Tabloid Journalism and Tabloidization

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sofia Johansson
Keyword(s):  
Public Discourse ◽  
Online News ◽  
The Public ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Complex Picture ◽  
Media Markets ◽  
The Media ◽  
The Public Sphere ◽  
Tabloid Journalism ◽  
Historical Periods

Tabloid journalism has long been a highly contested news form. With a sensationalist approach and an easily digested mix of entertainment and news, it has often attracted mass audiences at the same time as it has stirred controversy and raised concern about its impact on public discourse. Originating in the tabloid newspaper, associated both with a small newspaper format and a particular news style, the term “tabloid” is today considered to characterize a range of other media content, extending to popular TV programs and certain kinds of online news. The rise and development of tabloid journalism, in combination with wider processes shaping the media, has moreover led to a debate about “tabloidization,” involving ideas about shifting priorities in journalism and the media landscape as a whole. Although tabloidization has no standard definition, an overview of empirical research using the concept as a starting point highlights analyses of various media, historical periods, and media markets, adding to understandings of tabloidization as multi-faceted and context-bound. Such a process, furthermore, has been viewed both as a possible threat to the public sphere and as potentially entailing democratizing elements, relating to long-standing depictions of tabloid journalism as either “dumbing down” or “reaching out.” Yet contemporary analysis in this field has tended to paint a more complex picture of both phenomena as well as pointing to emerging questions around the category of tabloid journalism in digital settings.

Wankelende wetenschap. De studie van de journalistiek & de revolutie in de media

2010 ◽  
Vol 38 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Frank van Vree
Keyword(s):  
Professional Practice ◽  
Structural Changes ◽  
Traditional Media ◽  
The Public ◽  
Journalism Studies ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
The Media ◽  
The Public Sphere ◽  
New Research ◽  
The Revolution

An Unstable Discipline. Journalism Studies & the Revolution in the Media An Unstable Discipline. Journalism Studies & the Revolution in the Media During the last decade media and journalism have got into turmoil; landslides have changed the traditional media landscape, overturning familiar marking points, institutions and patterns. To understand these radical changes journalism studies should not only develop a new research agenda, but also review its approach and perspective.This article looks back on recent development in the field and argues for a more cohesive perspective, taking journalism as a professional practice as its starting point. Furthermore a plea is made for a thorough research into the structural changes of the public sphere and the role and position of journalism.

scholarly journals A National Public Sphere? Analyzing the Language, Location, and Form of Newspapers in Finland, 1771–1917

2019 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 54-77
Author(s):  
Jani Marjanen ◽  
Ville Vaara ◽  
Antti Kanner ◽  
Hege Roivainen ◽  
Eetu Mäkelä ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Sphere ◽  
Cultural History ◽  
Public Discourse ◽  
Mass Medium ◽  
Historical Knowledge ◽  
The Public ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
The Press ◽  
The Public Sphere ◽  
Newspaper History

This article uses metadata from serial publications as a means of modelling the historical development of the public sphere. Given that a great deal of historical knowledge is generated through narratives relying on anecdotal evidence, any attempt to rely on newspapers for modeling the past challenges customary approaches in political and cultural history. The focus in this article is on Finland, but our approach is also scalable to other regions. During the period 1771–1917 newspapers developed as a mass medium in the Grand Duchy of Finland within two imperial configurations (Sweden until 1809 and Russia in 1809–1917), and in the two main languages – Swedish and Finnish. Finland is an ideal starting point for conducting comparative studies in that its bilingual profile already includes two linguistically separated public spheres that nonetheless were heavily connected. Our particular interest here is in newspaper metadata, which we use to trace the expansion of public discourse in Finland by statistical means. We coordinate information on publication places, language, number of issues, number of words, newspaper size, and publishers, which we compare with existing scholarship on newspaper history and censorship, and thereby offer a more robust statistical analysis of newspaper publishing in Finland than has previously been possible. We specifically examine the interplay between the Swedish- and Finnish-language newspapers and show that, whereas the public discussions were inherently bilingual, the technological and journalistic developments advanced at different pace in the two language forums. This analysis challenges the perception of a uniform public sphere in the country. In addition, we assess the development of the press in comparison with the production of books and periodicals, which points toward the specialization of newspapers as a medium in the period after 1860. This confirms some earlier findings about Finnish print production. We then show how this specialization came about through the establishment of forums for local debates that other less localized print media such as magazines and books could not provide.

