Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Title: Journalism that Matters: Views from Central and Eastern Europe. By Michał Głowacki, Epp Lauk and Auksė Balčytienė. Bern: Peter Lang, 2014, 214 pp.; ISBN: 978-3-631-65421-7 hb. File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/mediaandcommunication/article/view/352 File-Format: text/html DOI: 10.17645/mac.v3i4.352 Journal: Media and Communication Volume: 3 Year: 2015 Issue: 4 Pages: 116-119 Author-Name: Elena Rodina Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Media, Technology, and Society, Northwestern University, USA Abstract: This book is a much-needed contribution to journalistic studies that allows us to have a closer and more nuanced look at media systems and press cultures in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) from a non-Western perspective. The volume is of high value to anyone who is interested in the diversity that underlies the unifying term of “post-communist media.” Most of its authors rely on rich data collected throughout lengthy periods of time on the territory of Central and Eastern Europe, which allows us to see not only the current state of “Eastern” media, but its development throughout time. Keywords: Central and Eastern Europe; de-Westernizing media studies; journalism; journalistic practices; media Handle: RePEc:cog:meanco:v3:y:2015:i:4:p:116-119 Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Title: Who Is Willing to Pay for Online Journalistic Content? File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/mediaandcommunication/article/view/345 File-Format: text/html DOI: 10.17645/mac.v3i4.345 Journal: Media and Communication Volume: 3 Year: 2015 Issue: 4 Pages: 106-115 Author-Name: Marju Himma-Kadakas Author-Workplace-Name: Institute of Social Sciences, University of Tartu, Estonia Author-Name: Ragne Kõuts Author-Workplace-Name: Institute of Social Sciences, University of Tartu, Estonia Abstract: While the overall readership of newspapers is growing as a result of the multiplatform reach, many online media consumers are not offered the surplus value they expect of journalistic content. Since a great deal of journalistic content published on the internet has been free of charge for years, attempting to monetarise this content is now proving complicated. This article considers the motivating factors behind attitudes towards paying for online journalistic content in different population groups. We follow two directions: attitudes towards paying for online news, and obstacles that compromise willingness to pay in different groups. The survey results and trends noticed by media organisations indicate that the public’s readiness to pay for journalistic online content is growing, albeit slowly. Based on the outcomes of various interviews we can conclude that the expectation of exclusive quality and web distinctive content are the two main reasons behind willingness to pay for online journalistic content, however, it is difficult to outline particular preference groups based on cultural, demographic, or socio-economic characteristics. This seems to be the result of audience fragmentation—the reasons behind willingness to pay for online journalistic content are hidden in the interests and preferences of small audience groups. Keywords: audience studies; media audience; online journalism; paywalls; pricing models; willingness to pay Handle: RePEc:cog:meanco:v3:y:2015:i:4:p:106-115 Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Title: Media Literacy in Montenegro File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/mediaandcommunication/article/view/335 File-Format: text/html DOI: 10.17645/mac.v3i4.335 Journal: Media and Communication Volume: 3 Year: 2015 Issue: 4 Pages: 91-105 Author-Name: Jelena Perovic Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Communication and Social Research, La Sapienza University of Rome, Italy Abstract: Few countries in the world have introduced media education into their curriculums. Montenegro became one of them in 2009, when “media literacy” was introduced as an optional subject for 16 and 17 year old students of Gymnasium high schools. This article presents the findings of the first and only research conducted so far on media education in Montenegro. It is a national case study which examines the potential of media education to change the school culture and accelerate education system reform towards embracing the new digital education paradigm in the future. The focus is on the results of research conducted through in-depth interviews with media literacy teachers all over the country. Despite the many challenges, all teachers identify the potential of media education to strengthen some of the key competences of the students and to improve their motivation and academic performance. They also identify potential to change positively school culture by transforming teachers into “cultural mediators” (Morcellini, 2007) and by supporting the formation of a “participative culture” (Jenkins & Kelley, 2013) in schools. This research recommends focusing education reform on spreading the media education pedagogy to the entire curriculum in order to embrace the new digital education paradigm in the future. Keywords: children; civic participation; creative media production; critical thinking; media education; media literacy; media pedagogy; Montenegro; youth Handle: RePEc:cog:meanco:v3:y:2015:i:4:p:91-105 Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Title: Voice of the Church: A Debate about Religious Radio Stations as Community Broadcasters File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/mediaandcommunication/article/view/344 File-Format: text/html DOI: 10.17645/mac.v3i4.344 Journal: Media and Communication Volume: 3 Year: 2015 Issue: 4 Pages: 76-90 Author-Name: Gabriella Velics Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Communication and Media, University of West-Hungary, Hungary Author-Name: Urszula Doliwa Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Humanities, University of Warmia and Mazury, Poland Abstract: In the Declaration of the Committee of Ministers on the role of community media in promoting social cohesion and intercultural dialogue passed on 11 February 2009 by the Council of Europe, stations run by religious institutions were explicitly excluded from the community media definition, as being too dependent on the Church. But the reality seems to be far from this definition. In practice, in many countries the religious radio stations officially belong to—or even dominate—this sector. In 2011 a new period began for community broadcasting in Hungary. While most of the former community media broadcasters could not find resources with which to operate, the community media landscape was dramatically overwhelmed by religious broadcasters both on regional and local levels. The legally-recognised third tier of broadcasting in Poland called ‘social broadcasting’ is actively and exclusively used by religious radio—seven stations broadcast locally and one is a powerful nationwide radio station called Radio Maryja. The authors gathered information and points of views from radio experts, organizations and activists living and working in different EU and non-EU states about the place of religious broadcasting in the community media sector. Two case-studies (Hungary and Poland) may be of interest for countries considering the introduction