Series:Radio, Telewizja, Film, Internet

Aplikacja mobilna jako zjawisko kulturowe

Author(s): Barbara Orzeł / Language(s): Polish

The main aim of this book is to determine the influence of mobile application on the area of new media reality and culture. The dissertation consists of eight chapters. The first chapter begins with a recall of the most important concepts of computer program and the presentation of its history, based on the following criteria: „linguistic“ – presenting different programming languages, and „technical“ – discussing further innovations, milestones in the field of computer hardware. Afterwards the author considers the evolution of computer program, the history of mobile phone and the presentation of mobile operating systems. The important part of dissertation concentrates on the cultural aspects of programming – the concept of algorithm and the reception of programming languages in the light of the Sapir‑Whorf hypothesis. The following subject focuses on finding common ground for concepts, phenomena and mechanisms that combines the digital and cultural order, provides the foundation for reflection on the interface issues, the idea of cross‑platform, the „three screens strategy“ and the consequences of mobile media consumption. The next part of dissertation concentrates on the analysis of mechanisms related to the selection of applications in the light of Henrik Vejlgaard‘s trend sociology and their use as a marketing tool. The conversion of media reality mediated by the mobile apps is the main problem of subsequent chapters: the transformations of computer games (the transition from console to mobile channel), the phenomenon of most popular mobile games, the personalization and customization of the user experience. Thereafter the author goes back to the sources ofmobile applications – the innovation and start‑ups. The main reference are the most importantbusiness models and the area of „creation – foundation – distribution“. The last part of dissertation concentrates on the new communication behaviors that have been created in the different areas of life (for example: self‑expression, e‑reading, „smart homes“). The foregoing discussion has attempted to present the cultural perception of mobile applications, the transformation of concepts and the possible directions of their influence.

Autopromocja, autoprezentacja, wizerunek w komunikowaniu masowym. Błąd, kryzys, skandal. T. 5

Author(s): / Language(s): Polish

Autopromocja, autoprezentacja, wizerunek w mediach audiowizualnych. Tom 4

Author(s): / Language(s): Polish

Self-promotion, self-presentation, public image in audiovisual media is a collection of articles that, in this installment, search for strategies of creating public image in audiovisual media. The tactics referred to are therefore not merely a prompt for engaging into reflection on manifold individuals and social groups that use public sphere to promote their self-image, but also a perfect starting point to analyze the part of media landscape where, vie visual and verbal means the advertising of certain attitudes is done. (A fragment for the Introduction)

Autopromocja, autoprezentacja, wizerunek w mediach masowych. T. 3

Author(s): / Language(s): Polish

Another – third – volume in the self-promotion-related series entitled Self-promotion, self-presentation and one’s image presented in mass media constitutes a collection of articles which this time seek the strategy of creating one’s image in mass media. In this exceptionally receptive space one may perceive realisations of various self-promotion-related strategies which are embraced by those who attempt to make an impact on the mind of the reader, listener or spectator.Therefore the strategies which were mentioned not only furnish inspiration for reflection about various individuals or social groups who use the public space in order to promote their image but also a splendid starting point for an analysis of the media space which was embraced and in which a presentation of specific attitudes is preformed by means of word and image.We hope that the text which we present to the reader will be engaging, and will inspire reflection and discovery in the field of self-promotion-related discourse.