Fear Control in Media Discourse

2013 ◽  
Vol 37 (2) ◽  
pp. 200-219
Author(s):  
Davor Marko
Keyword(s):  
Public Sphere ◽  
Public Space ◽  
Power Relations ◽  
Public Discourse ◽  
Media Discourse ◽  
Public Language ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Media ◽  
The Public Sphere ◽  
And Control

This article deals with how fear is misused in media discourse. Pursuing the claim that it is impossible to eliminate fear from the public sphere, this paper argues that fear control is a technique widely used by certain interest groups to generate and spread uncertainty among people in order to create an atmosphere in which their goals are easily reachable. This paper will discuss the concepts of discourse, hegemony, and power relations in order to show how public language (both written and spoken) in media discourse reflects, creates, and maintains power relations. In this sense, fear, which is a crucial “energizing fuel” of such public language, could be considered and further elaborated as both a contextual variable and as a tool for facilitating power relations by applying various techniques. Aiming to show how media use and control the nature and level of fear in public discourse, I will discuss two techniques – the commercialization of fear and the method of “othering.” While commercialization implies the mass (re)production and (re)appropriation of fear in a public space, “othering” has been applied when the object of reporting is an out-group individual or community and self-group is using the media as a tool for their negative portrayal, thus creating boundaries and provoking discrimination and violence. The case of Serbia will be used to indicate how techniques of “othering,” linked with the regime’s propaganda, may contribute to the creation of an atmosphere of fear, and make a people seek protection and become easy prey for manipulation.

scholarly journals Widmo Szwejka i profesjonalizacja czeskiej armii

2009 ◽  
Vol 53 (3) ◽  
pp. 129-144
Author(s):  
Hana Červinková
Keyword(s):  
Public Discourse ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Political Process ◽  
Armed Forces ◽  
Process Of Change ◽  
The Public ◽  
Military Violence ◽  
The Media ◽  
The Public Sphere ◽  
The Military

The author discusses the military professionalization of the Czech Armed Forces as a large-scale socio-political process of change that involved efforts both on the part of the Czech state officials and the media aimed at improving the deprived position of the Czech military in the public sphere and culture. These efforts focussed on the obliteration of the cultural idiom of Švejk — a literary hero of Jaroslav Hašek’s novel of the 1920s, and the representation of peaceful resistance to war and military violence. In the course of the 20th century Švejk had become one of the most pervasive cultural references for popular laughter at oppressive military power and has been a leading cultural idiom for the Czechs during the thirty years of German and Soviet military occupations. The article shows how the current official efforts at changing the image of the Czech military focus on the obliteration of Švejk’s cultural idiom, bringing him so frequently into the public discourse that they produce a phantom-like effect in which Švejk has come to haunt the process directed precisely at his expurgation.

scholarly journals Introduction

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-6
Author(s):  
Christian Fuchs ◽  
Klaus Unterberger
Keyword(s):  
Public Sphere ◽  
Public Service ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Dominant Form ◽  
The Public ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
The Media ◽  
The Creation ◽  
The Public Sphere

This chapter introduces the book’s context. It describes the process that led to the creation of the Public Service Media and Public Service Internet Manifesto. The basic starting point was the insight that the survival of public service media is in danger, that the dominant form of the Internet and Internet platforms undermines the democratic public sphere, and that we need new forms of the Internet and the media in order to safeguard and renew democracy and the public sphere.

Nicht unverständlich – aber unvollständig. Ein Modell zur Entwicklung von Lernaufgaben zur Förderung eines theologischen Argumentierens im evangelischen Religionsunterricht der gymnasialen Oberstufe

2015 ◽  
Vol 67 (4) ◽  
pp. 337-345
Author(s):  
Thomas Weiß
Keyword(s):  
Secondary School ◽  
Religious Education ◽  
Public Discourse ◽  
Upper Secondary School ◽  
The Public ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Upper Secondary ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Public Sphere ◽  
Leading Question

Summary The article is devoted to the subject of Religious Education and the public sphere. Its leading question explores the ability of students of upper secondary school to argue about creation and evolution. Argumentation is understood as one of the key cultural techniques needed in order to participate in the public discourse. Examples are provided that serve as a starting point for a model to foster argumentation in religious education. The article concludes with the thesis that a decisive task of religious education research and practice should be to foster argumentation as a decisive cultural technique for the public discourse.

scholarly journals Social Media and the Public Sphere

2014 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 57-101 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christian Fuchs
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Political Economy ◽  
Public Sphere ◽  
Public Service ◽  
Public Discourse ◽  
The Public ◽  
Inaugural Lecture ◽  
The Media ◽  
The Public Sphere ◽  
The University

