Fans used to be seen as an overly obsessed fraction of the audience. In the last few decades, shifts in media technology and production have instead made fandom a central mode of consumption. A range of ideas has emerged to explore different facets of this growing phenomenon. With a foreword by Matt Hills, " Understanding Fandom" introduces the whole field of fan research by looking at the history of debate, key paradigms and methodological issues. The book discusses insights from scholars working with fans of different texts, genres and media forms, including television and popular music. Mark Duffett shows that fan research is an emergent interdisciplinary field with its own key thinkers: a tradition that is distinct from both textual analysis and reception studies. Drawing on a range of debates from media studies, cultural studies and psychology, Duffett argues that fandom is a particular kind of engagement with the power relations of media culture.

Micromanaging the advertising budget for the least amount of total waste will be mandatory in the overly competitive environment of the 1990s. Such an approach can only be successful if the advertiser turns to the electronic media as the major source for advertising and promotion. Here, White examines the historical factors leading to print (newspaper) dominance in our advertising-oriented culture and explains why these assumptions are no longer valid in the electronic media world of the 1990s. Using behavioral psychology as it applies to learning and consumer behavior, White shows how radio and television are able to franchise the minds of potential consumers.

White helps advertising managers and businesspeople come to grips with the paradigm shift in thinking from print to electronic media advertising. This book will help all businesspeople and advertising managers understand why the electronic media must be the major player in all business advertising in order to maximize return on advertising investment and why the newspaper must be deemphasized in the complex matrix of the media mix. Readers will come to understand how all advertising works, how small the number of potential consumers for any product or service actually is, and how these factors impact on media decisions. All advertising is not equal and understanding the differences may mean either success or failure in the competitive retail environment of the 1990s.

This book provides a historical review of the transformation of China’s image around the world since the 1978 Reform and Opening Up. Based on a synthetic model that the author constructs for evaluating national images, together with a historical review and quantitative analysis, it discusses the issues and challenges confronting China’s image around the world since the Opening Up.  To help rectify the situation that most of the research on China’s reform efforts focuses on hard power (esp. economic power), this book, which mainly focuses on China’s soft power, reviews and assesses its global image from the three perspectives of politics, economy and culture. In the process, it sheds valuable new light on the presentation of China’s image and the world’s perceptions of China.

Social Media has transformed the ways in which individuals keep in touch with family and friends. Likewise, businesses have identified the profound opportunities present for customer engagement and understanding through the massive data available on social media channels, in addition to the customer reach of such sites. Social Media Listening and Monitoring for Business Applications explores research-based solutions for businesses of all types interested in an understanding of emerging concepts and technologies for engaging customers online. Providing insight into the currently available social media tools and practices for various business applications, this publication is an essential resource for business professionals, graduate-level students, technology developers, and researchers.

The media star has become a powerful, almost unparalleled, cultural sign, even as the star system has undergone radical transformation since the era of the Hollywood studio system. Today's film industry continues to market and promote its products through actors in ways that seek to capture the often elusive quality that a star can embody. Using contemporary stars such as Robert De Niro, Keanu Reeves, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Dennis Hopper, this anthology of essays applies a variety of theoretical tools in its attempt to understand how we interpret stars, and how we can begin to understand their cultural significance.

Likewise, the study explores how the star system has become an increasingly complex phenomenon within society at large, extending its impact beyond the cinema into music, sports, and fashion. Many of the essays collected here consider this shift and examine how personae including the director (Sam Peckinpah), the royalty (Princess Diana) and even the digital star (Lara Croft) have captured the cultural imagination and have come to attain qualities as star-like as those of the silver screen.

This collection, arranged and edited by Beverly G. Hawk, examines media coverage of Africa by American television, newspapers, and magazines. Scholars and journalists of diverse experience engage in debate concerning U.S. media coverage of current events in Africa. As each African crisis appears in the headlines, scholars take the media to task for sensational and simplistic reporting. Journalists, in response, explain the constraints of censorship, reader interest, and media economics. Hawk's book demonstrates that academia and the press can inform each other to present a fuller and more sensitive picture of Africa today.

This volume will be of interest to scholars and practitioners in African studies, African politics, journalism, and international relations.