Co nowego w nowych mediach? Transformacje, perspektywy, oczekiwania

Author(s): / Language(s): Polish

Dyskurs telewizyjny w świetle lingwistyki mediów

Author(s): Iwona Loewe / Language(s): Polish

The author assumes that television discourse belongs to culture and therefore it is semiotic, transmissible, and it preserves discourse community practices. To begin with, Loewe presents the state of research into television and next into television discourse in Polish philological studies. She indicates five dates which are crucial for the current state of knowledge. The model of discourse in this publication is based on three theories proposed by: Ewa Miczka (discourse linguistics), Piotr Sztompka (sociology), and Bożena Witosz (discourse stylistics). Its framework is formed by six parameters: ideational, normative, interactive, subjective, spatial, and chronemic. The ideational parameter: norms applied in the discourse and its governing rules are a media representation of a segment of reality. The reality is depicted to a recipient always from the perspective of a sender, whose goals are allocated in their vision of the world. The normative parameter: it is defined by the two phenomena: sociocultural table and media agreement. The sociocultural table describes the area of social, cultural, and political relations, which allows to create meanings in media discourses. Included in the media agreement is a contract about the synergy of audiovisual codes. The interactive parameter: a distinguishing feature of television discourse is transmissibility and topicality. The situational context orients the discourse transmission in one direction. The subjective parameter: the user of any discourse is a community. Its members are frequently called actors since they perform social roles. The discourse has a mass and dispersed audience. The spatial parameter: discursive practices are held in a space accessible to other participants of social life. This space is public, official, and knowable. The chronemic parameter: continuity, repetitiveness, and the cyclicality of multiple communicative acts ensure participation in the discourse and make this discourse. Based on these parameters, the author positions the center of discursive space and its other areas. The center includes: programmed television and profiled television. Further away from the center there is streaming television in the form of streaming audiovisuality (e. g. Player, Ipla, and VOD TVP), hybrid visuality (e. g. HbbTV), produced visuality (You Tube), portal audiovisuality (e. g. Onet, Wirtualna Polska), and on demand (e.g. Showmax, Netflix). In another part of her book, the author considers research problems concerning the central category of television discourse – multimodal text. She presents the result of research into media text, polylogue, logo visuality, and the discourse actors: the sender and the audience. An important place in this publication is the chapter on color in visual linguistics. Color is gaining relevance in TV programs recorded in a studio, in the layout of network identification and program identification, and in broadcast display format. Color can undergo a semiotic analysis. Television’s expectations to attract audiences by utilizing a system of auto-identification and auto-promotion have currently increased. Iconosphere plays a crucial role in these. Loewe states that the color blue used in television station logos, logotypes, the backdrop of news programs, and the newscaster’s attire objectifies contents and has a dominant interactive function. Colors used in the network identification primarily have an ideational function. Their appearance in the form of a television station logo, an auto-promotional banner, and a logotype for a network or a program informs about the network or the program. Color in the scheduled programming may answer a viewer’s question – what is it like? And color in the auto-promotional programming answers the question – what is it? The author’s interest in the topic was motivated by a well-known paradox. It is believed by some that the technological form of television sterilizes reality, which means dismissing pain or joy and creating intimate detachment. A different vision contains a conviction about the community’s need to celebrate. Confronting this paradox with television discourse and its parameters has become a research aim in this book. The author assumes that television discourse belongs to culture and therefore it is semiotic, transmissible, and it preserves discourse community practices. The book presents the state of research into television and next into television discourse in Polish philological studies. Loewe offers her own parametrization of television discourse and delineates its research area. A part of the book concerns multimodal text. The results of research into media text, polylogue, logo visuality, and the discourse actors: the sender and the audience have been presented. The book also addresses the significance of color in the content of television discourse.

Ekshibicjonizm społeczny w Internecie. Motywy i potencjalne zagrożenia dla zdrowia i bezpieczeństwa młodzieży

Author(s): Katarzyna Borzucka-Sitkiewicz,Karina Leksy / Language(s): Polish

Currently, the Internet space is becoming an increasingly relevant environment for individuals. Intense use of new technologies, especially the social media, transforms them into a socializing environment which is almost on a par with that of school or family. On this account, it is essential that an extensive educational program be implemented in the media, aiming not to restrict contact with the new technologies, but to educate man in the use of these technologies so that they serve the good of man. This stance was the staring point for writing the following monograph, the purpose of which was to provide a theoretical and empirical foundation for developing various educational initiatives. The book is divided into six complementary chapters. The first three chapters comprise a meta-analysis of the theoretical issues which are the framework for the author’s research. Chapter four describes the methodology of research, chapter five and six contain an analysis of the studies with a diagnostic-verifying character, which were aimed at establishing the typology of the behavior of middle school students in the media space and determining its potential social and health consequences. It is a publication not only for the theoreticians of pedagogy and its related sciences, but also for the practitioners dealing with the broadly understood prophylaxis and media education.

Filmowe pejzaże Ameryk

Author(s): / Language(s): Polish

As a continuation of the "Europe’s Filmscapes" volume, "Americas’ Filmscapes" presents a variety of approaches to filmscape studies, based on the conviction that American landscapes have been mythologized to a far greater extent than the European ones. The issues of film topography and geography are often shown in the book in their relation to different auteur strategies (Wes Anderson, John Carpenter, John Ford, Patricio Guzmán, Alfred Hitchcock, Claudia Llosa, Michael Mann, Kelly Reichardt). The essays collected in the volume also present selected problems of the genre topoi (western, horror, slasher, zombie film), Hollywood studio landscapes, the role of landscape in the films about discovering the New World, and the aesthetic function of wasteland in contemporary road movies.