or reorganisation of regulations regarding community broadcasting. Keywords: community radio; Hungary; media policy; Poland; religious broadcasters Handle: RePEc:cog:meanco:v3:y:2015:i:4:p:76-90 Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Title: Comparing Czech and Slovak Council Newspapers’ Policy and Regulation Development File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/mediaandcommunication/article/view/341 File-Format: text/html DOI: 10.17645/mac.v3i4.341 Journal: Media and Communication Volume: 3 Year: 2015 Issue: 4 Pages: 62-75 Author-Name: Lenka Waschkova Cisarova Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Media Studies and Journalism, Masaryk University, Czech Republic Abstract: Council newspapers form an integral part of European media systems and, as such, have been analysed for their important contribution to the development of local politics. However, despite a recognition of the media’s important democratic function in the transition countries of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) after the fall of socialism, the consideration of council newspapers’ political role in the Czech Republic and Slovakia have been largely absent in debates surrounding the development of regulatory frameworks until recently. Interestingly, debates regarding local government transparency emerged recently (2011) in the United Kingdom, resulting in the Code of recommended practice on local authority publicity, underscoring the importance of this issue. However, developments in the aforementioned situations demonstrate divergent outcomes in such considerations: the British addressed the causes, the Czechs addressed the symptoms, and the Slovaks have yet to make any headway. This article utilizes qualitative analysis of policy and regulation documents to compare the trajectories of media policy and regulation of council publicity in the Czech Republic and Slovakia, ultimately contrasting it with developments in the UK, suggesting possible future trajectories for the development of this type of regulation in the CEE countries. Keywords: council newspapers; Czech media; media; politics; press regulation; Slovak media; UK media policy Handle: RePEc:cog:meanco:v3:y:2015:i:4:p:62-75 Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Title: Czech Journalists’ Refreshed Sense of Ethics in the Midst of Media Ownership Turmoil File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/mediaandcommunication/article/view/348 File-Format: text/html DOI: 10.17645/mac.v3i4.348 Journal: Media and Communication Volume: 3 Year: 2015 Issue: 4 Pages: 52-61 Author-Name: Roman Hájek Author-Workplace-Name: Institute of Communication Studies and Journalism, Faculty of Social Sciences, Charles University in Prague, Czech Republic Author-Name: Sandra Štefaniková Author-Workplace-Name: Institute of Communication Studies and Journalism, Faculty of Social Sciences, Charles University in Prague, Czech Republic Author-Name: Filip Láb Author-Workplace-Name: Institute of Communication Studies and Journalism, Faculty of Social Sciences, Charles University in Prague, Czech Republic Author-Name: Alice N. Tejkalová Author-Workplace-Name: Institute of Communication Studies and Journalism, Faculty of Social Sciences, Charles University in Prague, Czech Republic Abstract: In recent years, the Czech Republic has seen the largest changes in media ownership since the early 1990s. Most striking was the purchase of one of the largest publishing houses Mafra by the tycoon Andrej Babiš in June 2013, followed by the takeover of the Czech branch of Ringier by other Czech businessmen later that year. The first case in particular instigated immense discussion about the economic and ethical crisis facing Czech journalism since Babiš is also a powerful political figure (currently the Minister of Finance). In response, a significant number of leading, well-known journalists left media owned by big business and launched projects of quality or “slow” journalism which had until that point been merely discussed theoretically. This paper—based on the results of the Czech part of the Worlds of Journalism Study project—addresses the shift in the ways journalists perceive their roles and ethical responsibilities before and after the 2013 ownership changes. We also present the manner in which these changes are reflected in emerging media projects. It seems that those journalists not affected by the ownership change tend to view journalism ethics and the ability of journalism to exert power more seriously than before. Keywords: Czech Republic; ethics of journalism; journalism; journalistic roles; ownership change; pressures on journalism Handle: RePEc:cog:meanco:v3:y:2015:i:4:p:52-61 Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Title: One Country, Two Polarised Audiences: Estonia and the Deficiency of the Audiovisual Media Services Directive File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/mediaandcommunication/article/view/383 File-Format: text/html DOI: 10.17645/mac.v3i4.383 Journal: Media and Communication Volume: 3 Year: 2015 Issue: 4 Pages: 45-51 Author-Name: Andres Jõesaar Author-Workplace-Name: Baltic Film and Media School, Tallinn University, Estonia Abstract: This article argues that until recent times, the Estonian media policy has mainly been interpreted as an economic issue and it did not account for the strategic need to build a comprehensive media field to serve all groups in society. This has happened despite the fact the Estonian media policy is in line with the European Union (EU) media policy, which should ensure freedom of information, diversity of opinion and media pluralism. Findings of the Estonian case study show that despite these noble aims, Estonia has two radically different information fields: one for Estonian speaking audiences and one for Russian speakers. Events in Ukraine have added to the democratic media policy paradigm a question of national security. Now it is a challenge for the policy makers to unite polarised media fields and how to minimise the impact of Russian propaganda. On the EU level, one supportive measure could be a revision of the Audiovisual Media Service Directive. Keywords: Estonia; media for minorities; public service broadcasting; Russian language media Handle: RePEc:cog:meanco:v3:y:2015:i:4:p:45-51 Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Title: Online Political Campaigning during the 2014 Regional Elections in Poland File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/mediaandcommunication/article/view/368 File-Format: text/html DOI: 10.17645/mac.v3i4.368 Journal: Media and Communication Volume: 3 Year: 2015 Issue: 4 Pages: 35-44 Author-Name: Paweł Baranowski Author-Workplace-Name: Institute of Political Science, University of Wrocław, Poland Abstract: This article is dedicated to the analysis and evaluation of political communication on a regional level. Without any doubt, the Internet revolution affected electoral campaigning on every level. Online campaigning before local elections is often marginalized by political scientists and other scholars researching political marketing. However, the question emerges: are the candidates aware of the possibilities that new media has brought to political communication? Content analysis of all the major online communication tools has allowed the author to analyze the patterns of using websites, official Facebook