"Informacija" i teorija komunikacije - Bilješke za buduću povijest tog koncepta

Author(s): Hanno Hardt / Language(s): Croatian Issue: 01/1987

A historical analysis of the concept of information, within communication theory, begin with its determining as a historical framework, a socio-cultural context for the study of media and communication; information as knowledge, and communication as the integration and transformation of the different segments of society. Information is defined as a form of practical knowledge in the process of change and the realization of a democratic society. With the stressing of a scientific, empirical, analysis of society the scientific status of information is getting stronger. Such an approach relies on the model patterns of analysis with a stress on cybcrnetical and mathematical problems. More ambitious, globally directed approaches connect this approach with general system theory. A fundamental limitation of this model conception of information manifests itself in the production of distorted images of social reality and of complex human interaction.

"Plutajući označitelji": pregovaranja oko značenja nacionalnog u Crnoj Gori na Internet-forumu Café del Montenegro

Author(s): Čarna Brković / Language(s): Serbian Issue: 1/2008

The paper represents the analysis of the narratives that deal with the sentiment of national belonging in Montenegro within the chat room Café del Montenegro. The practice of the Internet chat room users is perceived as cultural engagement – „practicing" the State and the emotion of national identification of its own kind. By writing, arguing, negotiating the meaning of the state and nation an abundance of different and broken knowledge’s are created- many histories, geographies, ethics and politics are offered. On the one hand, these directly undermines, jeopardizes and questions the power of the State narrative, hitherto negotiating the nation, the State, authentic devotion, simultaneously manufacturing the state-nation as a reality. The result of mutual correspondence in the chat room is persistent negotiation of the meaning of national categories in Montenegro over the years.

"Risk literacy" and social cleavages: Vulnerability in three acts

Author(s): Tom Hashimoto,Aras Zirgulis / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2021

Although recent studies show widening socio-economic divisions due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many such divisions were already identified as social cleavages. Scholars and observers tend to view the world in a dichotomous manner, overgeneralising their analyses along known cleavages. Therefore, the relevance of our work as scholars is at risk and we, the scholars of the contemporary world, are “vulnerable” to the temptation of ignoring the details, nuances, and complexities. The uneven impact of and recovery from the pandemic is not necessarily binary – for example, a refusal to follow the medical consensus (e.g. social distancing, vaccination) can be observed on both sides of many cleavages. Against such a background, this paper first characterises the pandemic as a medical, socio-economic, and information crisis. With the former two “pillars” resembling the known cleavages, the third pillar goes beyond the physical access to information and deals with the people’s perception of various risks. Such a behavioural angle to the vulnerability – labelled “risk literacy” – highlights the phenomenon of “digital divide” and shows a promising feature as an additional analytical tool. By familiarising ourselves with the people’s varying risk perceptions, we increase our own literacy against the risk of overgeneralization.

#ForgiveUsForWeHaveSinned:

Conceptual integration theory and political Internet humour

Author(s): Nihada Delibegović Džanić,Sanja Berberović / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2017

The aim of the paper is to uncover the extent to which different forms of political Internet humour can criticise current political affairs in a developing democracy such as Bosnia and Herzegovina. Specifically, applying a cognitive linguistic theory of meaning construction, namely conceptual integration theory, the paper analyses the construction of meaning of humorous Internet forms, such as memes, demotivational posters, hashtag posts, and memetic photographs, representing innovative ways of providing political commentaries on current political affairs. The meaning of political humour is constructed in conceptual blending as a basic cognitive mechanism. As it is claimed (Coulson & Pascual 2006, Coulson & Oakley 2006, Coulson 2006, Oakley & Coulson 2008) that blending can be used as a rhetorical tool influencing the audience to change the reality and even act upon it, the analysis of the construction of meaning of political humour as products of conceptual integration can reveal hidden ideologies in political discourse.

