Invisible or Powerful? Ageing in a Mediatised Society

In order to live your rights and achieve your goals, you need to be informed, have a voice and be listened to, and have the opportunity to engage in society, regardless of age. Freedom of expression and freedom of information are core human rights values that connect the concept of capability with the role of the media in society. The media can be a tool for enhancing a person’s capabilities, but it can also be seen as hindering a good life if technology and its applications are perceived as awkward and/or difficult to access.At a structural level, a wider discussion of media responsibility has the potential to contribute to enhancing people’s capabilities in later life. One critical issue is who should be held accountable and responsible for media content that lacks diverse stories about older people and their voices, possibly reinforcing ageism. Furthermore, where the responsibility lies for ensuring that older people have the technological means to act as digital citizens is somewhat unclear. In an increasingly mediatised environment, we might see a stronger relationship between media literacy, health and ageing, which in turn could emphasise the importance of the role of the media in enhancing capabilities.

Infodemia: ways to recognize and counter information influences during a pandemic

Since the beginning of the pandemic, humanity has faced an additional threat, namely the spread of unnecessary, unreliable and harmful information, which is called infodemia. It has become one of the greatest challenges of our time therefore the heads of state, world organizations and owners of social media have stepped up to fight it. In our opinion, pedagogical workers, in particular employees of the psychological service of the education system, should join the educational and preventive work. Every user of social networks becomes a newsmaker with only an account and access to the Internet. And because students are active users of social media, the share of their participation in the dissemination and creation of false information is significant. This publication proposes a system of starting practical psychologists and social educators of educational institutions in the relevant refresher courses, which will allow them to conduct quality practical work with students and their parents. The content of training should take into account the components of the nutrient medium for information viruses, the fight against pandemic fakes, the system of forming sensational news, the features of hate speech, the formation of news literacy and others. It is also necessary to train specialists, and later each student, to recognize false, partially reliable and manipulative information. Since the main spreader of information viruses is humans, training should apply to everyone. Keywords. Infodemia, pandemic, information viruses, fake news, fake account, stress, fear, panic, manipulation, isolation, social media, marking information, factcheking, media education, course for practice psychologists and social pedagogues, practice lessons with students, information immunity, clickbait, discrimination, newsmaker, critical thinking, protection from hidden influences, media responsibility, media culture

Media Jihad Conundrum in Nigeria: A Review of Military-Media Relations vis-à-vis Boko Haram

The purpose of this paper is to explore the conundrum in military-media relations in Nigeria with regards to access and dissemination of strategic and tactical information that impacts counterterrorism efforts. Is there a line between media responsibility to report and the gathering and dissemination of strategic and tactical military information not meant for public consumption but filters to terrorists who are also members of the 'public'? Most times, such publications potentially afford Boko Haram terrorists prior notice of military plans, giving them early warnings that compromise military counter offensive. The paper is based on a study of academic and grey literature, official documents and journalistic coverage. The paper concludes that the Nigerian security forces have tried and failed to clamp down on tactical and strategic information in media reports that compromise its counterterrorism efforts in Nigeria – therefore the state should consider adopting Sri Lankan consequentialist approach to the existential problem. To address this conundrum, it is recommended that the Nigerian authority and its military architecture should adopt a State Consequential Approach on Terrorism and media issues; re-invent its Strategic Communication; Re-establishment of security and intelligence coordination; Develop an image recovery plan by raising quality standards, seek foreign support, and enact terrorism-related media legislations.

The Video, the City, and the Spectator: The Architecture and Its Bodies in Front of a Video Camera

This paper is an investigation into the kinds of spectatorial relationships that could be generated when a moving image (video, in this case) presents a city within a political framing. To this end I will analyse three different case studies in which the city—its architecture, and its population—is the polemical common ground of the artwork: Guilty Landscape episode I—Hangzhou by Dries Verhoeven (2016), Sign on a Truck by Jenny Holzer (1984), and Història Urbanística by Video-Nou (1978). In my argumentation, I will adhere generally to Jean Baudrillard’s conceptualisations in terms of media “responsibility”, and those of Jacques Rancière when focused on the term “dissensus”, understood as the essence of politics. Importantly, and worth emphasising, all moving image works are able to mirror the spectator who, through different devices and spatial settings, becomes an active part of the representation itself: and a representation that does not require a form of response is a curtailment that does nothing but amplify the decision-making power of the powerful. Instead, Dries Verhoeven, Jenny Holzer, and Video-Nou confront us with their representations and bid us towards an active personal participation in its construction. Moreover, this could be considered as a reflection upon what might feasibly be achieved today in architecture and urban representation through various new media and their intersections with the moving image and performative arts.

Media Ethics

This chapter provides an overview about media ethics that is very important for the news. Today, the rapid development and diversification of mass media tools have also accelerated the works in the field of communication ethics. Media responsibility, issues occurring in media, and public utility issues have come to the central position of communication ethics. Looking at the ethical codes in the media, it is seen that a large part of them are created for printed media, and the information about television is limited. The purpose of this study is to focus on the ethical issues that arise starting from the production stage of the television news with a holistic perspective in the context of the relationship between media and ethics by considering the ethical codes in the media and to offer solutions devoted to an ethical understanding of journalism. Within the scope of this study, the qualitative research method included the content analysis for the news about Princes Diana and Prince Harry as samples.

Alcohol and Betting Radio Advertising in Spain. A Comparative Analysis of the Minor’s Protection Time Slot from a Media Responsibility Perspective

This research analyzes the presence of advertising and radio mentions of alcoholic beverages and sports betting, two products that represent harmful behaviors for the audiences’ health. To do this, a quantitative content analysis was undertaken for all of the programming of the three most listened radio stations in Spain (Cadena Ser, COPE, and Onda Cero) throughout 2017, obtaining a total corpus of 2848 radio messages distributed as follows: 266 radio spots and 2582 radio mentions. The messages were also analyzed according to the broadcasting schedules (protected time-slot or non-protected time-slot). The results showed that advertising and sports betting mentions were more present in the regular programming of the three stations (n = 2304), with mentions (n = 2582) being more numerous than advertising spots (n = 544). Moreover, it is evident that in practice, none of the radio stations respected the protected time slots since the majority of the mentions and spots of high alcoholic beverages and sports bets were verified between 6:00–21:59 (n = 2522). These results show the prevailing need for greater control over this type of content by public entities, demonstrating a significant lack of regulation by the media’s self-control mechanisms.