profiles and Twitter accounts of candidates during the 2014 Lower Silesian Regional assembly elections. The Lower Silesian Voivodeship is among the fastest developing regions in Poland with high Internet penetration rate. Is the Internet campaign treated as a second-class way to communicate with potential voters, or is it perceived as an opportunity to reach electorate online? Keywords: e-campaigning; Internet; new media; own media; Poland; political communication; regional elections; social media Handle: RePEc:cog:meanco:v3:y:2015:i:4:p:35-44 Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Title: Governance of Public Service Media in Poland: The Role of the Public File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/mediaandcommunication/article/view/377 File-Format: text/html DOI: 10.17645/mac.v3i4.377 Journal: Media and Communication Volume: 3 Year: 2015 Issue: 4 Pages: 26-34 Author-Name: Michal Glowacki Author-Workplace-Name: Institute of Journalism, Faculty of Journalism and Political Science, University of Warsaw, Poland Abstract: This paper analyzes the role of the public in governance processes in public service media (PSM) in Poland in the post mass-media era, characterized by participatory culture and network practices. Referencing the findings of the “Democratization of media policy in the digital ecosystems” (2014–2015) research project, the study aims to map the effectiveness of existing tools, practices and attitudes toward opening-up Polish public media enterprises to the public. Examination of media regulation, grey literature (corporate documentation, strategies, reports) and civil society initiatives are likely to indicate the ways and extent to which members of the public might currently participate in the decision-making and control. On the basis of hypotheses that public media enterprises in Poland are not fully prepared for the multi-stakeholder and advanced model of PSM, the study takes into account potential systemic/regulatory, organizational and social barriers for change. The salient questions to be addressed are: What are the strategies and practices through which members of civil society might get involved? At what stages are the publics able to engage? How can PSM take advantage of the development of online tools offering space for interaction and collaboration? How is it possible to make the public more active and interested in governance and participation? Keywords: civil society; media governance; media regulation; participation; Poland; public service media Handle: RePEc:cog:meanco:v3:y:2015:i:4:p:26-34 Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Title: Values Underlying the Information Culture in Communist and Post-Communist Russia (1917−1999) File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/mediaandcommunication/article/view/334 File-Format: text/html DOI: 10.17645/mac.v3i4.334 Journal: Media and Communication Volume: 3 Year: 2015 Issue: 4 Pages: 15-25 Author-Name: Hedwig de Smaele Author-Workplace-Name: Faculty of Social Sciences, KU Leuven, Belgium Abstract: In this article the concept of information culture—understood as the dominant handling of information, shared by a dominant proportion of journalists, the public, authorities and other actors within a societal environment at a given time and place—is explored in the context of Communist and early post-Communist Russia (1917−1999). Three value pairs underlying the attitude towards information are explored: individualism and collectivism (the relation of man to the state), universalism and particularism (the relation of man to man), and pluralism versus dominance (the nature of knowledge and truth). Continuities are found between the Communist Soviet Union and post-Communist Russia in their instrumental use of media and information (collectivism), the view on information as a particular privilege rather than a universal right and the monopoly of truth. Post-Communism, therefore, appears not only as an indication of time (i.e. the period after Communism) but also as an indicator of the continuation of basic value orientations over these time periods. Keywords: collectivism; Communism; information culture; particularism; post-Communism; Russia; value orientations Handle: RePEc:cog:meanco:v3:y:2015:i:4:p:15-25 Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Title: Revisiting National Journalism Cultures in Post-Communist Countries: The Influence of Academic Scholarship File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/mediaandcommunication/article/view/387 File-Format: text/html DOI: 10.17645/mac.v3i4.387 Journal: Media and Communication Volume: 3 Year: 2015 Issue: 4 Pages: 5-14 Author-Name: Halliki Harro-Loit Author-Workplace-Name: Institute of Social Studies, University of Tartu, Estonia Abstract: The aim of this exploratory study is to develop the concept of the actor approach and journalism culture by adding a factor that has been more or less overlooked: academic scholarship. The paper also proposes to use the concept “discursive institutionalism” in order to clarify what knowledge and opinions about media are formed in the interaction of media institutions and academia with other institutions in society (e.g. educational, political and judicial). The concept “discursive institutionalism” includes the role of academia in providing new knowledge by conducting and disseminating research on the national and international levels, and this deserves greater attention. Although it is a common understanding that the role of academia is to prepare young professionals, it is less discussed how national media research and journalism education, in synergy, can create and maintain a collective understanding regarding the role and performance of national journalism in turbulent times. The paper is a meta-analysis of published research, and the empirical part of the study includes a close reading of academic articles, reports and conference presentations that are available in English about media in Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries. Examples of research from selected CEE countries provide a descriptive view of problems and tendencies concerning media performance in these countries. The proposed analytical approach aims to connect these problems and provide ideas for further research. Keywords: academic scholarship; actor approach; CEE countries; discursive institutionalism, journalism culture Handle: RePEc:cog:meanco:v3:y:2015:i:4:p:5-14 Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Title: A View from the Inside: The Dawning Of De-Westernization of CEE Media and Communication Research? File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/mediaandcommunication/article/view/545 File-Format: text/html DOI: 10.17645/mac.v3i4.545 Journal: Media and Communication Volume: 3 Year: 2015 Issue: 4 Pages: 1-4 Author-Name: Epp Lauk Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Communication, University of Jyväskylä, Finland Abstract: The Editorial outlines some characteristics of the development of the Central and Eastern European (CEE) media and communication scholarship during the past 25 years. In the majority of CEE countries, the media and communication research was re-established after the collapse of communism. Since then, a critical mass of active scholars has appeared who form an integral part of the larger European academia. A gradual integration of East and West