#METOO AND US POLITICS: ANALYSING THE TWITTER CONVERSATION

Author(s): Vittoria Bernardini / Language(s): English Issue: 3/2021

The #MeToo movement has had a profound cultural impact on US society, and notably on US party politics. While many studies have addressed the #MeToo-related controversy arising from the Brett Kavanaugh nomination to Supreme Court Justice in 2018, the relationship between #MeToo and US politics before this event has remained understudied. This article, therefore, addresses this gap by looking at the role of politics at the beginning of the #MeToo movement. Focusing on the first six months of online activity on Twitter (October 2017 – April 2018), over 2 million tweets with the #MeToo hashtag are analyzed to identify the main activity patterns across the dataset and to gain insight on user behavior and participation in the conversation. Results point to the weaponization of #MeToo in the political context from its inception. It is suggested that #MeToo reflects the polarized political climate in the US and that it can be conceptualized as part of the wider “culture wars” (Hunter 1991) that characterize the public debate.

30-second politics, 30 years too late: Political TV advertising in Swedish election campaigns, 2006–2018

Author(s): Marie Grusell,Lars Nord / Language(s): English Issue: 24/2019

Televised political advertising appears in very different national political communication contexts. Sweden is an interesting case study. For many years, political ads on TV were not allowed at all. However, with the transition from analog to digital terrestrial television the public service obligations of the “hybrid” channel TV4 were dismantled. In the 2010 national election campaign, all Swedish parliamentary parties bought advertising time on TV4. This article intends to shed new light on political TV ads as a new campaign feature in a rapidly transforming political communication environment. The study relates to the concept of hybridization of election campaigns and intends to increase knowledge about hybridization processes by focusing on a critical case where one of the most adopted campaign practices worldwide is finally implemented within a specific national context and deviating political culture.

5G-TEEMALISED SÜÜNARRATIIVID VENEMAA STRATEEGILISES KOMMUNIKATSIOONIS: RT, SPUTNIKU, PERVÕI KANALI, NTV, ITAR-TASSi MEEDIAKAJASTUSE VÕRDLEV ANALÜÜS

Author(s): Andreas Ventsel,Mari-Liis Madisson,Sten Hansson / Language(s): Estonian Issue: 17/2021

In this paper, we analysed the ways in which Russian state-funded news portals have used certain articulations of blame regarding the adoption of the 5G cellular technology for strategic purposes. In the Kremlin-backed Russophone and Anglophone media, the coverage of 5G technology has revealed a multilayered blame discourse. In this discourse, the US is depicted as a distributor of false information on the 5G technology, groundlessly slandering China and forcefully pressuring its allies; China has also accused the US for its pressuring politics. Both the Russophone and Anglophone coverages were characterised by the following: even though the US accusations against China originated mainly from American politicians, the stories and their tone were framed by comments (both by experts and journalists), highlighting the groundless nature of these accusations. The main differences between Russophone and Anglophone media are the following. Firstly, the Russophone media over-emphasised the pressure that the US put on its allies. Secondly, at the end of the analysed period, the Russophone media explicitly presented, for the first time, Russian position in the global confrontation between the US and China. Evidently, Russia supports the technological alliance with China because they “trust them more than the USA”. Strategic narratives can be interpreted on three levels: on a policy, identity, and system level. On the level of a strategic policy narrative, the blaming devices used in both Russophone and Anglophone media outlets concerned two aspects. Firstly, it was stressed that the US government has not presented any clear evidence to the public about the security risks accompanying the use of Chinese 5G technologies; thus, the US accusations against China are, in fact, slander. The other aspect concerns a depiction of the confrontation between the US and China in terms of a trade war policy narrative: by smearing China, the US is, in fact, covering up its actual concern about coming off as the second-best from the economic and technological progress race with China.

80 Jahre danach – Wege zu einer gemeinsamen deutsch-polnischen Erinnerungskultur?

Author(s): Waldemar Czachur,Heinz-Helmut Lüger / Language(s): German Issue: 2/2021

The article analyses two speeches commemorating the 80th anniversary of the outbreak of the Second World War, delivered by the German President Frank Walter Steinmeier and the Polish President Andrzej Duda. The authors examine the two texts and ask what aspects of World War II the politicians evoke in their speeches, what images of the Self and the Other are created and what goals are pursued. In the beginning, the article outlines the different meanings of World War II in Polish and German collective memory, and then it proceeds to briefly characterize the commemorative speech as a type of speech. A special emphasis is placed on the analysis of the perspectives underlying the speeches, including the theses presented, as well as on the comparison of the most important differences.