Filmowe Pejzaże Europy

Author(s): / Language(s): Polish

The book entitled Cinematic Landscapes of Europe is a review of contemporary European cinema from the point of view of a characteristic shot of a landscape. How do European film-makers employ a landscape? Is it significant for them and does it determine the choice of particular means and ways of filming? These questions are being answered by the authors of the ten essays. Each article takes into consideration a set of films in which a landscape plays an important role. Sometimes it is understood in a metaphoric way, as an element of authorial narration (the articles by Ilona Copik on post-industrial landscape generating social issues and the article by Wojciech Sitek on the films of “broken Britannia”). Another area of investigation is urban landscape, understood in a symbolic way (the article by Andrzej Gwóźdź demonstrating how the Berlin wall has [not] existed in the cinema and the essay by Przemysław Pieniążek which offers the interpretation of the infernal landscape of the films of Dario Argento). A comprehensive conceptualization of cinematic landscape can be found in the interpretation of Spanish cinema, in which Joanna Aleksandrowicz juxtaposes Basque and Andalusian landscapes. The article by Karolina Kostyra conforms to the peregrination of landscapes of nature, which are an inherent element of the coming-of-age films. A completely different function is ascribed to rural landscapes in the works of Jan Jakub Kolski, which are a subject of study by Jakub Zajdel, who identifies a cinematic affection to them in the biography of the director. Finally, Magdalena Kempna-Pieniążek and Natalia Gruenpeter take into consideration the authoral interpretations of landscape in the films by Bruno Dumont and Lucile Hadžihalilović.

Komunikowanie lokalno-regionalne w dobie społeczeństwa medialnego. T. 2: Aspekty polityczne, społeczne i technologiczne

Author(s): / Language(s): Russian,Polish

Komunikowanie lokalno-regionalne w dobie społeczeństwa medialnego. Tom 1: Problemy teoretyczno-praktyczne

Author(s): / Language(s): Polish

The subject of the studies presented in this publication are theoretical and practical aspects of local and regional communication. The sketches and studies opening this volume include theoretical findings in the area of local communication. Subsequent articles presenting the results of empirical research concern many elements of the process of local-regional communication, i.e. the content of the media coverage, the audience of local-regional media, local-regional journalism. An integral part of the collective work are the texts on foreign conditionings of local and regional communication presented on the example of Russia, Germany, Spain, Ukraine, Australia and Latvia. The book is clearly devoted to media studies. The publication is addressed to readers interested in local and regional communication in the theoretical and empirical dimension, i.e. the scientific community, students of journalism, but also practitioners, i.e. people professionally connected with the local and regional media market.

Media lokalne Śląska Cieszyńskiego. Historia i współczesność

Author(s): Monika Kornacka‑Grzonka / Language(s): Polish

The monograph is a compendium of the knowledge about the local media of Cieszyn Silesia, which, being part of the historical and cultural regions of modern Poland, has preserved a strong regional identity. Not only does the paper organise the state of the knowledge about how the local media in this interesting region have been developing and functioning, but it also broadens the knowledge. […]The monograph has a problem-oriented structure and consists of three chapters that are substantively related to the dominant theme, which is the local media of Cieszyn Silesia. The content of the first chapter comprises reflections on the theory of local media and research practice. It defines the concept of local media, presents their typology and development after 1989, as well as limitations in their functioning. The issue of the local community is dealt with in the second chapter, where first the theory of the local community (including the so-called virtual community) is discussed and the concept of local and regional identity defined, and subsequently the characteristics of the community of Cieszyn Silesia and its territory is brought into focus, while the reference is made both to the complex history of this area and to the present day situation. The presentation of the local media in Cieszyn Silesia is the subject of deliberations in the third chapter. Firstly, the historical development of the local media – mainly the press, in this area until 1989, i.e. until the political and socio-political breakthrough beginning the systemic transformation of our country, has been characterised. Then, the transformations taking place on the local media market of this area after 1989 have been examined. The development of the local press segment [...] and the electronic media market of Cieszyn Silesia, including local radio, local television (mainly online) and local Internet portals […] have been separately presented. The paper ends with a summary of the studied issue through the presentation of the outline of the transformations of the contemporary local media in Cieszyn Silesia against the background of the nationwide processes in Poland. […]The reviewed paper constitutes a valuable publishing position, which apart from systematizing the studied issues, also enriches the general knowledge about the formation and functioning of the contemporary local media system in Cieszyn Silesia. It is also of specific practical utility primarily for activists and officials of the local government and regionalists, as well as for students of journalism and social communication as well as political science and sociology.