This open access handbook presents a multidisciplinary and multifaceted perspective on how the 'digital' is simultaneously changing Russia and the research methods scholars use to study Russia. It provides a critical update on how Russian society, politics, economy, and culture are reconfigured in the context of ubiquitous connectivity and accounts for the political and societal responses to digitalization. In addition, it answers practical and methodological questions in handling Russian data and a wide array of digital methods. The volume makes a timely intervention in our understanding of the changing field of Russian Studies and is an essential guide for scholars, advanced undergraduate and graduate students studying Russia today.

Television has conditioned us to tolerate visually entertaining material measured out in spoonfuls of time, to the detriment of rational public discourse and reasoned public affairs. In this eloquent, persuasive book, Neil Postman alerts us to the real and present dangers of this state of affairs, and offers compelling suggestions as to how to withstand the media onslaught. Before we hand over politics, education, religion, and journalism to the show business demands of the television age, we must recognize the ways in which the media shape our lives and the ways we can, in turn, shape them to serve out highest goals.

This book analyzes various digital transformation processes in journalism and news media. By investigating how these processes stimulate innovation, the authors identify new business and communication models, as well as digital strategies for a new environment of global information flows. The book will help journalists and practitioners working in news media to identify best practices and discover new types of information flows in a rapidly changing news media landscape.

Packaging Terrorism investigates how American media have identified and covered international terrorism and violence since September 11, 2001.* Compares US coverage with that of British and Arab media* Discusses the priorities, assumptions, political debates, deadline pressures and bottom-line considerations that will continue to influence coverage in the future* Suggests how terrorism could be better covered by the media going forwards

Despite the central role of punditry in our contemporary media environment, research has been slow to examine punditry on cable news. Deregulation, the advent of cable television, and the rise of a twenty-four hour news cycle have dramatically transformed the structure and content of news, paving the way for political pundits to come to the forefront. Cable news networks, in particular, have played a critical role in challenging the neutrality of traditional media through the development of opinion programs that made highly politicized and entertaining content central to their primetime coverage. Over the past three decades, these opinionated programs have become increasingly popular as a programming strategy for cable news producers seeking to develop novel programming to target niche audiences. The pundits who pontificate on these programs have come to dominate our national political dialogue, and play a significant role in setting the public agenda and influencing public opinion in the United States. Punditry and pundits lie at the heart of programming and network changes that have evolved over the past thirty years. Primetime Pundits: How Cable News Covers Social Issues explores the ascent of punditry and offers new models for understanding how social issues are covered-not just by pundits, but also in the larger changing media landscape.

This is a discussion of the relationships between mass media and society. Topics examined include: talk radio and community; the growth of the corporate newspaper; media violence and audience behaviour; and race, ethnicity and the mass media.

With this unique collection of primary source documents from colonial newspapers, students will be able to debate the issues of colonial America. Pro and con opinion pieces, letters, essays and news reports that were printed in colonial newspapers will help the reader to understand the differing viewpoints of colonial Americans on the key issues from 1690 to the signing of the Declaration of Independence in 1776. Nearly 300 documents, organized chronologically by event, will help readers step back in time to debate the issues faced by 18th-century Americans. The work covers 31 events from abolition, religion, and women's rights to the Stamp Act crisis and the Boston Tea Party. For every major event or issue of the colonial period, newspapers printed the opinions of the day, in many cases attempting to influence public opinion. Issues such as medical discoveries, education, and censorship are covered in this collection along with important events such as the French and Indian War, the trial of John Peter Zenger, and the Boston Massacre. Each chapter introduces the event or issue and includes news articles, letters, essays, even poetry representing both sides of the argument as they affected Americans. Each document is preceded by an explanatory introduction. This is the only collection of primary source documents from colonial newspapers on the events of the era and will be a valuable tool for research and classroom discussion.

The presence and ubiquity of the internet continues to transform the way in which we identify ourselves and others both online and offline. The development of virtual communities permits users to create an online identity to interact with and influence one another in ways that vary greatly from face-to-face interaction. Identity and Leadership in Virtual Communities: Establishing Credibility and Influence explores the notion of establishing an identity online, managing it like a brand, and using it with particular members of a community. Bringing together a range of voices exemplifying how participants in online communities influence one another, this book serves as an essential reference for academicians, researchers, students, and professionals, including bloggers, software designers, and entrepreneurs seeking to build and manage their engagement online.