A CALL TO ACTION: RESPONDING TO RUSSIAN HYBRID WARFARE

Author(s): Caroline Grace,Jiaming Huang,James M. Keagle / Language(s): English Issue: 23/2020

Using its well developed and practiced programs in propaganda, deception and denial, Russia has conducted its hybrid warfare and anti-access area denial strategy using the 21st century information technologies of communication. In light of Russia’s annexation of Crimea, Romania felt threatened by Russia’s use of information campaign, especially the narratives that seem to have polarized the Romanian society and discredited the NATO establishment from its prompt execution of its Article 5 commitment. Confronted with these threats, Romania and NATO must understand war in the hybrid domain on an aggregate and its effect on Romania in particular.

A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF VERIFICATION/FACT-CHECKING ORGANIZATONS IN TURKEY: dogrulukpayi.com and teyit.org

Author(s): Gökmen Hakan Karadağ,Adem Ayten / Language(s): English Issue: 29/2020

The developments in Internet and new communication technologies have many negative impacts besides its positive impacts. In recent years, the most widely articulated one of these negative impacts is the notion of “fake news”. The notions of “fake news,” “post–truth era” and “echo chambers” are increasingly being topical issues. Fake news, the most important indicator of the post-truth era, is mostly circulated and spread through social networks. Researchers are scrutinizing the role of especially Twitter and Facebook algorithms in spread of fake news. If the solution of this problem that emerged in digital environment will be found again in the same platform, development and efficiency of fact-checking organizations is gaining importance. The two prominent fact-checking organizations in Turkey are “teyit.org” and “dogrulukpayi.com”. The scope of the research is comparison of the structures and working manners of these two fact-checking organizations. To conduct the research, semi–structured in-depth interviews were done with authorized team members of the organizations. Doğruluk Payı and Teyit have similarities on human resources, financing and organization; however, they exhibit differences on the scope and process of verification/fact-checking and assessment. Both organizations do not require being a journalist or having a journalistic education to be a verifier/fact-checker and operate with a multi-disciplinary staff. According to interviewees, one of the most difficult thing about being a verifier/fact-checker in Turkey is excessive polarization. Another difficulty about the fact-checking of politicians’ statements is that these statements are mostly value-based.

A Discourse Analysis of South Park’s PC Principal

Author(s): Silvia Branea,Teodor Dumitrache / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2020

This research aims to expose how South Park, a polemical entertainment program, deals with some of the most socially divisive topics from 2015 onward, thus establishing a new type of criticism that had been, for a long time, specific to news media only. The methodology used for analyzing the reflection of the political correctness paradigm is scientific narration. The actions of an autocratic persona, PC Principal, are interpreted during three relevant episodes (#1, #5, and #8) of the 19th season. The personification of censorship through the naïve Butters, an obedient schoolboy turned into a humble clerk serving PC Principal's overzealous fight for his idea of equal rights, can remind one of Hanna Arendt's work "Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil." Thus, people who blindly follow orders without questioning the imposed regime might have a more significant negative influence than dictators themselves. As tolerance is becoming a feature of selfishness rather than a noble human attribute due to increased competitiveness, abnormally creating the circumstances to make one more socially visible, South Park often sanctions the excessive flaws of the liberal doctrine, exposing the various absurdities can arise from such biased behaviors. Even though the show depicts thoroughly grotesque images, the authors seem to balance them with moral teachings. The present study intends to highlight the need for an alternative to formal debates regarding social issues to avoid ideological bias.

