A survey of research foci and paradigms in media and communication Master's dissertations and doctoral theses in South Africa

This study set out to evaluate the foci and paradigms of research in media and communication at Master's and doctoral levels in South Africa. A sample of 241 dissertations and theses in the communication, journalism and media studies programmes of nine universities, from 2004 to 2013, categorised into historically black, historically white Afrikaans-medium and English-medium, were obtained from the databases of the National Research Foundation and some of the universities. The findings show that the production of PhD theses is far lower than that of Master's dissertations. Qualitative design tended to be the dominant approach adopted, followed by a mixed methods approach, and the quantitative approach. The focus of most of the theses is journalism, followed by general media studies. The findings further show that historically black universities bottom the table in the production of related theses and dissertations, while white English-speaking universities top the list. Also, there is evidence of a relationship between the historical origin/language of the universities and the research designs adopted, as well as the research focus of the theses. The article recommends, among others, the need for a clear-cut statement of research methodologies and designs in such theses and dissertations, greater motivation for enrolment in PhD programmes, a strengthening of historically black universities for better performance in postgraduate research, and the incorporation of the experimental method in media research in South Africa.     

‘Hold that Pose!’ Photography and kabuki in Kitano Takeshi's Kikujiro

This article examines Kitano Takeshi's film Kikujiro (Kikujirō no Natsu, 1999) from two directions: first, as an as an experiment in moving versus still photography, and second, as an exploration of time, memory and Japanese identity. I argue that it is in Kitano's cinematic use of elements from the kabuki drama that the two aspects come together. Kitano plays upon the conventions of both kabuki and film media to highlight the significance of the ‘still shot’ as it functions in human memory. By presenting moments of the story in the format of a child's photograph album, Kitano is able to explore ideas of ‘adult’ and ‘child’ as equally arbitrary constructions. Throughout Kikujiro, Kitano draws on a rich tradition of film, drama and television convention in order to explore the idea of where identity comes from – does it come from the past, the present, or do we make it up ourselves? Kitano places emphasis on the still mie pose to heighten emotion and draw attention to the present moment. By contrasting this method against that of photography, Kitano juxtaposes past and present modes of expression, enabling him to interrogate notions of time and the supposed timelessness of art. Finally, Kitano's critical use of the past locates identity not in some distant, unobtainable myth of the nation, but in the lived experience of each individual as a human being.     

Changing the Face of Advocacy? Explaining Interest Organizations’ Use of Social Media Strategies

Social media have increasingly been recognized as an important and effective tool for advocacy. A growing body of research examines the use of social media in grassroots and social movements as well as issues related to civic engagement, social capital, and voter turnout. The extent to which organized interest groups have adopted social media as an advocacy tool, however, has been relatively ignored. This article examines the determinants of the use of social media tools by a broad range of interest organizations. We argue that social media use needs to be understood as part of an interest organization’s larger set of news media lobbying strategies. We explain social media use as a function of two factors: first, the importance organizations place on trying to shape lobbying debates through the news media; second, the importance they place on shaping their public image via the news media. We test this argument using a unique data set of interest group advocacy in the European Union. Controlling for a host of competing explanations, regression results provide evidence supporting our central argument.     

Winners,Losers, and the Press: The Relationship Between Political Parallelism and the Legitimacy Gap

Recent work has explored how individual and institutional factors affect the gap in perceptions of political legitimacy between electoral winners and electoral losers, but has ignored the role that the political information environment, in general, and ideologically biased media, in particular, plays in exacerbating or diminishing this gap. By combining individual-level public opinion data in 28 countries, an expert survey on media systems, and a variety of country-level indicators, I find that higher levels of political parallelism in a country are associated with a larger winner-loser gap in institutional trust and satisfaction with democracy. The relationship is contingent on whether or not people are actually exposed to said media. This research, which links the study of political communication with the study of comparative political behavior, indicates that the increasing availability of partisan news around the world is a cause for concern.     