This essay collection examines ethical concerns related to the traditional areas of political communication, including campaigns, media, discourse, and advertising, as well as new technologies, including the Internet. In total, the collection provides one of the few volumes to examine political ethics from an academic perspective rather than from a moralistic or rule orientation. Bruce Gronbeck provides an assessment of presidential campaigns, arguing that ethical judgments of citizens are based on candidates' actions and motives, character, and competence. Ronald Lee explores the ethics of campaign discourse, and he charts the relationship between presidential candidates' projection of civic virtue and the political arrangements that dictate the course of the campaign itself. Steven Goldzwig and Patricia Sullivan examine what happens to discourse when the divide between the haves and have-nots translates into a local community disconnected from virtual politics. The nature, types, and impact of the growing use of hate speech in contemporary politics is explored by Rita Whillock, while Robert Denton investigates television as an instrument of governing and its impact on the nature of democracy. Gary Woodward looks at the ethics of political journalism, and Lynda Lee Kaid analyzes the ethical issues raised by political advertising in all forms. Clifford Jones looks at the impact of campaign finance rules on campaign communication strategy; Gary Selnow explores the ethics of politics on the Internet; and Robert Denton concludes by examining the relationship between constitutional authority and public morality. An important text for students as well as scholars investigating contemporary American politics.

In Media in Postapartheid South Africa, author Sean Jacobs turns to media politics and the consumption of media as a way to understand recent political developments in South Africa and their relations with the African continent and the world. Jacobs looks at how mass media defi nes the physical and human geography of the society and what it means for comprehending changing notions of citizenship in postapartheid South Africa. Jacobs claims that the media have unprecedented control over the distribution of public goods, rights claims, and South Africa's integration into the global political economy in ways that were impossible under the state-controlled media that dominated the apartheid years. Jacobs takes a probing look at television commercials and the representation of South Africans, reality television shows and South African continental expansion, soap operas and postapartheid identity politics, and the internet as a space for reassertions and reconfi gurations of identity. As South Africa becomes more integrated into the global economy, Jacobs argues that local media have more weight in shaping how consumers view these products in unexpected and consequential ways.

Through an interdisciplinary conversation with contributors from social anthropology, religious studies, film studies, literary studies, cultural studies, and history, Crafting Chinese Memories is a novel book which addresses how works of art shape memories, and offers new ways of conceptualising storytelling, memory-making, art, and materiality. It explores the memories of artists, filmmakers, novelists, storytellers, and persons who come to terms with their own histories even as they reveal the social memories of watershed events in modern China.

This fascinating volume offers an overview of the most influential and notorious media scandals, from newspaper publisher John Peter Zenger's groundbreaking 1735 trial for printing and publishing false, scandalous, malicious and seditious statements to Dr. Phil McGraW's 2008 thwarted attempt to force his television cameras inside Britney Spears' hospital room, from the attempts to ban literature by the likes of D.H. Lawrence, James Joyce, Henry Miller, and Allen Ginsberg to the excesses of gossip mongers like Walter Winchell, Hedda Hopper, Geraldo Rivera, and Matt Drudge. It delves into the tabloid press and walks through the minefields of political opinion shapers, the shouters, the muckrakers and whistleblowers.

America's obsession with scandal-and the media's boundless capacity to report and sometimes even create it-did not start with O.J. Simpson, Rush Limbaugh, or Britney Spears. It was ingrained in the fabric of our nation even before Paul Revere made his famous ride. Indeed, our media's cherished right to free expression was hard-won and is now protected by the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, but it comes with responsibilities and is fraught with peril. The tension between the two forces of free expression and permissible subject matter has, throughout American history, caused media scandals-public outcries, legal proceedings, denunciations, violence and, in the case of Salman Rushdie's 1988 novel "IThe Satanic Verses" deaths. The early battles by the print media-newspapers, magazines, books-over censorship, book banning, book burning, obscenity, blasphemy and libel set the groundwork for even greater battles as the media expanded into radio, television and the Internet. This fascinating volume offers an overview of the most influential and notorious media scandals, from newspaper publisher John Peter Zenger's groundbreaking 1735 trial for printing and publishing false, scandalous, malicious and seditious statements to Dr. Phil McGraW's 2008 thwarted attempt to force his television cameras inside Britney Spears' hospital room, from the attempts to ban literature by the likes of D.H. Lawrence, James Joyce, Henry Miller, and Allen Ginsberg to the excesses of gossip mongers like Walter Winchell, Hedda Hopper, Geraldo Rivera, and Matt Drudge. It delves into the tabloid press and walks through the minefields of political opinion shapers, the shouters, the muckrakers and whistleblowers.