A FORMAL FORM OF SOCIAL CONTROL AGAINST ONLINE HATE SPEECH IN INDONESIA

Author(s): Gatot Eddy Pramono / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2020

The development of technology and information gave rise to new media in communication. This new media, called social media, has different characters from well-known characters. The emergence of this new media also has the potential to be used in spreading hate speech online. Unlimited hate speech content can lead to various negative impacts in the community; it can even cause social conflict, physical violence, harassment, and demonstrations. This paper aims to explain the implementation of formal social control over hate speeches in Indonesia by using a qualitative approach through literature studies as a data collection technique. As a result, formal social control over hate speeches in Indonesia is carried out by law enforcement officers by enforcing existing legal rules. In addition, the use of formal social controls that are not balanced in tackling hate speech in Indonesia can cause bias and discrimination and ultimately lead to public distrust of law enforcers and the criminal justice system. A need for alternative social control in controlling hate speech that occurs in the community is to be discussed further.

A háború ára. A jobboldali populizmus popkulturális reprezentációja

Author(s): Veronika Hermann / Language(s): Hungarian Issue: 01/2021

In this paper I aim to present the complex relationship between the rise of populist political parties and anti-gender movements and their effect on popular culture. First I depict how populism became the foremost power technique in Europe and the United States in the past decade and why social sciences have difficulties to detect and define this slippery-slope phenomenon. Then I draw the outline of a possible connection between the 1970s conservative, anti-feminist organizations and the polarization of public speech. I intend to use this frame to analyze two popular television series from the last few years, The Handmaid’s Tale (2016) and Mrs. America (2020). By doing so I argue that members of real life anti-gender organizations have been committed to a future that presents itself as a theocracy in Margaret Atwood’s Gilead. Like two sides of the same coin, a series based on real-life events and another based on a dystopia, the series show why it is important to be aware of populist and anti-gender movements.

A jó, a rossz és a csúf populista vezető. Vizsgálható-e a populizmus karizmatikus kapcsolatként?

Author(s): Rudolf Tamás Metz / Language(s): Hungarian Issue: 4/2021

Although political scholars have recognized the “direct” and “symbolic” relationship between leader and followers in populist politics, often associated with the presence of charisma, we still cannot answer the questions of why and how many citizens are able to follow widely rejected populist leaders while others are entirely rejected? The scientific discourse on populism cannot compromise whether charismatic leadership would be an integral part of populist politics. To resolve this debate, the present study begins by taking account of the counter-arguments and critiques raised by students of populism, pointing out their weaknesses. I argue that charisma is indeed compatible with populism. In contrast to the vast majority of populism literature, according to Weberian understanding charisma is an exceptional emotional relationship in which a particular leader is truly considered superhuman by his followers. Then I unfold the antagonistic emotional relations that surround populist leaders. I call for the help of the concept of moral panic and euphoria as an extension of the theory of charismatic leadership, through which we can interpret the dynamics of populist politics. The study concludes by proposing a new research agenda. The follower-centric models and tools of leadership studies allow us to decide to what extent populist politics is determined empirically by the charismatic relationships explored on a theoretical level.

A Look Into WeChat – Enabling an Analyst to Search and Monitor Content

Author(s): Alvin Lim / Language(s): English

WeChat, or Weixin (微信) in Mandarin, is a multi-function mobile application (app), first launched by China’s Tencent Holdings in 2011. A distinction between WeChat and Weixin must be drawn because they are two separate products, with WeChat intended for the international market while Weixin is aimed at the domestic Chinese market (Tencent, 2020). For this report, the names WeChat and Weixin are used to describe the internationally and domestically oriented products, respectively.

A Medium Is Born: Participatory Media and the Rise of Clubhouse in Russia and Ukraine During the Covid-19 Pandemic

