The Rational Politician: Exploiting the Media in New Democracies. By Andrew K. Milton. Aldershot, UK: Ashgate, 2000. 195p. $64.95.

2001 ◽  
Vol 95 (2) ◽  
pp. 503-504
Author(s):  
Jane L. Curry

The media have always been major players in transitions from authoritarian rule toward democracy. For all the dis- cussion of the media as actors in these transitions and as the objects of political tug-of-wars, little has actually been said about how the media work or how they have been managed. The Rational Politician is the first look at the media in the East European transitions from communism to democracy.

2021 ◽  
Vol 66 (S29) ◽  
pp. 139-160
Author(s):  
Robin Frisch

AbstractThis article offers a sensitive reading of oppositional political cartoons in Togo in the early 1990s, during the period of structural adjustment, which was accompanied by the swift reversal of democratizing trends and the restoration of authoritarian rule. Togolese satirists perceived this moment as a moment of “fraudonomics”, thus contesting rampant corruption and clientelism in politics. They poked fun at the president, local politicians, businesspeople, and bureaucrats of the international institutions. The article begins by examining the making of satirical newspapers with a focus on the biographies of the satirists. As students, they started out on the adventure of publication with their own money and learned most of their drawing and printing techniques as work progressed. Secondly, an analysis of the readership shows that, although the satirical newspapers were a crucial element of the media in the early 1990s, it was mostly an elitist and urban phenomenon. The third section analyses the changing visual repertoire of contention through in-depth analysis of four selected caricatures.


Sociologija ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 63 (1) ◽  
pp. 72-95
Author(s):  
Smiljana Milinkov ◽  
Dinko Gruhonjic

The paper problematizes the presence of political clientelism in the media in the Republic of Serbia. The aim of this research is to point out the examples of establishing mechanisms of clientelistic practice in the media, using the News agency Tanjug as an example. Three analytical categories, which are relevant for perceiving the problem of clientelism, have been included: regulatory framework, financial allocations from the state budget and the reporting of the news agency Tanjug. The results of the research show that the illegal functioning, the unsolved ownership issue, non-transparent financing and unprofessional reporting are characteristics of the media work of Tanjug agency. According to the law, the former state agency was scheduled to stop work by the end of 2015. However, Tanjug still, with unclear legal status and significant financial help from the state, publishes information, some of which were proven to be disinformation. The analysis of examples of unobjective and unprofessional reporting points out to the ignoring of public interest, in order to satisfy the particular interest of the governing political structure, which financially makes Tanjug?s functioning possible, in an illegal manner. This case represents a closed circle of interrelationships on the relation politics-economy-media, through which clientelism is defined, using quid pro quo practice.


Journalism ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 334-349 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nando Malmelin ◽  
Lotta Nivari-Lindström

This article explores conceptions of creativity in the media industry, specifically among professionals of journalism working in the magazine industry. It contributes to the development of the theory of creativity from a media industry perspective and produces new conceptual knowledge about creative media work. The article finds that in the magazine industry, journalistic creativity is understood as a practical and multidimensional concept that can be interpreted and applied in many different ways. The different conceptions of creativity reflect both the traditions of the journalistic profession and the challenges now faced by the media and the magazine industry. It is concluded that creative work in the magazine industry is typically goal driven, commercially minded and collaboratively oriented. Also, creative work in the magazine industry is characterized by ongoing processes of gradual reinvention. Other major creative challenges include the development of new ways of working, new media products and new commercial solutions.


2007 ◽  
Vol 89 (868) ◽  
pp. 879-891
Author(s):  
Daoud Kuttab

AbstractThe war in Iraq has been accompanied by the highest ever number of casualties among members of the Iraqi and foreign press. While the end of the Saddam Hussein regime has reopened the way for vibrant media activity, the absence of security for members of the media has had a high human cost. The US-led war on Iraq, which was aimed at liberating its people from authoritarian rule, has not seen any serious attempt by the Western or even Arab media to focus on the human side of Iraq. Iraqi civilian death tolls are treated as nothing more than statistics.


Author(s):  
Godswill Okiyi ◽  
Chinwe Odionye ◽  
Adenike Okeya

Girl-child marriages have been an ongoing practice in many traditional and modern societies. It is a common practice which exists in Asia, Africa, Europe and the Americas. Presently, girl child marriages predominate in developing countries, most of which have not accepted or domesticated the Child Rights Acts which aims to legalize the protection of children from different kinds of abuses. The media are expected to play roles of advocacy by setting agenda on such issues as child marriages by providing adequate coverage through news reports, editorials, interviews, features and other kinds of contents. This paper is a systematic critical analysis which relied on secondary data to examine issues explored. The study is underpinned by the mutedgroup and spiral of silence theories. While the latter examined communication patterns and social representation of non-dominant cultural groups like women and other minorities, the spiral of silence theory posits that the mass media work simultaneously with majority public opinion to silence minority beliefs or cultural issues. Literature revealed that the media do not significantly report social problems of child abuse and violence. Reportage of other sections of societies occupies more prominent media space. However, as part of roles of the media, they are to sensitize and create awareness of issues related to rights and protection of children.


Author(s):  
A. Arzymatova

1991year entered world history as the collapse of the USSR and the emergence of new independent states on its wreckage. In August 31, 1991, Kyrgyzstan adopted the Declaration on State independence. The transition to democratization began in difficult condition. The political, economic, social crisis set the stage for new reforms in the country. Changes in the political system of society were enshrined in the adopted first Constitution of 1993. The principle of separation of powers was enshrined: legislative, executive and judicial bodies were defined as independent branches of government. The political life of society depends on the type of political regime, public opinion, the influence of ideology and religion, as well as the decency of the media. Constitutional, political and economic reforms in Kyrgyzstan upset the balance government. The instability of democratic institutions and the establishment of authoritarian rule led to the March events of 2005. 


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brooke Erin Duffy ◽  
Megan Sawey

Despite the staggering uptick in social media employment over the last decade, this nascent category of cultural labor remains comparatively under-theorized. In this paper, we contend that social media work is configured by a visibility paradox: while workers are tasked with elevating the presence—or visibility—of their employers’ brands across Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and more, their identities—and much of their labor—remains hidden behind branded social media accounts. To illuminate how this ostensible paradox impacts laborers’ conditions and experiences of work, we present data from in-depth interviews with more than 40 social media professionals. Their accounts make clear that social media work is not just materially concealed, but rendered socially invisible through its lack of crediting, marginal status, and incessant demands for un/under-compensated emotional labor. This patterned devaluation of social media employment can, we show, be situated along two gender-coded axes that have long structured the value of labor in the media and cultural industries: 1). technical-communication and 2). creation-circulation. After detailing these in/visibility mechanisms, we conclude by addressing the implications of our findings for the politics and subjectivities of work in an increasingly digital media economy.


2017 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 44-59 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sari Virta ◽  
Nando Malmelin

This article analyses creative work in one of Europe’s largest media organizations, in which a newly formed development team was tasked with creating a new multi-platform media product. The objective of this article is to explore the dynamics of team creativity in the process of developing and managing media content innovation. To do this, this study utilizes the concept of ambidexterity for understanding multi-level tensions between the on-going media production work and innovation processes typically co-existing in media operations. The results of the analysis indicate that, due to pressures created by the routine media production, media innovations require specific focus and prioritization to succeed. This requires recognizing, balancing and managing the ambidextrous tensions between exploration and exploitation in creative media work. In addition to practical implications for management of media innovations, this study contributes to research on media innovations, particularly from the perspectives of creative work and organizational creativity.


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