Manner of usage and evaluation of information on the COVID -19 pandemic by citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina within the context of five core concepts of media literacy

The COVID-19 pandemic has fully revealed the significance of media literacy. A great amount of fake news, as well as information lacking background, has been distributed. The paper aims to determine the manner of usage and evaluation of information on the COVID-19 pandemic in Bosnia and Herzegovina within the context of five core concepts of media literacy. The results of the survey conducted online, have shown that the majority of respondents resorted to the Internet in their search for information, that they were confused by the sheer amount of information, that they often failed to double-check it, and that they were often not able to recognise any offensive content in it.

Video gaming spectatorship

This article addresses the phenomenon of gameplay video watching on YouTube. The study investigates what drives people to watch gameplay videos and what gratifications they seek in performing the activity of gameplay viewing. To this end, the authors adopted the uses and gratifications theory (UGT) and a qualitative methodology involving three online discussion groups with 100 members of international gameplay communities. While the results pinpoint the attractiveness of the player as the most important motive, other reasons, such as preview and learning aspects or substitution for the real game, also appear to be important. The qualitative approach enabled to uncover unique aspects of the motives of watching YouTube gameplay videos. In this respect, five distinctive types of gameplay viewers are identified – Spectator, Performer, Selector, Viewer, and Substitutor – where each of them seems to engage in such practices with specific motives and accompanying gratifications.

Društvena reprezentacija novih psihoaktivnih supstanci na hrvatskim portalima

U članku se medijska reprezentacija novih psihoaktivnih supstanci razmatra primjenom teorije društvene reprezentacije. Budući da nove psihoaktivne supstance u hrvatskom društvenom kontekstu predstavljaju relativno nepoznat fenomen, u članku je obrazložena analitička upotrebljivost komunikativnih mehanizama društvene reprezentacije koji se mogu koristiti u istraživanju medija. S tom svrhom provedena je analiza sadržaja priloga o novim psihoaktivnim supstancama koji su u razdoblju od sedam godina objavljeni na odabranim hrvatskim internetskim portalima. Rezultati su pokazali da imenovanje, emocionalno sidrenje i emocionalno upredmećivanje predstavljaju ključne komunikativne mehanizme u procesu medijski posredovane društvene reprezentacije novih psihoaktivnih supstanci. Analiza implicitnih temeljnih vrijednosti sadržanih u objavljenim člancima pokazala je da se isticanjem zdravstvenih rizika i slabosti u djelovanju društvene kontrole, nove psihoaktivne supstance konvencionaliziraju preko teme „društvo bez droga“.

How Turkey’s creative professionals see their TV drama industry

Turkey’s TV drama industry has made a quantum leap in the past decade and exported many of its dramas (dizis) to more than a hundred countries. Turkey has become the world’s second-biggest TV drama exporter after the USA in 2016. The dizi industry’s transnationalization is attributable to the tireless efforts and unique features of its associated creative industry. However, the industry has some deep problems. This paper seeks to shed light on the challenges that the Turkish TV drama industry faces. The author has conducted in-depth interviews with Producers, Directors, Scenarists, Actors and Distributors. Their replies reveal the basic characteristics and difficulties of the dizi industry and provide clues as to what needs to be done to sustain and build upon the Turkish TV drama industry’s export success.

Polish Mass Media Coverage and Public Opinion on E-democracy

The rapid development of new technologies and their impressive communication capacity has fundamentally changed modern democracy by providing easy and universal access to information, as well as increasing participation and accessibility of political involvement tools. One of the electoral participation tools is e-voting which has been used in only a few countries. The main aim of the paper is to explore whether and how e-voting has been presented in Polish mass media (1), as well as to investigate people’s opinions about e-voting against certain political factors (2). The research is based on a media content analysis (quantitative and qualitative), data collected via the Content Analysis System for Television (CAST) and a quantitative analysis of data from a survey conducted by the authors (2018, sample: 1717 Poles). The results of the analyses show that the debate on the implementation of e-voting is rather poor, but the support for e-voting among Poles remains considerable. The public media rhetoric is interlinked with attitudes towards political parties. To some extent, determinants are reflected in the public opinion on the implementation of e-voting since Poles declare both their support for the introduction of e-voting and willingness to vote online.

Politička komunikacija kandidata na društvenim mrežama na hrvatskim predsjedničkim izborima 2019./2020.

Porast „politike usmjerene na kandidata“ utjecao je na promjenu u komunikacijskim strategijama političara koji se sve češće koriste tehnikama privatizacije politike za zbližavanje s biračima. Društvene mreže pokazale su se kao idealan kanal za „smekšavanje“ njihovih imidža. Cilj je ovog rada istražiti jesu li se kandidati, i u kojoj mjeri, na hrvatskim predsjedničkim izborima 2019./2020. koristili društvenim mrežama za privatizaciju, odnosno personalizaciju politike. Metodom analize sadržaja utvrđeno je da su kandidati u svojim objavama u značajnoj mjeri koristili tehnike privatizacije politike kako bi se prikazali kao „jedni od nas“. Pobjedu na izborima odnio je Zoran Milanović koji je u potpunosti vodio personaliziranu kampanju u kojoj je najčešće naglašavao svoj osebujni karakter i svoje privatne osobine.