"Media Scandals" examines this fascinating, troubled and sometimes inspiring subject from two different perspectives. First, through its recurrent themes, which reach across all media: politics; censorship; race and religion; sex and morals. The second half of the volume then examines each industry in more detail: book publishing; newspapers and magazines; radio and television, and the Internet. Augmenting this invaluable resource is a detailed timeline to help students put the wide-ranging scandals into historical perspective, and a thorough bibliography to encourage further research.

Trollope and the Magazines examines the serial publication of several of Trollope's novels in the context of the gendered discourses in a range of Victorian magazines - including Cornhill, Good Words, Saint Pauls , and the Fortnightly Review . It highlights the importance of the periodical press in the literary culture of Victorian Britain, and argues that readers today need to engage with the lively cultural debates in the magazines, in order better to appreciate the complexity of Trollope's popular fiction.

This book grasps the duality between opportunities and risks which arise from children's and adolescents' social media use. It investigates the following main themes, from a multidisciplinary perspective: identity, privacy, risks and empowerment. Social media have become an integral part of young people's lives. While social media offer adolescents opportunities for identity and relational development, adolescents might also be confronted with some threats. The first part of this book deals with how young people use social media to express their developing identity. The second part revolves around the disclosure of personal information on social network sites, and concentrates on the tension between online self-disclosure and privacy. The final part deepens specific online risks young people are confronted with and suggests solutions by describing how children and adolescents can be empowered to cope with online risks. By emphasizing these different, but intertwined topics, this book provides a unique overview of research resulting from different academic disciplines such as Communication Studies, Education, Psychology and Law. The outstanding researchers that contribute to the different chapters apply relevant theories, report on topical research, discuss practical solutions and reveal important emerging issues that could lead future research agendas.

This book illuminates modern political technology, examining important technologies, companies, and people; putting recent innovations into historical context; and describing the possible future uses of technology in electoral politics. Despite a decade of political technology's celebrated triumphs-such as online fundraising of the presidential campaigns of McCain in 2000, Dean in 2003, and Obama in 2008; or the web-enabled, socially networked campaign of Obama 2008-the field of e-politics is still at an unsolidified stage. Margin of Victory: How Technologists Help Politicians Win Elections offers an unprecedented insiders' view of the fast-changing role of political technology that explains how innovations in the use of new media, software tools, data, and analytics hold yet untapped potential. Contributions from leading practitioners in this highly specialized field cover everything from political blogs to targeting mobile devices to utilizing software created specifically to manage campaigns. The book documents how political technology is still in an early stage, despite its enormous advances in recent years, and how the strategies that work today will inevitably be superseded as new technologies arrive and potential voters become less receptive to the previous campaign's tactics.

The 20th century might be accurately described as the television century. Perhaps no technological invention in recent history has so vastly affected the American public. James Roman, author of Love, Light, and a Dream: Television's Past, Present, and Future (Greenwood, 1996), traces the evolution of American television programming from its beginnings as an experimental "spinoff" of radio broadcasting to its current role as an omnipresent and, some would say, omnipotent force of media and culture. Roman provides thematic chapters on all of television's major genres, including: Westerns Medical dramas Soap operas Sitcoms Children's programs Sports broadcasting Miniseries Docudramas And Reality television An involving mixture of scholarship and nostalgia, this volume offers an intelligent examination of the many ways that American society has shaped--and been shaped by--television.

Museums and archives all over the world digitize their collections and provide online access to heritage material. But what factors determine the content, structure and use of these online inventories? This book turns to India and Europe to answer this question. It explains how museums and archives envision, decide and conduct digitization and online dissemination. It also sheds light on born-digital, community-based archives, which have established themselves as new actors in the field. Based on anthropological fieldwork, the chapters in the book trace digital archives from technical advancements and postcolonial initiatives to programming alternatives, editing content, and active use of digital archives.

Beginning with his first film Reconstruction, released in 1970, Theo Angelopoulos's notoriously complex cinematic language has long explored Greece's contemporary history and questioned European culture and society. The Cinematic Language of Theo Angelopoulos offers a detailed study and critical discussion of the acclaimed filmmaker's cinematic aesthetics as they developed over his career, exploring different styles through which Greek and European history, identity, and loss have been visually articulated throughout his oeuvre, as well as his impact on both European and global cinema.