common knowledge that globalization has always existed in many forms, what point was my fellow countryman making? Were we celebrating progress and development, or was it simply a cynical comment about globalization in the Middle East? Chan and Ma note that the globalization debate centers between two polar views: one considers the world economy as triumphant, the other regards it as Western imperialism.  Either way, it is a struggle for local cultures to assert their autonomy (Chan & Ma, 2002). Sinclair et al. present the tension that ensues in the globalization of media. This tension exists along the axis of homogenization and heteroginization between identities of local and external influences (Sinclair, Jack, & Cuningham, 1996). Read More>>>>>

There is evolving in our time a global civic culture, a culture which contains further elements to be incorporated in a new global ethics. The idea of human rights, the principle of democratic legitimacy, public accountability, and the emerging ethos of evidence and proof are the prime candidates for consideration...  Today, the idea of human rights, though still challenged by recalcitrant governments, is a firmly entrenched standard of political conduct and will have to be a corner-stone of any global ethics. (Javier Pérez de Cuéllar, 1995, pp. 36-37) Freedom of thought and expression is guaranteed and official censorship of newspapers, radio and television is prohibited except in times of war or unless laws are enacted to preserve national security, individual privacy, maintaining public order or good public morals. Read More>>>>>>>>>

Generations of social science and critical scholars have documented the interdependency among capitalism, the media, and government. The media-constructed world of threatening ‘others’ systematically skews reality in phallogocentric, ethnocentric, nationalistic ways that reinforce government power, reify disparities of gender, wealth and influence, and perpetuate and amplify perceived differences and enmities. Growing social, economic, politic, ethnic, religious, and even familial globalization nonetheless increases reliance on mass communication as a source of ‘objective’ information about the world beyond individual reach. Despite the promise of democratic, public media or multiple, niche media to offer diverse, balanced perspectives, mainstream media continue to dominate and direct information flows. Read More>>>>>>

The Internet, and particularly the web, have become critical communication channels and have fundamentally changed communication on both a one-to-one and a one-to-many level. Teaching students how to design effective online communication tools, such as webpages, is more than a matter of teaching them how to write code or use a WYSIWG editor.  Faculty need to balance teaching students the basic building blocks, such as HTML and CSS, with teaching students visual design and design best practices, particularly usability and accessibility. Usability, or how easy it is to use a site, is critical. If a site is difficult to use, users will go elsewhere for the information or service. Read More>>>>>>>>>

Portable screens, mobile viewing, and on-demand, in-control screen cultures have created a number of challenges and opportunities for the television industry and audiences. Some polemicists have gone so far as to proclaim that new viewing platforms signal the death of TV, as public discourse is underlined by the assumption that television’s digital migration allows viewers ultimate control, rendering traditional television irrelevant or redundant.  A recent article in The Guardian UK headlines, “TV is Dead. Long Live the Internet” (2011), making futurist claims a seeming reality. In a similarly titled article, Wired magazine states, “The TV is Dead. Long Live the TV” (Borland, 2007). In the opening paragraph, a CBS producer, Kim Moses, states, “traditional TV won’t be here in seven to 10 years….It’s changing so fast that I don’t know if it’s even going to be that long” (para. 5). Read More>>>>>>>

News and political information impact our lives directly and indirectly. Such information affects how we think of ourselves and those who share or disagree with our worldview, our perceptions of issues, policy, government leaders and government. We have witnessed fundamental changes taking place in our consumption of media and news.  The Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism (2012) reported these changes. In 2011, the digital revolution entered a new era. The age of mobile, in which people are connected to the web wherever they are, arrived in earnest. More than four in ten American adults now own a smartphone. One in five owns a tablet. New cars are manufactured with Internet built in. With more mobility comes deeper immersion into social networking (http://stateofthemedia-2012.org).   Read More>>>>>>>

The concept of ‘information’ is probably too vague and informal for philosophical pondering. But sociologists are not essentialists, and it is the diverse use of the word in multiple contexts that allows us to glimpse into its pervasiveness in the moving-on (Wittgenstein 1953) of everyday life and academic discussions. In this paper I thus present this diversity through an investigation of the characteristic forms of informational interactions at four different analytical levels, starting from the societal and ending at the interpersonal.  Information is indeed a broad concept. It occupies the fuzzy region between data and knowledge in terms of meaningfulness (Ackoff 1989).Information theory extends it down to data (Shannon 1948), while Lyotard (1979) stretches it up to occupy at least a problematic slice of knowledge. The optimistic renaming of information society to knowledge society, however, does not readily create knowledge, and the legitimate / tolerated use of informat

Cellular phones have touched so many lives in so many ways. With the far reaching influence of these devices, how can we place a discussion on cellular phones into some sort of reasonable context? We can start our discussion by recognizing cellular phones as an essential communications device. And it truly is. If you did not have a cellular phone, there would be certain communication options that would be unavailable.  We can also reflect on the classic communications model, and talk about cellular phones as a medium in which the message from sender to receiver is digitally enhanced and altered on a constant basis. And, as the role of mobile devices clearly transcends the function of mere message distribution, cellular phones will be presented here as a critical part of the lives of millions with various applications. Read More>>>>>

The vital role of global journalism, the fourth estate, is fast changing as a result of technological advances that have brought about easier and faster access to all kinds of communication and information.  Global journalism as well as social media provide a constant stream of information to the public, which has brought many government, nongovernment, and corporate entities to greater accountability, transparency, and probity. With the advent of global journalism and social media, there have been unthinkable changes in our lives. For instance, privacy and confidentiality are more difficult to maintain; it’s difficult to operate in secrecy or count on privacy.   Read More>>>>>>>>>>

In this paper 1,author have construed rituals to share the semantic contents of communication; to the transmission of certain messages and certain sorts of information. Rituals are represented in every culture by shared symbols and meanings, which individuals learn in an intricate process, naturally finding its reflection in their everyday lives. In addition, individuals create, learn and change ritual symbols and meanings in an interactive process. Ritual Communication Of Camlica Region: Rituals are regularly performed by group members, who create and sustain rules and resources in any relationship. It's the group members, who categorize the world, achieve order, and take an indispensable part in vital steps such as decision making, problem solving, and the maintenance of group identity through the introduction of their cultural texts.   Read More>>>>>>>

The shrinking circulation Figures of printed publications changed the traditional business model of news publishers and caused revenue from circulation and advertising to crumble. As a consequence, publishers have looked for several alternative sources of revenue through business model innovations recently in order to reduce the dependence on revenue from the print segment.  Transferring the printed newspaper to an online version is no solution either, since consumers´ willingness to pay for digital content is particularly low due to complementary journalistic brands on the Internet and new digital payment models. Simultaneously, consumers expect a high added value from digital as well as from printed news. This is why the customer value proposition of digital news content has changed compared to printed news. Read More>>>>>>>>