Utjecaj novih informacijsko-komunikacijskih tehnologija na obiteljski život

Usporedno s porastom dostupnosti osobnih računala i pametnih telefona u 21. stoljeću te‏ sve većom učestalošću upotrebe interneta u svakodnevnom životu pripadnika svih generacija, značajno‏ raste i interes znanstvenika za proučavanje utjecaja novih informacijsko-komunikacijskih tehnologija‏ na obiteljski život. S obzirom na to da u Hrvatskoj nedostaje znanstvenih radova i istraživanja na tu‏ temu, cilj je ovoga preglednog rada izložiti aktualne trendove i istraživačke spoznaje u tome području,‏ produbiti razumijevanje pozitivnoga i negativnoga utjecaja povećane upotrebe novih informacijskokomunikacijskih‏ tehnologija na različite aspekte života suvremenih obitelji te ponuditi okvir za buduća‏ istraživanja u tome području. Poseban je naglasak u ovom radu na analizi promjena u obiteljskom‏ životu u području partnerskih/bračnih odnosa, roditeljstva, s osvrtom na utjecaj pandemije COVID-19.‏ Zaključno je istaknuta potreba za daljnjim istraživanjima i unapređivanjem stručne podrške usmjerene‏ na prevenciju i rješavanje problema u obiteljskom funkcioniranju koji su povezani s novim informacijskokomunikacijskim‏ tehnologijama.

Sentiment Analysis of the Syrian Conflict on Twitter

Social media have become an important means of imposing ideas and interests in social‏ conflicts. The Syrian conflict is analysed using sentiment analysis of tweets in order to establish how the‏ sentiment shapes the modern political landscape and influences recipient knowledge. The importance of‏ social networks and their potential in overthrowing regimes as well as in radicalization are highlighted.‏ The authors suggest several stages that can be used for analysing tweets and how they impact the reader‏ with selected narration. Sentiment analysis is used on a trained data set as a way to gain insight into‏ tweets of different factions in the Syria conflict. Selected tweets on missile strikes were published on 14‏ April 2018 and the day after. The Twitter profiles of three different sides – pro-Assad, pro-West and anti-‏ Assad – were also analysed. The results show that there is a real battle on social media with the purpose‏ of influencing human emotions.

Emotionalization and Privatization of Political Communication on Facebook

Social media are usually accused of being one of the major forces for personalization of ‏political communication and consequently for depolitization of recent politics. However, personalization ‏seems to stimulate certain users to pay more attention to political issues and to act more responsively to ‏such highly personalized political profiles. This article presents the results of a longitudinal analysis of ‏online presence of Barack Obama to assess his political communication through Facebook. It also answers ‏if presence of emotional appeals and private life cues in the posts have any effect on users’ responses in‏ terms of numbers of their likes, comments and shares. Based on a quantitative analysis of 2804 Facebook ‏posts, published in the period from 2008 to 2016, the results of content analysis revealed that Obama ‏used his Facebook fan page almost exclusively to communicate about political issues instead of his ‏personal life. The analysis also confirmed that a smaller number of posts, which contained emotional ‏appeals or cues from private life had significantly higher numbers of users’ responses than posts that ‏were not emotionalized or privatized. While personalization of Obama’s political figure is part of a wider‏ debate, this study confirms that the presence of private cues and emotional appeals stimulates greater‏ responsiveness from Facebook users.

Prikaz emancipirane žene 21. stoljeća u reklamama za parfem

U 21. stoljeću feministički pokret doživljava novi uzlet, a na to osobit utjecaj imaju slavne‏ žene koje svojim djelovanjem promoviraju emancipaciju žene. Cilj ovog rada bio je utvrditi kako se u‏ reklamama za ženske parfeme prikazuje emancipiranost kao poželjna ženska osobina. Kvalitativnom‏ istraživačkom metodom analize narativa analizirano je pet reklama za parfeme čije su glavne protagonistice‏ slavne osobe. Njihove zajedničke karakteristike su odlučnost, s izraženim osjećajem samosvijesti,‏ i buntovnost. One su ekstrovertirane, asertivne i sklone traženju uzbuđenja, kompetentne i orijentirane‏ na uspjeh. Njihova poželjnost određena je istodobnim utjelovljivanjem muževnog ponašanja i estetike‏ ženstvenosti, odbacivanjem rodnih normi (izuzev ideala vitkosti), dominantnim ponašanjem u interakciji‏ s muškarcima te okretanjem budućnosti. Ponašanje protagonistica izrazito odgovara karakteristikama‏ postfeminističkog poimanja ženstvenosti te podržava temeljnu odrednicu feminizma – ideju‏ emancipacije.