scholarly journals The Hambach Forest in the German Debate on Climate Protection: Is There a Symbolic Value beyond the Environmental Value?

2022 ◽  
Author(s):  
Meike Henseleit ◽  
Sandra Venghaus ◽  
Wilhelm Kuckshinrichs

In the late summer of 2018, the Hambach Forest (North Rhine Westphalia/ Germany) appeared prevalently in the media due to massive protests against its clearance for lignite mining with for the power generation. Because coal power as a form of energy supply is extremely climate intensive, the Hambach Forest rapidly became a symbol of the fight against climate change and the ongoing destruction of nature and its resources for economic reasons. Due to the extra-ordinarily prominent role of the Hambach Forest in the public opinion across Germany, this research addresses values of the forest to the population in monetary terms as well as the underlying factors that determine those values. For the analysis, a contingent valuation survey was conducted in December 2019 in Germany. The proposed amounts for the preservation of the Hambach Forest are mostly in accordance with previous evaluation studies of woods and forests, although this time almost only passive-use values are decisive. Further, a conversion of the WTP values to the area of the Hambach Forest results in an extra-ordinarily high per-hectare value of about 3.6 million. Thus, the symbolic value of the forest is remarkable and should be considered in future political decisions.

2016 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 53 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abdullah K. Al-Kindi

The central aim of this paper is to critically analyze the role of the media during public protests that occurred in the GCC countries during 2011. These protests were part of what came to be called the “Arab Spring”, which started in late 2010. Particular focus will be on how the Arab Spring resulted in fundamental changes and how various institutions played roles in this. The study draws on Gulf region literature about the Arab Spring in order to offer a critical and informed overview on the topic under discussion. The paper’s main question is: what are the main roles played by the GCC media (old/new) during the public protests of 2011? The paper argues that the role of the media in the 2011 protests, while important, was rather limited and affected by the unique contextual characteristics of the media environment in the GCC countries. 


Revizor ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 24 (93) ◽  
pp. 55-70
Author(s):  
Željko Rička ◽  
Anita Šadić

Relevant governmental bodies and organizations, non-governmental organizations, international organizations and institutions, especially the media, show increased interest in corruption related to the public procurement. Public procurement is the most frequently cited area in the context of systemic corruption for the simple reason that it directly represents the spending of public money on a large scale, which according to OECD data represents about 7-15% of GDP. One of the possible approaches to prevent corruption in public procurement is the systematic building of the integrity of all entities and institutions involved in the public procurement process. Due to the fact that the internal audit way of organization and work is closest to practical issues of public procurement it has the opportunity to achieve the largest coverage of cases for which public funds are engaged.


Author(s):  
Maxwell McCombs ◽  
Sebastián Valenzuela

This chapter discusses contemporary directions of agenda-setting research. It reviews the basic concept of agenda setting, the transfer of salience from the media agenda to the public agenda as a key step in the formation of public opinion, the concept of need for orientation as a determinant of issue salience, the ways people learn the media agenda, attribute agenda setting, and the consequences of agenda setting that result from priming and attribute priming. Across the theoretical areas found in the agenda-setting tradition, future studies can contribute to the role of news in media effects by showing how agenda setting evolves in the new and expanding media landscape as well as continuing to refine agenda setting’s core concepts.


2021 ◽  
Vol 24 (324) ◽  
pp. 183-200
Author(s):  
Katarzyna Giereło-Klimaszewska

The contemporary functioning of the media is inextricably linked with what is happening in the world ofpolitics. The case of the Mafra corporation and the behaviour of its owner Andrej Babiš shows how throughthe interrelations of these two spheres the media can influence the shaping of political decisions, opinionsor preferences in the elections. The penetration of business and political interests, related informal layoutsand dependencies as well as high media instrumentation allow us to claim that today the process ofoligarchisation of the Czech media is highly advanced. This is connected with the increasing concentrationof ownership of media companies and intervention of the owners into the published content, but also withchanges in journalism itself. The media cease to be a “watch dog” controlling the authorities and caringabout the quality of public debate. Instead, they are creating reality, more and more openly, attemptingto manipulate the public, which results in less and less trust on their part and poses a serious threat todemocracy.


2004 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 123-162 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sharon Rodrick

This article begins by outlining what the principle of open justice is intended to achieve. It then investigates the nature of the relationship that exists between the courts and the media, and between the media and the public, and suggests that these relationships are not always conducive to realising the aims of open justice. While the reporting role of the traditional news media will undoubtedly persist, at least for the foreseeable future, it is argued that, since courts now have the means to deliver to the public a fuller and truer picture of their work than the media can, they should seize the opportunity to do so.


2019 ◽  
pp. 100-122
Author(s):  
Francis L. F. Lee

This chapter reviews the relationship between the media and the Umbrella Movement. The mainstream media, aided by digital media outlets and platforms, play the important role of the public monitor in times of major social conflicts, even though the Hong Kong media do so in an environment where partial censorship exists. The impact of digital media in largescale protest movements is similarly multifaceted and contradictory. Digital media empower social protests by promoting oppositional discourses, facilitating mobilization, and contributing to the emergence of connective action. However, they also introduce and exacerbate forces of decentralization that present challenges to movement leaders. Meanwhile, during and after the Umbrella Movement, one can also see how the state has become more proactive in online political communication, thus trying to undermine the oppositional character of the Internet in Hong Kong.


Author(s):  
Piers Robinson

This chapter examines the relevance of media and public opinion to our understanding of foreign policy and international politics. It first considers whether public opinion influences foreign policy formulation, as argued by the pluralist model, or whether the public are politically impotent, as argued by the elite model. It then explores whether the media can influence foreign policy formulation, as argued by the pluralist model, or whether the media are fundamentally subservient to the foreign policy process, as argued by the elite model. It also integrates these competing arguments with theoretical frames used in the study of international relations: namely, realism, liberalism, and critical approaches (including constructivism and post-structuralism). The chapter concludes by discussing contemporary debates concerning organized persuasive communication and the ‘war on terror’.


2017 ◽  
Vol 68 (4) ◽  
pp. 784-806
Author(s):  
TINE VAN OSSELAER

The article focuses on an episode concerning the photographs of the famous Belgian stigmatic, Louise Lateau. Examining the events leading up to the bishop's decision to restrict the circulation of her portrait, it becomes clear that the ‘affair’ of 1877 was as much about creating her public saintly image as it was about controlling it. Studying the ecclesiastical response to grassroots initiatives adds a more religious perspective to the young field of celebrity studies and offers a more complex view on sanctity, and the role of the media and modern techniques in its creation, use and misuse.


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