perspectives in media and communication research is taking place along with moving away from the barely West-centred approach, and utilizing the research done by CEE scholars. Certain ‘de-westernization’ and internationalization of the research in terms of theoretical and methodological frameworks is depicted. Keywords: Central and Eastern Europe; media systems; media change; CEE media and communication scholarship; de-westernization Handle: RePEc:cog:meanco:v3:y:2015:i:4:p:1-4 Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Title: Interveillance: A New Culture of Recognition and Mediatization File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/mediaandcommunication/article/view/305 File-Format: text/html DOI: 10.17645/mac.v3i3.305 Journal: Media and Communication Volume: 3 Year: 2015 Issue: 3 Pages: 81-90 Author-Name: André Jansson Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Geography, Media and Communication, Karlstad University, Sweden Abstract: The everyday uses of networked media technologies, especially social media, have revolutionized the classical model of top-down surveillance. This article sketches the contours of an emerging culture of interveillance where non-hierarchical and non-systematic monitoring practices are part of everyday life. It also introduces a critical perspective on how the industrial logics of dominant social media, through which interveillance practices are normalized, resonate with social forces already at play in individualized societies. The argument is developed in three steps. Firstly, it is argued that the concept of interveillance is needed, and must be distinguished from surveillance, in order to critically assess the everyday mutual sharing and disclosure of private information (of many different kinds). Secondly, it is argued that the culture of interveillance responds to the social deficit of recognition that characterizes highly individualized societies. Finally, it is argued that the culture of interveillance constitutes a defining instance and even represents a new stage of the meta-process of mediatization. The dialectical nature of interveillance integrates and reinforces the overarching ambiguities of mediatization, whereby the opportunities for individuals and groups to achieve growing freedom and autonomy are paralleled by limitations and dependences vis-à-vis media. Keywords: identity; interveillance; mediatization; recognition; social media; surveillance Handle: RePEc:cog:meanco:v3:y:2015:i:3:p:81-90 Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Title: “Austerity Surveillance” in Greece under the Austerity Regime (2010−2014) File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/mediaandcommunication/article/view/301 File-Format: text/html DOI: 10.17645/mac.v3i3.301 Journal: Media and Communication Volume: 3 Year: 2015 Issue: 3 Pages: 68-80 Author-Name: Minas Samatas Author-Workplace-Name: Sociology Department, University of Crete, Greece Abstract: In this article we have tried to analyze “austerity surveillance” (AS), its features, and its functions under the extreme austerity regime in Greece during 2010−2014, before the election of the leftist government. AS is a specific kind of coercive neoliberal surveillance, which in the name of fighting tax evasion and corruption is targeting the middle and lower economic strata and not the rich upper classes. It is based mainly on “coveillance,” i.e. citizen-informers’ grassing, public naming, and shaming. Functioning as a domination and disciplinary control mechanism of the entire population, it works within a post-democratic setting without accountability or democratic control. We provide empirical evidence of these features and functions, including some indicative personal testimonies of austerity surveillance subjects. After presenting some cases of electronic surveillance as an indispensable supplement to AS, we then briefly underline the negative personal, and socio-political impact of this surveillance. In conclusion, a tentative assessment is made of AS’ efficiency in the Greek case, comparing it with other types of past and present authoritarian surveillance in Greece and in other current surveillance societies, considering also the prospects for its abolition or its reproduction by the new leftist government. Keywords: austerity; coveillance; Greece; surveillance Handle: RePEc:cog:meanco:v3:y:2015:i:3:p:68-80 Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Title: First They Came for the Poor: Surveillance of Welfare Recipients as an Uncontested Practice File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/mediaandcommunication/article/view/268 File-Format: text/html DOI: 10.17645/mac.v3i3.268 Journal: Media and Communication Volume: 3 Year: 2015 Issue: 3 Pages: 56-67 Author-Name: Nathalie Maréchal Author-Workplace-Name: School of Communication, University of Southern California, USA Abstract: There have been moments in American history when government surveillance of everyday citizens has aroused public concerns, most recently Edward Snowden’s 2013 revelations concerning widespread, warrantless surveillance of Americans and foreigners alike. What does not arouse public concern are longstanding governmental practices that involve surveillance of poor people who receive certain types of public benefits. This article traces the political history of U.S. poverty-relief programs, considers the perspective of welfare beneficiaries themselves, analyzes American cultural beliefs about the poor in order to offer some thoughts on why those surveillance practices garner little public concern, and argues that those who are concerned about warrantless surveillance of ordinary citizens should do more to protect ordinary poor citizens from surveillance. Keywords: beneficiaries; poor; poverty; public benefits; surveillance; welfare Handle: RePEc:cog:meanco:v3:y:2015:i:3:p:56-67 Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Title: The New Transparency: Police Violence in the Context of Ubiquitous Surveillance File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/mediaandcommunication/article/view/292 File-Format: text/html DOI: 10.17645/mac.v3i3.292 Journal: Media and Communication Volume: 3 Year: 2015 Issue: 3 Pages: 39-55 Author-Name: Ben Brucato Author-Workplace-Name: Center for Humanistic Inquiry, Amherst College, USA Abstract: Media and surveillance scholars often comment on the purported empowering quality of transparency, which they expect participatory media to promote. From its Enlightenment origins, transparency is related to accountability and legitimacy: its increase is believed to promote these. It has earned a position as an unassailed, prime normative value in contemporary liberal and social democracies. Though still valued, transparency is undergoing change in an era of ubiquitous surveillance. Publics still anticipate governmental and corporate self-disclosure and for such entities to operate visibly; but increasingly, deliberate and incidental surveillance by a range of sources, both institutional and informal, documents the activities of such authorities. More often, civilians participate in producing or amplifying transparency. This article explores this new transparency through a study of U.S. police, focusing on the discourse of police accountability activists and cop watchers to describe how their work adapts traditional notions of transparency. Recognizing the