Media społecznościowe. Dialog w cyberprzestrzeni. T. 2

Author(s): / Language(s): Polish

The volume is the second part of a collection of articles devoted to the issues of social media – a phenomenon of the contemporary participatory culture. The texts comprising this volume examine the social media issues from a social, cultural, and public relations perspectives, which provides a continuation of the first volume. The authors have made an attempt to study social media both in macro and micro scale, with attention paid to the use of social media in communication in contemporary society. The opening article by Ewa Gębicka deals with the role of social media in the process of film and TV series promotion. The author focuses on the potential of viral marketing, whose benefits accrue from social networking services. It is the Internet that creates tremendous opportunities to enhance entirely new quality and room for communication with viewers. Hence interactive forms of film and TV series promotion are becoming more and more popular these days. The author also points to the way social media are pertinent to advertising campaigns, that is, a phenomenon of crowdfunding.The subsequent article concerns Facebook and its role in the contemporary world of social communication. Katarzyna Forst explains the principles governing this social service as well as opportunities and dangers that its users may face. The Internet, which has already permeated nearly all spheres of contemporary life, is an essential communication tool, especially among young people. The Internet is the source of recent news and social media are becoming its more and more important source. The following article by Janusz Musiał takes us through culture and media, indicating the functions they perform, from cave paintings to the Internet. The author illustrates that the advent of new media has influencedthe process of transformation of contemporary national cultures.Barbara Bogacka in her article “Gender Issues in Social Media – A Case Study” takes up different problems. The author has studied a story of an American girl who used social media to reveal her new gender identity. The last article “New Media – A Social Change” written by Piotr Dziki discusses the influence of new technology on society, which in consequence leads to cultural changes. The author emphasizes new divisions into public and private spheres that are becoming more conspicuous these days, and provides an analysis of the so-called cultural recalibration.

Media społecznościowe. Dialog w cyberprzestrzeni. Tom 1

Author(s): / Language(s): English,Polish

The present volume constitutes the first part of the collection of texts devoted to the problem of social media – the phenomenon of contemporary participatory culture. Social media, which have become the indicator of successive stage in the development of the Internet called Web 2.0, organize the social life of their users in more and more extensive range. The effects of the development of social media and their influence on future social relations is hard to anticipate in view of tech acceleration and rapid social changes. Nevertheless, the increase in the number of users and their internet activity forces the researchers to undertake the problem of social media in the context of numerous academic disciplines. [fragment of preface]

Medialne kody w wyobraźni i języku dziecka

Author(s): / Language(s): Russian,Polish

The co-authored monograph entitled Media Codes in Child Imagination and Language conforms to contemporary transdisciplinary research. The publication undertakes a pressing and very broad problem of the influence of media on children’s language and on their way of thinking. The basic assumption of the volume, permeating all the texts contained in the publication, is the acknowledgment that the presence of media in children’s life has a significant impact on their way of perceiving the surrounding world. The mosaic character of media transfer and the variety of influences of the media world best describe the notion of media codes. The texts gathered in the volume demonstrate both which media content a young receiver may acquire, and what remains from a contact with media in children’s speech and thought. The authors, who also have practical experience, emphasize the importance of media education. The present publication is addressed to educators, psychologists and linguists, as well as mindful parents and all readers interested in the media-child relation.