Stirring up virtual punishment: a case of citizen journalism,authenticity and shaming

Film clips and still pictures captured by civilians are increasingly used as evidence to prove specific accounts of events. This kind of visual data are not without problems, however. The aim of this paper was to analyse how viewers perceived a citizen journalistic mobile phone film clip as naturalistic data, enabling processes of shaming and eventually a ‘justice’ process on the Internet, including virtual punishment of the person filmed by the citizen journalist. In the clip, a taxi driver records video of an agitated female customer whom he hinders from leaving the taxi. The film is then distributed on YouTube, where it attracts remarkable negative attention. However, the citizen journalist’s film clip is only one of several possible accounts of the filmed incident, as demonstrated by the police crime report about the incident as an alternative account showing that viewers cannot rely on the citizen journalistic film clip as objective, naturalistic data.     

20世纪50年代的台湾文学场域与媒介

20世纪50年代的台湾文学前承光复后台湾文学的转折,后启60年代文学的兴盛。此时期文学杂志的“民营”状况,副刊非一统的存在状态,都悄然改变了权力场和文学生产场之间的单一支配关系,使控制文学场域的合法逻辑出现了裂隙,并使得作者、编者、读者的性情最大程度地影响文学生产。此种历史境遇中的文学传播,使政治高压下的20世纪50年代仍能涌动起多种文学思潮,也使台湾文学的乡土性、本土性得以延续、流布。20世纪50年代的台湾文学不应在意识形态层面上被看做文学的断裂。     

The psychological processes that culminate in audience loyalty to a South African soap opera

Abstract

A model for the psychological processes that culminate in positive viewing experiences and audience loyalty to a soap opera is presented. The research was based on a secondary analysis of a qualitative market research study conducted for the SABC on the soap opera Isidingo. The analysis was conducted within a hermeneutic phenomenological interpretive framework. The model illustrates how viewers use soap-world knowledge and real-world knowledge to interpret the characters and storylines of soap operas, and that the degree of enjoyment the viewer experiences from viewing is dependent on the quality of the mental models formed of these respective components. The role that transportation, realism, social influences and timeslot play in the engagement process is also defined.     

寻求实践方案：当前劳动关系治理参与中媒体建设性的核心内涵

劳动关系是构成社会运行基础的重要社会经济关系，实现对它的良好治理是一个重大而迫切的 现实问题。作为一种社会中介机制，无论政治逻辑赋予的应然角色，抑或过往事实蕴含的实然经验，皆表明媒 体需要成为治理参与的行动者。通过观察具体经验现实，在与源自域外的建设性新闻理念对话的基础上，研究 发现：当前语境下劳动关系治理中媒体的建设性，其核心内涵应理解为一种以“寻求实践方案为重心”的理念。 贯彻媒体的建设性，意味着观念上应秉持“积极的专业参与”立场，行动上则重在寻求“实践导向的方案”。其间， 如何妥善处理结构与能动性的关系是媒体面临的普遍挑战。     

Think global,talk local: getting the party political message across in the age of the internet

This paper seeks to test the view that the Internet will provide politicians and political parties with a means of directly communicating with electors, so circumnavigating the perceived bias of the mass media, and explores how the political use of the Internet will impact on campaigning, particularly at the local/personal level. The evidence surveyed shows that political use of the Internet is, despite the hype, still in its infancy, but that more extensive use will lead to changes in the style and mode of political communications. The Internet will eventually enable politicians and parties to address a mass audience in qualitative new ways, tailoring their message and information dissemination to individual and local concerns. But this will bring all the consequences of direct communication, such as increased workloads and the danger of atomising the political process. Politicians and parties may hanker for the days when the traditional mass media intervened in the process of political communications. This paper is an edited version of the one presented to 'On Message: A Conference on Political Communication and Marketing sponsored by the Political Studies Association Media and Politics Group, Loughborough University, September 2000. Copyright © 2001 Henry Stewart Publications