resilience of the police institution despite the new visibility of its violence, the article challenges the presumption that increased transparency will promote institutional reform or crisis. It concludes with a critical comment on prominent expectations that promoting the visibility of police can protect publics and ensure police accountability. This conclusion has implications for other forms of the new transparency, including whistleblowing (e.g., Edward Snowden) and leaking (e.g., WikiLeaks). Keywords: accountability; Jeremy Bentham; cop watch; legitimacy; media participation; police; Jean Jacques Rousseau; sousveillance; surveillance; transparency Handle: RePEc:cog:meanco:v3:y:2015:i:3:p:39-55 Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Title: Attaching Hollywood to a Surveillant Assemblage: Normalizing Discourses of Video Surveillance File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/mediaandcommunication/article/view/286 File-Format: text/html DOI: 10.17645/mac.v3i3.286 Journal: Media and Communication Volume: 3 Year: 2015 Issue: 3 Pages: 26-38 Author-Name: Randy K Lippert Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Criminology, University of Windsor, Canada Author-Name: Jolina Scalia Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Criminology, University of Windsor, Canada Abstract: This article examines video surveillance images in Hollywood film. It moves beyond previous accounts of video surveillance in relation to film by theoretically situating the use of these surveillance images in a broader “surveillant assemblage”. To this end, scenes from a sample of thirty-five (35) films of several genres are examined to discern dominant discourses and how they lend themselves to normalization of video surveillance. Four discourses are discovered and elaborated by providing examples from Hollywood films. While the films provide video surveillance with a positive associative association it is not without nuance and limitations. Thus, it is found that some forms of resistance to video surveillance are shown while its deterrent effect is not. It is ultimately argued that Hollywood film is becoming attached to a video surveillant assemblage discursively through these normalizing discourses as well as structurally to the extent actual video surveillance technology to produce the images is used. Keywords: assemblages; discourses; film; normalization; surveillance; video Handle: RePEc:cog:meanco:v3:y:2015:i:3:p:26-38 Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Title: “Veillant Panoptic Assemblage”: Mutual Watching and Resistance to Mass Surveillance after Snowden File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/mediaandcommunication/article/view/277 File-Format: text/html DOI: 10.17645/mac.v3i3.277 Journal: Media and Communication Volume: 3 Year: 2015 Issue: 3 Pages: 12-25 Author-Name: Vian Bakir Author-Workplace-Name: School of Creative Studies and Media, Bangor University, UK Abstract: The Snowden leaks indicate the extent, nature, and means of contemporary mass digital surveillance of citizens by their intelligence agencies and the role of public oversight mechanisms in holding intelligence agencies to account. As such, they form a rich case study on the interactions of “veillance” (mutual watching) involving citizens, journalists, intelligence agencies and corporations. While Surveillance Studies, Intelligence Studies and Journalism Studies have little to say on surveillance of citizens’ data by intelligence agencies (and complicit surveillant corporations), they offer insights into the role of citizens and the press in holding power, and specifically the political-intelligence elite, to account. Attention to such public oversight mechanisms facilitates critical interrogation of issues of surveillant power, resistance and intelligence accountability. It directs attention to the veillant panoptic assemblage (an arrangement of profoundly unequal mutual watching, where citizens’ watching of self and others is, through corporate channels of data flow, fed back into state surveillance of citizens). Finally, it enables evaluation of post-Snowden steps taken towards achieving an equiveillant panoptic assemblage (where, alongside state and corporate surveillance of citizens, the intelligence-power elite, to ensure its accountability, faces robust scrutiny and action from wider civil society). Keywords: counterveillance, equiveillance, intelligence agencies, journalism, public oversight mechanisms, Snowden leaks, sousveil-lance, surveillance, univeillance, veillance Handle: RePEc:cog:meanco:v3:y:2015:i:3:p:12-25 Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Title: Beyond Privacy: Articulating the Broader Harms of Pervasive Mass Surveillance File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/mediaandcommunication/article/view/263 File-Format: text/html DOI: 10.17645/mac.v3i3.263 Journal: Media and Communication Volume: 3 Year: 2015 Issue: 3 Pages: 1-11 Author-Name: Christopher Parsons Author-Workplace-Name: Citizen Lab, Munk School of Global Affairs, University of Toronto, Canada Abstract: This article begins by recounting a series of mass surveillance practices conducted by members of the “Five Eyes” spying alliance. While boundary- and intersubjectivity-based theories of privacy register some of the harms linked to such practices I demonstrate how neither are holistically capable of registering these harms. Given these theories’ deficiencies I argue that critiques of signals intelligence surveillance practices can be better grounded on why the practices intrude on basic communicative rights, including those related to privacy. The crux of the argument is that pervasive mass surveillance erodes essential boundaries between public and private spheres by compromising populations’ abilities to freely communicate with one another and, in the process, erodes the integrity of democratic processes and institutions. Such erosions are captured as privacy violations but, ultimately, are more destructive to the fabric of society than are registered by theories of privacy alone. After demonstrating the value of adopting a communicative rights approach to critique signals intelligence surveillance I conclude by arguing that this approach also lets us clarify the international normative implications of such surveillance, that it provides a novel way of conceptualizing legal harm linked to the surveillance, and that it showcases the overall value of focusing on the implications of interfering with communications first, and as such interferences constituting privacy violations second. Ultimately, by adopting this Habermasian inspired mode of analysis we can develop more holistic ways of conceptualizing harms associated with signals intelligence practices than are provided by either boundary- or intersubjective-based theories of privacy. Keywords: critical theory; democracy; Habermas; intelligence; national security; privacy; surveillance; telecommunications Handle: RePEc:cog:meanco:v3:y:2015:i:3:p:1-11 Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Title: Literacies for Surveillance: Social Network Sites and Background Investigations File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/mediaandcommunication/article/view/266 File-Format: text/html DOI: 10.17645/mac.v3i2.266 Journal: Media and Communication Volume: 3 Year: 2015 Issue: 2 Pages: 88-97 Author-Name: Sarah Jackson