Perswazja w telewizyjnej reklamie społecznej. Studium socjologiczne

Author(s): Ewa Kurzeja / Language(s): Polish

The book is devoted to the phenomenon of persuasiveness in television public service advertisements. The said type of advertisements is aimed at prompting particular socially desirable attitudes or persuading members of the audience to cease their socially undesirable behaviour. Therefore, such campaigns serve to transform currently existing reality and disseminate knowledge related to social phenomena and to engage audience in social matters.The monograph is composed of seven chapters, complemented with introduction and summarising section, along with an extensive bibliography, and the lists of tables and figures appearing therein. First four chapters, written on the basis of rich literature on the subject in question, are of theoretical character. In a form of an outline, they present the history of advertising and its defining features, fundamental issues involving contemporary advertisements and their role in shaping public opinion; but also important questions falling into the scope of public service marketing, its origin, devices, and functions performed by it. Another discussed issue are the methods of exerting influence by mean of a message contained in an advertisement, which are synonymous with persuasion and targeted at changing the members of the audience’s attitudes. The chapter concluding this part of the publication deals with persuasion in public service advertisements directly. Polish public service advertisements, characterised according to their problematic, are presented in the said chapter, along with the discussion of the means of persuasion used in them, particularly: the formal concept, auditory, verbal and visual layers, and a type of protagonists featured.Part two of the book, which is empirically oriented, presents the author’s own research relating to the public service advertisements broadcasted in Poland in the years 2005–2010. The proper research sample (n = 99) was obtained on the basis of the probabilistic random sampling method. The formulated research problem is the role of public service advertisements in the process of shaping social awareness as well as the members of the audience’s attitudes. What was set as the research aim, was the analysis of particular advertisements’ contents and the comparative analysis thereof. Chapter five discusses the research method used (content analysis), the technique devised by the author (categorization key), and the implemented methods of analysis and interpretation of the obtained data. Chapter six, in turn, presents a model analysis of the phenomenon of persuasion in television public service advertising. Additionally, it gives a demonstration of research material collected in the course of the study, subsequently ordered in accordance with suitable criteria and complemented with commentaries constituting an attempt at comprehensive overview regarding the collected data. The final chapter contains both the analysis and the interpretation of the conducted research. By means of categorization keys, the chapter provides a description of distinctive themes present in the analysed advertisements, as well as the issues addressed in them. The advertising spots were classified with reference to their length, the period in which the campaigns containing them were conducted, and the territorial scope of their broadcasting (all-Poland, regional, local). What is more, the analysis of the advertising spots’ contents wasperformed, taking into account: the addressee thereof, the means of expression used, and a type of protagonist featured. Crucial part of the chapter is a detailed discussion of particularmeans of persuasion devised in the advertising spots under analysis. The presented researchresults were supplemented with relevant commentaries, indicating the weighty aspects of agiven question along with the presentation of selected examples and the author’s own interpretation of the observed interrelations. In concluding remarks, the research results and the their analysis were summarised and confronted with the initially forwarded hypotheses.

Pokolenia PRL na ekranie w kontekście dokumentów prasowych z epoki

Author(s): Jakub Zajdel / Language(s): Polish

The book aims to describe the complex, multilateral relations among cinematography, propaganda, and the viewers in the times of the Polish People’s Republic. In the second half of the 20th century, after they seized power, the communists launched intensive propaganda activities to create the impression that they enjoyed public support. Among the motifs developed in propaganda texts, there was the generation theme. It involvedthree generation myths, introduced gradually, to which the author refers as the myth of the generation of fight, the myth of the generation of work, and the myth of the generation of duty. They depended for their credibility on information provided by journals and memoirs collected during competitions organised by various newspapers and magazines. The cinema,in turn, was supposed to disseminate them because of its wide range of influence. However, partly for political but mostly for artistic reasons, the filmmakers usually aimed at presenting their own reaction to a generation myth rather than at illustrating it according to the expectations of those who controlled cinematography. Discussing selected fictional films, the author attempts to describe the relation between the myth and its depiction on the screen as perceived by the viewer. Importantly, the author’s intention is to reconstruct the reception of the films upon their first release rather than interpret them according to the standards of the present. Obviously, it is difficult to fully reconstruct the senses that used to provide an important context for the viewers to understand the works discussed. The author strives to accomplish this task by focusing on the senses suggested to the audience by the press, and in particular, by three groups of texts. The first group comprises propaganda texts which verbalised the generation myths. The second group includes generation memoires as published in the press (they were also published in book forms). They served as the foundation for the generation myths by providing necessary details, which were thengeneralised in the myths’ content. The third group comprises film reviews which were supposed to steer the reception of the films. The reference point for the ideological interpretation of the productions they reviewed was the image of generations disseminated by the propaganda of the time. As a result of this discussion, the reader of the book is presented with an outline of some of the complex mechanisms that shaped the cultural memory in the times of the Polish People’s Republic.