Social media has become a key term in Media and Communication Studies and public discourse for characterising platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Wikipedia, LinkedIn, Wordpress, Blogspot, Weibo, Pinterest, Foursquare and Tumblr. This paper discusses the role of the concept of the public sphere for understanding social media critically. It argues against an idealistic interpretation of Habermas and for a cultural-materialist understanding of the public sphere concept that is grounded in political economy. It sets out that Habermas’ original notion should best be understood as a method of immanent critique that critically scrutinises limits of the media and culture grounded in power relations and political economy. The paper introduces a theoretical model of public service media that it uses as foundation for identifying three antagonisms of the contemporary social media sphere in the realms of the economy, the state and civil society. It concludes that these limits can only be overcome if the colonisation of the social media lifeworld is countered politically so that social media and the Internet become public service and commons-based media.Acknowledgement: This paper is the extended version of Christian Fuchs’ inaugural lecture for his professorship of social media at the University of Westminster that he took up on February 1st, 2013. He gave the lecture on February 19th, 2014, at the University of Westminster.The video version of the inaugural lecture is available at:https://vimeo.com/97173645

scholarly journals Social Media and the Public Sphere

2014 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 57-101 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christian Fuchs
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Political Economy ◽  
Public Sphere ◽  
Public Service ◽  
Public Discourse ◽  
The Public ◽  
Inaugural Lecture ◽  
The Media ◽  
The Public Sphere ◽  
The University

Social media has become a key term in Media and Communication Studies and public discourse for characterising platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Wikipedia, LinkedIn, Wordpress, Blogspot, Weibo, Pinterest, Foursquare and Tumblr. This paper discusses the role of the concept of the public sphere for understanding social media critically. It argues against an idealistic interpretation of Habermas and for a cultural-materialist understanding of the public sphere concept that is grounded in political economy. It sets out that Habermas’ original notion should best be understood as a method of immanent critique that critically scrutinises limits of the media and culture grounded in power relations and political economy. The paper introduces a theoretical model of public service media that it uses as foundation for identifying three antagonisms of the contemporary social media sphere in the realms of the economy, the state and civil society. It concludes that these limits can only be overcome if the colonisation of the social media lifeworld is countered politically so that social media and the Internet become public service and commons-based media.Acknowledgement: This paper is the extended version of Christian Fuchs’ inaugural lecture for his professorship of social media at the University of Westminster that he took up on February 1st, 2013. He gave the lecture on February 19th, 2014, at the University of Westminster.The video version of the inaugural lecture is available at:https://vimeo.com/97173645

Democracy and the Media: A Comparative Perspective Edited by Richard Gunther and Anthony Mughan. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000. 496p. $85.00 cloth, $29.95 paper. Media and the Presidentialization of Parliamentary Elections By Anthony Mughan. New York: Palgrave, 2000. 179p. $65.00.

2002 ◽  
Vol 96 (1) ◽  
pp. 239-240
Author(s):  
Margaret Scammell
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Political Communication ◽  
Western Europe ◽  
The United States ◽  
The Public ◽  
Media Markets ◽  
The Media ◽  
The Public Sphere ◽  
Media Power ◽  
Internet Revolution

The themes of crisis and transformation have fueled a miniexplosion of research on media and democracy in the last decade. Researchers within or close to the “media studies'' school have developed a burgeoning literature on questions of citizenship and the public sphere, in the context of deregulation, expanding media markets, and rising interest in the arguments of the deliberative democrats. Scholars more closely connected to political science have pursued an overlapping but different agenda. From the United States and western Europe, amid concern at signs of a crisis of citizen engagement, the focus increasingly is on media power to mobilize or demobilize voters. From Eastern and central Europe and Latin America there is an emerging corpus on the role of media in the transition and consolidation of democracy. Cross-cutting these various strands are the Internet revolution and the question of globalization and, more specifically, U.S. potency to lead or at least predict trends in political communication for the democratic world.

ICERD in Malaysian online news reports: A cross-linguistic comparative corpus analysis

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (4) ◽  
pp. 51
Author(s):  
Siti Aeisha Joharry ◽  
Nor Diyana Saupi
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Analysis ◽  
Public Discourse ◽  
Online News ◽  
Corpus Analysis ◽  
Search Term ◽  
International Convention ◽  
Online Newspapers ◽  
News Reports ◽  
The Media ◽  
Online Sources

The International Convention for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (ICERD), which was not ratified in Malaysia, created a heated public discourse in the media. This cross-linguistic comparative study investigates the representation of ICERD in Malaysian news reports of two online sources in Malaysia – the widely read English portal: The Star Online, and its Malay equivalent: Berita Harian. A corpus-assisted discourse analysis was conducted to examine how news on ‘ICERD’ were reported in both English and Malay online newspapers. Initial comparative analysis of both newspapers revealed that the search term co-occurs statistically more frequently with the verb ‘ratify’ and its equivalent: ‘meratifikasi’. Patterns indicate that ‘ICERD’ was mostly referring to the act of sanctioning the agreement –particularly to ‘not ratify’ or ‘tidak akan meratifikasi’, which is concurrent with the timeframe of events. Interestingly, different patterns can be found in Berita Harian (e.g. the expression of ‘thanks’ or gratitude of not ratifying ICERD) that are not as revealing in The Star Online reports. Some inconsistencies were also reported between the two newspapers, e.g. referring to different ministers’ speech about the initial plan to ratify ICERD alongside five (The Star Online) or six (Berita Harian) other treaties in the following year.  

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