Young Author-Workplace-Name: Department of English, Arizona State University, Tempe, USA Abstract: In September 2013, civilian contractor Aaron Alexis entered the Washington Navy Yard and murdered twelve people before being fatally shot by police. This incident, together with an incident three months earlier involving Edward Snowden, caused the U.S. government to critically examine their background investigation (BI) process; because both Snowden and Alexis had supposedly slipped through the cracks of their investigations, there must be some flaw in the BI procedure. The U.S. Committee on Oversight and Reform concluded that rules forbidding “background checkers from looking at the Internet or social media when performing checks” was one of the main factors contributing to defective BIs (Report, 2014). Since the report’s release, the Director of National Intelligence has been debating and trialing whether information from the Internet should be used to form a data double for BIs (Kopp, 2014; Rockwell, 2014). Using this conversation as a discussion catalyst, I argue that due to the nature of the data double, if the United States were to adopt the use of social networking sites (SNSs) for security clearance purposes, neglecting to take into account basic principles of SNSs into the process of BIs may lead to misinformation and unfavorable adjudication. Ultimately, being literate about the social practices involved in SNSs and surveillance would benefit not only investigators, but anyone, including academics, looking at individuals in online spaces. Keywords: background investigations; data double; literacies; sorting; surveillance Handle: RePEc:cog:meanco:v3:y:2015:i:2:p:88-97 Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Title: The Role of Hackers in Countering Surveillance and Promoting Democracy File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/mediaandcommunication/article/view/281 File-Format: text/html DOI: 10.17645/mac.v3i2.281 Journal: Media and Communication Volume: 3 Year: 2015 Issue: 2 Pages: 77-87 Author-Name: Sebastian Kubitschko Author-Workplace-Name: Centre for Media, Communication and Information Research, University of Bremen, Germany Abstract: Practices related to media technologies and infrastructures (MTI) are an increasingly important part of democratic constellations in general and of surveillance tactics in particular. This article does not seek to discuss surveillance per se, but instead to open a new line of inquiry by presenting qualitative research on the Chaos Computer Club (CCC)—one of the world’s largest and Europe’s oldest hacker organizations. Despite the longstanding conception of hacking as infused with political significance, the scope and style of hackers’ engagement with emerging issues related to surveillance remains poorly understood. The rationale of this paper is to examine the CCC as a civil society organization that counter-acts contemporary assemblages of surveillance in two ways: first, by de-constructing existing technology and by supporting, building, maintaining and using alternative media technologies and infrastructures that enable more secure and anonymous communication; and second, by articulating their expertise related to contemporary MTI to a wide range of audiences, publics and actors. Highlighting the significance of “privacy” for the health of democracy, I argue that the hacker organization is co-determining “interstitial spaces within information processing practices” (Cohen, 2012, p. 1931), and by doing so is acting on indispensable structural features of contemporary democratic constellations. Keywords: big data; civil society organization; counter-power; democracy; hacker; locative media; media technologies and infrastructures; participatory media; privacy; surveillance Handle: RePEc:cog:meanco:v3:y:2015:i:2:p:77-87 Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Title: Subjunctive and Interpassive “Knowing” in the Surveillance Society File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/mediaandcommunication/article/view/279 File-Format: text/html DOI: 10.17645/mac.v3i2.279 Journal: Media and Communication Volume: 3 Year: 2015 Issue: 2 Pages: 63-76 Author-Name: Sun-ha Hong Author-Workplace-Name: Annenberg School for Communication, University of Pennsylvania, USA Abstract: The Snowden affair marked not a switch from ignorance to informed enlightenment, but a problematisation of knowing as a condition. What does it mean to know of a surveillance apparatus that recedes from your sensory experience at every turn? How do we mobilise that knowledge for opinion and action when its benefits and harms are only articulable in terms of future-forwarded “as if”s? If the extent, legality and efficacy of surveillance is allegedly proven in secrecy, what kind of knowledge can we be said to “possess”? This essay characterises such knowing as “world-building”. We cobble together facts, claims, hypotheticals into a set of often speculative and deferred foundations for thought, opinion, feeling, action. Surveillance technology’s recession from everyday life accentuates this process. Based on close analysis of the public mediated discourse on the Snowden affair, I offer two common patterns of such world-building or knowing. They are (1) subjunctivity, the conceit of “I cannot know, but I must act as if it is true”; (2) interpassivity, which says “I don’t believe it/I am not affected, but someone else is (in my stead)”. Keywords: belief; experience; imagination; interpassivity; media; mythology; ritual; surveillance; technology; uncertainty Handle: RePEc:cog:meanco:v3:y:2015:i:2:p:63-76 Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Title: EU Law and Mass Internet Metadata Surveillance in the Post-Snowden Era File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/mediaandcommunication/article/view/297 File-Format: text/html DOI: 10.17645/mac.v3i2.297 Journal: Media and Communication Volume: 3 Year: 2015 Issue: 2 Pages: 53-62 Author-Name: Nora Ni Loideain Author-Workplace-Name: Faculty of Law, University of Cambridge, UK Abstract: Legal frameworks exist within democracies to prevent the misuse and abuse of personal data that law enforcement authorities obtain from private communication service providers. The fundamental rights to respect for private life and the protection of personal data underpin this framework within the European Union. Accordingly, the protection of the principles and safeguards required by these rights is key to ensuring that the oversight of State surveillance powers is robust and transparent. Furthermore, without the robust scrutiny of independent judicial review, the principles and safeguards guaranteed by these rights may become more illusory than real. Following the Edward Snowden revelations, major concerns have been raised worldwide regarding the legality, necessity and proportionality standards governing these laws. In 2014, the highest court in the EU struck down the legal framework that imposed a mandatory duty on communication service providers to undertake the mass retention of metadata for secret intelligence and law enforcement authorities across the EU. This article considers the influence of the Snowden revelations on this landmark judgment. Subsequently, the analysis explores the significance of this ruling for the future reform of EU law governing metadata surveillance and its contribution to the worldwide