Polska półka filmowa. Krótkometrażowe filmy aktorskie i animowane w nauczaniu języka polskiego jako obcego

Author(s): Justyna Hanna Budzik,Agnieszka Tambor / Language(s): Polish

The films that have been discussed in the present textbook contain a variety of linguistic and cultural values. We have offered short films, because due to their small volume they are suitable for use in their entirety in any kind of classroom activity. However, making a lesson more attractive is not the only function of the compilation of films that we have proposed – another one is to fill the gap existing in contemporary textbooks devoted to teaching Polish as a foreign language. The films covered in the book form a kind of a catalogue of pretexts for conversation on difficult topics, which are omitted by most textbooks. Cultural problems related to individual films are just one part of lesson units suggested. Apart from them, we also propose a set of various exercises developing all language skills which thematically match a specific movie. The basic aim of the textbook is the development of students’ communicative competence. The language levels have not been specified either in the lesson outlines or in the exercises. This has been done consciously and deliberately, in order to give the teacher or instructor the opportunity to adapt individual elements to the needs and interests of their group.

Publiczni nadawcy w regionach autonomicznych Hiszpanii. Między misją a polityką

Author(s): Dagmara Głuszek-Szafraniec / Language(s): Polish

The volume has been divided into two parts. The first, theoretical part concerns the issues connected with the worldwide models of media systems, as well as the role of the public media, the methods of defining their mission, and the aims and tools of media politics. Further inquiry concerns the media landscape of Spain, in addition to the main legal determinants which regulate the media in the country. Moreover, the author conducts a review of the most important legislation included in the autonomous constitutions that concerns the possibility of establishing means of mass communication by autonomous communities. The second part constitutes an attempt at systematizing the strategies undertaken by autonomous governments to encourage growth of local public broadcasters with a regional reach. The author distinguishes four different attitudes towards the role of the public media as well as towards defining the public mission and the level of engagement in the process of broadcaster management by the political powers in the region, delineated on the basis of legal and institutional analysis of media legislation. It is possible, therefore, to distinguish four vectors of regional government activities which correspond to the various types of public media present in the autonomous regions of Spain: a basic type with the function of regional media, a mixed type with the inclusion of the private sector, a transitional type aimed at reforming the model of public radio and television management, and an advanced type, in which the regulations and institutions involved allow for a larger media autonomy.

Rozgłośnie BBC World Service, Radio France Internationale i Voice of America w komunikowaniu międzynarodowym. Od propagandy do dyplomacji publicznej