Author(s): Kateryna Boyko,Roman Horbyk / Language(s): English Issue: 10/2022

Clubhouse is a social network allowing only real-time oral communication. While its 2020 worldwide launch went largely unnoticed in Eastern Europe, it took countries such as Ukraine and Russia by storm in February 2021. Users were enticed by the platform’s exclusivity (invitation only and limited to IOS users), unusual format, and compatibility with post-covid social life. For some time, Clubhouse was the dominant theme of discussions on other social media, mainstream news media organizations started launching daily talk shows in the app, and early adopters engaged in a plethora of participatory activities ranging from propagandist broadcasts to 24/7 rooms where bots would recite Russian classical poetry, from fervently seeking ways to monetise their participation to creating the somewhat unexpected genre of audial fakes. In this article we intend to analyse the turbulent arrival of the new app in Russia and Ukraine from the perspectives of media ecology and media archaeology. Focusing on the app’s mediality and remediation, the social media discourse about it and particular content in some of the notable rooms, we highlight the conjunction of social environment, the already existing and novel technological affordances, as well as users’ perceptions and expectations in the emergence of a new niche in the ecology of participatory media. Based on this, we will also try to outline some possible scenarios for the new platform in Eastern Europe’s dense mediascapes. We argue that the prompt rise of Clubhouse’s popularity was not thanks to its special authenticity, as some suggest, but rather because of the normalization of group long-distance conversations (e.g., via Zoom), coupled with the intentional monomedia poverty of affordances and clearly delimited boundary between the roles of broadcasters and listeners, which was perceived as liberating in a produsage-saturated environment. This actually limits the participatory media potential of content creators and influencers, increasing their power and reviving monological models of communication that suggest a passive audience.

A New Culture of Truth? On the Transformation of Political Epistemologies since the 1960s in Central, Eastern, and South-Eastern Europe

Author(s): Friedrich Cain,Dietlind Hüchtker,Bernhard Kleeberg,Jan Surman / Language(s): English Issue: 17/2019

A New Phase of Dissemination of South Korean Visual Media in North Korea in the Era of COVID-19 Pandemic: Oppositional Subculture Among Youth Between Crackdown and Irreversibility

Author(s): Jung Ran Park / Language(s): English Issue: Special/2022

The viewing of South Korean-produced visual media, whose dissemination in North Korea continues since the 1990s, appears to be irreversible, even in the era of the COVID-19 pandemic. In particular, North Korean youth, called either the generation of Jangmadang or Yellow Wave, have gone beyond possessors who enjoy South Korean visual media on their own, and have become prime movers of sharing and selling it through black markets. In the series of flows, the North Korean regime is setting its sights on them. In other words, from the end of last year, the North Korean regime has enacted laws targeting the spread of South Korean visual medias and reorganized the Workers’ Party of North Korea, and crackdown, surveillance and punishment based on these have been implemented more intensely. In addition, there have been widely shared anti-Korean Wave propaganda videos in North Korea, and speeches, wherein the leader Kim Jong-un named Korean Wave a “malignant cancer” in a very unusual way. Furthermore, the North Korean regime has made a series of strongpoints to halt the penetration of the Korean Wave, or capitalist ideology, in their view, by doubly taking advantage of blocking movement between regions inside North Korea, as well as along the border with neighbouring China since last year to cut off the spread of COVID-19. This study examines the trends of the spread of the Korean Wave, focussing on youth in North Korea in the era of the pandemic. To that end, this study analyses the last two years of anti-Korean-Wave laws in North Korea, propaganda videos, Kim Jong-un’s discourses, South Korean and international publications, and interview video clips with North Korean settlers in South Korea. In doing so, this study sheds light on the recent phase of oppositional subcultures against the regime during the pandemic. In conclusion, this study discusses the reversibility and irreversibility of the South Korean Wave as a subculture of youth, passing through the crackdown measures during the pandemic.

A New Political Scarecrow? The Political Program and Activity of the ”Serbian Right“

Author(s): Srđan Mladenov Jovanović / Language(s): English Issue: 11/2020

The organization known as Srpska desnica (SD; the Serbian Right Wing) during 2019 become increasingly seen in the Serbian media, as well as receiving augmented visibility on posters throughout the country. With their recent electoral success in the town of Medveđa, as well as their announcement that they are turning into an official party that would enter the 2020 parliamentary elections, coupled with the troublesome past of their leader, Miša Vacić, the situation calls for investigation. In this article, we are putting Miša Vacić’s public and political engagement under a magnifying glass, positioning him within the broader nationalist political spectrum of the country, engaging his official political program. We shall furthermore define the concept of the political scarecrow, a political party or figure that serves primarily to frighten, as shall be clear from the case study that this is the role of his organization.