debate on indiscriminate and covert monitoring in the post-Snowden era. Keywords: Edward Snowden; EU law; human rights; judicial review; mass surveillance; metadata; personal data; privacy Handle: RePEc:cog:meanco:v3:y:2015:i:2:p:53-62 Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Title: The Copyright Surveillance Industry File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/mediaandcommunication/article/view/270 File-Format: text/html DOI: 10.17645/mac.v3i2.270 Journal: Media and Communication Volume: 3 Year: 2015 Issue: 2 Pages: 42-52 Author-Name: Mike Zajko Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Sociology, University of Alberta, Canada Abstract: Creative works are now increasingly distributed as digital “content” through the internet, and copyright law has created powerful incentives to monitor and control these flows. This paper analyzes the surveillance industry that has emerged as a result. Copyright surveillance systems identify copyright infringement online and identify persons to hold responsible for infringing acts. These practices have raised fundamental questions about the nature of identification and attribution on the internet, as well as the increasing use of algorithms to make legal distinctions. New technologies have threatened the profits of some media industries through copyright infringement, but also enabled profitable forms of mass copyright surveillance and enforcement. Rather than a system of perfect control, copyright enforcement continues to be selective and uneven, but its broad reach results in systemic harm and provides opportunities for exploitation. It is only by scrutinizing copyright surveillance practices and copyright enforcement measures that we can evaluate these consequences. Keywords: algorithmic; copyright surveillance; copyright enforcement; identification; internet Handle: RePEc:cog:meanco:v3:y:2015:i:2:p:42-52 Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Title: Surveillance and Resilience in Theory and Practice File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/mediaandcommunication/article/view/220 File-Format: text/html DOI: 10.17645/mac.v3i2.220 Journal: Media and Communication Volume: 3 Year: 2015 Issue: 2 Pages: 21-41 Author-Name: Charles D. Raab Author-Workplace-Name: School of Social and Political Science, University of Edinburgh, UK Author-Name: Richard Jones Author-Workplace-Name: School of Law, University of Edinburgh, UK Author-Name: Iván Székely Author-Workplace-Name: Eotvos Karoly Policy Institute, Hungary Abstract: Surveillance is often used as a tool in resilience strategies towards the threat posed by terrorist attacks and other serious crime. “Resilience” is a contested term with varying and ambiguous meaning in governmental, business and social discourses, and it is not clear how it relates to other terms that characterise processes or states of being. Resilience is often assumed to have positive connotations, but critics view it with great suspicion, regarding it as a neo-liberal governmental strategy. However, we argue that surveillance, introduced in the name of greater security, may itself erode social freedoms and public goods such as privacy, paradoxically requiring societal resilience, whether precautionary or in mitigation of the harms it causes to the public goods of free societies. This article develops new models and extends existing ones to describe resilience processes unfolding over time and in anticipation of, or in reaction to, adversities of different kinds and severity, and explores resilience both on the plane of abstract analysis and in the context of societal responses to mass surveillance. The article thus focuses upon surveillance as a special field for conceptual analysis and modelling of situations, and for evaluating contemporary developments in “surveillance societies”. Keywords: democracy; privacy; public goods; resilience; security; surveillance Handle: RePEc:cog:meanco:v3:y:2015:i:2:p:21-41 Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Title: Theorizing Surveillance in the UK Crime Control Field File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/mediaandcommunication/article/view/251 File-Format: text/html DOI: 10.17645/mac.v3i2.251 Journal: Media and Communication Volume: 3 Year: 2015 Issue: 2 Pages: 10-20 Author-Name: Michael McCahill Author-Workplace-Name: School of Social Science, University of Hull, UK Abstract: Drawing upon the work of Pierre Bourdieu and Loic Wacquant, this paper argues that the demise of the Keynesian Welfare State (KWS) and the rise of neo-liberal economic policies in the UK has placed new surveillance technologies at the centre of a reconfigured “crime control field” (Garland, 2001) designed to control the problem populations created by neo-liberal economic policies (Wacquant, 2009a). The paper also suggests that field theory could be usefully deployed in future research to explore how wider global trends or social forces, such as neo-liberalism or bio-power, are refracted through the crime control field in different national jurisdictions. We conclude by showing how this approach provides a bridge between society-wide analysis and micro-sociology by exploring how the operation of new surveillance technologies is mediated by the “habitus” of surveillance agents working in the crime control field and contested by surveillance subjects. Keywords: capital; crime control; resistance; surveillance Handle: RePEc:cog:meanco:v3:y:2015:i:2:p:10-20 Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Title: Surveillance and Critical Theory File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/mediaandcommunication/article/view/207 File-Format: text/html DOI: 10.17645/mac.v3i2.207 Journal: Media and Communication Volume: 3 Year: 2015 Issue: 2 Pages: 6-9 Author-Name: Christian Fuchs Author-Workplace-Name: Communication and Media Research Institute, University of Westminster, UK Abstract: In this comment, the author reflects on surveillance from a critical theory approach, his involvement in surveillance research and projects, and the status of the study of surveillance. The comment ascertains a lack of critical thinking about surveillance, questions the existence of something called “surveillance studies” as opposed to a critical theory of society, and reflects on issues such as Edward Snowden’s revelations, and Foucault and Marx in the context of surveillance. Keywords: critical theory; Edward Snowden; Karl Marx; Michel Foucault; surveillance Handle: RePEc:cog:meanco:v3:y:2015:i:2:p:6-9 Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Title: Special Issue on Surveillance: Editor’s Introduction File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/mediaandcommunication/article/view/449 File-Format: text/html DOI: 10.17645/mac.v3i2.449 Journal: Media and Communication Volume: 3 Year: 2015 Issue: 2 Pages: 1-5 Author-Name: James Schwoch Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Communication Studies and PhD Program in Media, Technology, and Society, Northwestern University, Evanston, USA Author-Name: John Laprise Author-Workplace-Name: Independent Scholar Author-Name: Ivory Mills Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Communication Studies and PhD Program in Media, Technology, and Society, Northwestern University, Evanston, USA Abstract: This Editor’s Introduction discusses the interplay of surveillance issues with media and