Author(s): Mirosława Wielopolska-Szymura / Language(s): Polish

The chief purpose of BBC World Service, Radio France Internationale, and Voice of America in the Context of International Communication: From Propaganda to Public Diplomacy is to analyse the role radio stations fulfil for international communication nowadays in the light of the roles they served in the past (that is, the times when radio dominated).During the interwar period and right before World War II, new radio stations came to being that aimed at broadcasting content targeted at the listeners abroad. Initially, these radio stations were transmitting mostly official messages or functioning as private point-to-point communication; in both cases, they functioned similarly to telegraphs (assuming one addresser and one addressee). Along with not only the development of the transmitting and receiving devices but also the widening of our knowledge on radio waves, radio turned into a mass medium, thanks to various “freaks,” including investors and other radio lovers. Having access to the network of correspondents and a powerful radio signal, radio stations back then were able to provide live coverage of the events that interested listeners all around the globe.The capacities of radio were significant during World War II as well; precisely, it ceased to serve communication purposes exclusively, and was included into military arsenal (used not only in operations and diversion actions, but also for jamming and scouting). This military conflict showed that the possibility of reaching listeners abroad – that is, the citizens of adversary, allied, and neutral states – had been of enormous importance, whereas the ability of shaping the opinions of foreign citizens had become a crucial part of contemporary warfare.The relevance of radio for international communication was indisputable also during the Cold War. Radio Free Europe, Radio Liberty, Voice of America, BBC World Service, Radio France Internationale, Deutsche Welle, Radio Madrid, Radio Moskwa, and Radio China International were fundamentally engaged in both ideological war and public diplomacy.Simultaneously, various international processes changed the position radio occupied among other media; the “Golden Age of Radio” reached a significant decline in the 1950s, when the dominance of radio gave way to the advent of television, whereas from late 1990s on the situation of all media was revolutionised by the birth of the Internet. As a result, digitalisation, convergence, shifts in reception and use of media – not to mention other broader phenomena, including the dominance of audiovisual culture – affected not only listeners and their preferences (inclining to fragmented radio programmes), but also ratings and marketability of radio stations. Finally, since political communication has privileged the audiovisual paradigm, and domestic policy has gradually become a media issue, radio has withdrawn in this area as well, giving primacy to television and new media.Because of the aforementioned factors and shifts, it becomes vital to carefully reconsider the contemporary and international status of radio. After all, one might be tempted to think that radio is no longer in its heyday, whereas both governments and individual listeners do not deem it as a genuine informative medium or a means capable of reaching the foreign public opinion. This book, therefore, explores how Radio France Internationale, Voice of America, and BBC World Service changed diachronically in reference to other radio stations alike, points to rules they follow and formats their programmes take, and analyses their recent activity in international communication between 2014 and 2018. Chapter 1 introduces theoretical vocabulary international communication relies on, and juxtaposes its various definitions with related cultural phenomena, including transcultural communication, political communication, propaganda, public diplomacy, cultural diplomacy, media diplomacy, and soft power. Aside from analysing these concepts, this chapter also proposes an innovative definition of international communication and its graphic model.Chapter 2 is diachronic, and it focuses on the discovery of radio waves and the invention of radio read from the technical perspective, which determines the position of radio for international communication. Moreover, the early forms of radio are recalled with regard to their significance for foreign communication. Finally, the development of radio and broadcasting in France, United Kingdom, and the USA is presented with an emphasis put on the differences between their broadcasting models.Chapter 3 is devoted to the development of international broadcasting, dividing it into three stages: 1) the early 20th century (until the 1930s), when radio waves were being tested, the first experimental stations came to being, and first international radio stations were founded, including those in Nauen and Zessen (Germany), Sainte-Assise and Le Post Colonial (France), Eindhoven and Heuzen (Netherlands), Chelmsford (UnitedKingdom); 2) the World War II period, in which the uses of radio for international military communication are analysed in reference to propaganda radio stations (Radio Berlin, Radio Hamburg, Radio Stuttgart, Radio Tokio) and its prominent figures (William Joyce (“Lord Haw-Haw”), Paul Ferdonnet (“the Stuttgart Traitor”), Mildred Gillars (“Axis Sally”), Ive Togure (“Tokyo Rose”)), British pirate radio stations functioning in response to the Axis propaganda (for instance, Gustav Siegfried Eins), the radio stations of French Resistance with a special emphasis put on Radio Brazzaville, that is, Charles de Gaulle’s chief means of international communication, and, finally, Voice of America serving for public diplomacy purposes; 3) the Cold War period, in which the objectives, assumptions, and strategies of international broadcasting posed by France, United Kingdom, the United States of America between 1945 and late 1980s are examined. The last chapter is entirely dedicated to BBC World Service, Radio France Internationale and Voice of America nowadays, paying attention to their regulations, structures, and broadcasting services. These radio stations are understood as means used for public diplomacy of their countries, and their institutional and formal connections to government institutions are discussed. Consequently, this comparative chapter refers to the legal contexts, supported by acts and regulations of a given country, presents the principles and levels of funding, reconstructs the institutional positions of radio among other media, and characterises broadcasting in terms of services, directions, and programmes.The analysis of contemporary strategies and activities of the discussed radio stations makes it ossible to claim that the use of radio for international communication has not lost its relevance, and currently is supported with television and the Internet, that is, the media that were invented later in the course of historical progress. Radio stations, therefore, are not held in media bubbles; rather, they are still significant means of foreign communication because of their specificities. Furthermore, radio communication complies with strategic foreign policies, which affects various parts of the world where levels of technological development diverge whilst the access to television or the Internet connection is not available. In the countries stricken with military conflicts or poverty, radio is still the predominant means of communication that serves numerous purposes; not only is it a source of information on military operations, epidemiological situations, climate and natural disasters, but also it educates its listeners on civil and human rights, especially women’s rights. Finally, Voice of America, BBC World Service, and Radio France Internationale support policies against extremism and propaganda (for instance, fake news).The services of the discussed radio stations are related to the policies the United States of America, United Kingdom, and France put forward against ISIL and international terrorism, but also to those actions that support democratic changes in the countries affected by war and political unrest.