communication research. Keywords: communication; media; surveillance Handle: RePEc:cog:meanco:v3:y:2015:i:2:p:1-5 Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Title: Encoding Systems and Evolved Message Processing: Pictures Enable Action, Words Enable Thinking File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/mediaandcommunication/article/view/248 File-Format: text/html DOI: 10.17645/mac.v3i1.248 Journal: Media and Communication Volume: 3 Year: 2015 Issue: 1 Pages: 34-43 Author-Name: Annie Lang Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Telecommunications, Indiana University, USA Author-Name: Rachel L. Bailey Author-Workplace-Name: School of Communication, Washington State University, USA Author-Name: Sean Ryan Connolly Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Telecommunications, Indiana University, USA Abstract: This paper, based on theories of ecological perception, embodied motivated cognition, and evolutionary psychology, proposes that pictures elicit evolved biologically imperative responses more quickly and thoroughly than do words. These biologically imperative responses are directly responsible for evolved automatic reactions away from biological threats (e.g. escaping predators, avoiding disease and noxious stimuli) and towards opportunities (e.g. consuming food, approaching mates, finding shelter) in the environment. When elicited, these responses take time to occur and may delay or interfere with other types of behavior. Thus, when environmental information is presented in pictures (which should elicit larger biological responses than words) biological responses should interfere more with higher order tasks like information processing and cognitive decision-making. To test this proposition we designed an experiment in which participants performed speeded categorizations of 60 pairs of matched pleasant and unpleasant environmental opportunities and threats. They categorized the items based on their form (is this a word or a picture?) or based on how the picture made them feel (is this pleasant or unpleasant to you?). If pictures do elicit greater biologically imperative responses than their word counterparts, participants should be able to make form decisions faster than feeling decisions, especially when presented with words rather than pictures and especially when the words and pictures have less biological relevance. This main proposition was supported. Implications for this proposition in terms of communication theory are discussed. Keywords: embodied; embedded; dynamic systems; message processing; pictures; words Handle: RePEc:cog:meanco:v3:y:2015:i:1:p:34-43 Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Title: The Dynamics of Issue Attention in Online Communication on Climate Change File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/mediaandcommunication/article/view/253 File-Format: text/html DOI: 10.17645/mac.v3i1.253 Journal: Media and Communication Volume: 3 Year: 2015 Issue: 1 Pages: 17-33 Author-Name: Ines Lörcher Author-Workplace-Name: Institute for Journalism and Communication Studies, University of Hamburg, Germany Author-Name: Irene Neverla Author-Workplace-Name: Institute for Journalism and Communication Studies, University of Hamburg, Germany Abstract: Issues and their sub-topics in the public agenda follow certain dynamics of attention. This has been studied for “offline” media, but barely for online communication. Furthermore, the enormous spectrum of online communication has not been taken into account. This study investigates whether specific dynamics of attention on issues and sub-topics can be found in different online public arenas. We expect to identify differences across various arenas as a result of their specific stakeholders and constellations of stakeholders, as well as different trigger events. To examine these assumptions, we shed light on the online climate change discourse in Germany by undertaking a quantitative content analysis via manual and automated coding methods of journalistic articles and their reader comments, scientific expert blogs, discussion forums and social media at the time of the release of the 5th IPCC report and COP19, both in 2013 (n = 14.582). Our results show online public arena-specific dynamics of issue attention and sub-topics. In journalistic media, we find more continuous issue attention, compared to a public arena where everyone can communicate. Furthermore, we find event-specific dynamics of issue attention and sub-topics: COP19 received intensive and continuous attention and triggered more variation in the sub-topics than the release of the IPCC report. Keywords: climate change; dynamics of sub-topics; issue attention; online communication; online public arenas Handle: RePEc:cog:meanco:v3:y:2015:i:1:p:17-33 Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Title: Facebook Users’ Engagement and Perceived Life Satisfaction File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/mediaandcommunication/article/view/199 File-Format: text/html DOI: 10.17645/mac.v3i1.199 Journal: Media and Communication Volume: 3 Year: 2015 Issue: 1 Pages: 5-16 Author-Name: Tammy R. Vigil Author-Workplace-Name: College of Communication, Boston University, Boston, USA Author-Name: H. Denis Wu Author-Workplace-Name: College of Communication, Boston University, Boston, USA Abstract: This study extends existing research on Facebook’s impact on users’ life satisfaction. The results from two surveys of college students demonstrate a tension between Facebook use and users’ perceived contentment with their lives. Existing literature indicates students use Facebook to enhance self-esteem, yet the results from this study connect increased Facebook use to lower self-reported levels of happiness. In particular, respondents’ interactions with photos and videos increase users’ dissatisfaction. This phenomenon may be due to the impact photos have on the ways users engage in social comparisons with Facebook “friends” and the self-construals they create based on these comparisons. Keywords: Facebook; happiness; life satisfaction; self-construal; social comparison; social media Handle: RePEc:cog:meanco:v3:y:2015:i:1:p:5-16 Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Title: Climate Crisis and Communication: Reflections on Naomi Klein’s This Changes Everything File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/mediaandcommunication/article/view/304 File-Format: text/html DOI: 10.17645/mac.v3i1.304 Journal: Media and Communication Volume: 3 Year: 2015 Issue: 1 Pages: 1-4 Author-Name: Robert A. Hackett Author-Workplace-Name: School of Communication, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, Canada Abstract: This commentary suggests that Naomi Klein’s influential book This changes everything: Capitalism vs. the climate, implicitly points to the influence of media institutions on societal response to the crisis, yet does not analyze them explicitly. Communication scholars could help fill that gap. Conversely however, Klein’s work suggests productive avenues for media researchers to explore, including a fresh take on the relationship between climate crisis, communication and capitalism as a system, and the potential for alternative media to challenge dominant cultural narratives. Keywords: alternative media; capitalism; climate crisis and media; journalism; media reform Handle: RePEc:cog:meanco:v3:y:2015:i:1:p:1-4