Abstracts

In this section you can browse through abstracts of individual paper presentations. The abstracts are ordered alphabetically by the presenters' last name. You can also link through to individual abstracts from our "conference speaker" section. Just click on the word "abstract" below each individual presentation."

Al Jenaibi, Badreya
United Arab Emirates University, United Arab Emirates
Democracy and the Press in the Middle East

This paper examines relationships between Arab media and several different institutions including government in general, democracy specifically, and Islam. The primary purpose of this research is to gain not only broad, but also in-depth understanding of Arab governments and their control of media. One of the key issues discussed is the role of the Arabic media channel, Al-Jazeera, in the Arab region. Scholarly Arab Media experts in the United Arab Emirates and Al-Jazeera channel employees in Qatar were interviewed face to face. Conclusions are made that Islam ideals lead to press freedom and the personal right of information access is established. Arab people seek freedom through the right of elections in different countries like Kuwait and Bahrain, and Al-Jazeera has a positive influence on change in the Arab public sphere.


Ban, Tina
Canterbury University, New Zealand
A Comparative Study of the Media Representations of Ethnic Minorities in Party-newspaper and Market-newspaper in China

By far, the majority of the research concerned with ethnic minorities’ representation is limited to western countries; however, it is an untouched area in China for some reasons. There are fifty-five state-recognized ethnic minorities in China. These ethnic minorities make up less than ten percent of China’s total population but live in five-eighths of China’s total area, including most of the sensitive border areas (Markerras, 2003). Living in the most sensitive areas, which makes ethnic minorities’ loyalty a crucial element in maintaining China’s territorial integrity (Grunfeld, 1985). They are not transnational people; they are boong since ages ago. Do the media eventually transformed their minority status into marginalization? Does under-representation and mis-representation also exist within China’s context? Two types of newspapers exist in China now: party-newspaper and market newspaper. Propaganda remains as the top role of party-newspaper, whereas, market-newspapers are more profit driven as well as to follow the media censorship. How these two newspapers define the news values in the ethnic minorities stories and what differences are showed between the two types of newspaper when ethnic minority people are covered are the major research questions of this thesis.

Berrospe, Roberto Valero; Villaseñor, Amézquita Guadalupe & Gálvez, Rey David Román
University of Baja California, México
The Glocalization of Media: The Case of México-USA Border

The objective of this paper is to explore the closing interaction in-between México and USA border, where there is emerging a new kind of culture and, a new Border Mass Media. We discuss about the characteristics of the border inhabitants and their encounters which are constructing new cultural forms in a glocal space. Also, we examine the Mass Media convergence with the new Culture and we present the new Mass Media conglomerates which are making changes to cover the new border (Spanish language) market of information. Finally we show the media contenders in the México-USA glocal space and, we do some preliminary conclusions about the implications of this new structure in México-USA border.

Blood, R. Warwick
The University of Canberra, Australia
Abu Ghraib in British and Australian newspaper cartoons: The hybridity of risk events

The paper examines the visual imagery of British and Australian newspaper cartoons about the Abu Ghraib prison scandal in Iraq. Drawing on theories of visual imaging and risk, the paper explores the potential of cartoons to challenge myths of order and ‘origin’. Cartoons can destabilise the logics within newspaper editorials and feature articles. Our overall observation is that the assemblages of militaries, states, donors, NGOs and corporate organisations – including news media – which prepare for and conduct ‘new wars’, are far from being coherent or homogenous in their own ‘humanitarian’ logos. It is well known, as Mark Coultan wrote in The Sydney Morning Herald, that ‘When Murdoch decided to back the war in Iraq, 175 of his editors did the same’. What is less well-known is that within any one of Murdoch’s newspaper titles that apparent homogeneity of logos is often confronted by a nomos of visual disturbance.

Bromley, Michael & Neal, Regan

The University of Queensland, Australia
Citizen Journalism: A Glocal Phenomenon

The future of journalism and an exercise in true democracy, or a passing fad which undermines journalistic values? Citizen journalism is both prolific and challenging. This paper will explore and analyse the global scope of citizen journalism in two ways. Firstly, it will draw on the findings of an original survey of more than 60 citizen journalism enterprises to provide a detailed examination of the global phenomenon of citizen journalism. The survey findings will examine these enterprises in terms of their organisational model (editorial approach, type of contributor and nature of contributions, subject matter), operational model (business model, revenue sources), operational context (media environment in which they operate, competitors, target audience) and mission statement/philosophy (what is their intention or stated purpose/function). These data will then be used to argue that while the nature of citizen journalism is global, practice is influenced by local conditions. Political, social, economic, cultural and geographic factors have a bearing, not only on the content that is produced, but on the structure and function of the enterprise.

Burger, Marcel
University of Lausanne, Switzerland
Conflicting Journalistic Styles and Textual Production: The Oral Negotiations Preceding the Inscription of Media Discourse

Within the framework of an interactionist approach to discourse analysis, this paper focuses on the discursive negotiation of conflicting identities at the workplace. I examine how a journalist and a film editor collaborate orally to achieve a written media report for the Swiss news broadcast. As they have constructed a report about the crash of an airplane, they manifest very contrasting journalistic styles: the experienced journalist shows ethical concerns opposite to those of the film editor focusing on the emotional dimension of the ‘violent’ images. I will provide a detailed linguistic analysis of such a negotiation.

Burkhardt, Steffen
Hamburg Media School, Germany
Witch-Hunt on the Internet: National Identity and Hillary Clinton in the 2008 Presidential Election

The “2008 Presidential Election” stands for a new type of political campaigning: Not only journalists but also voters use (new) media, in order to damage the reputation of rivals by dint of media scandal techniques. Analyzing the scandalization of Hillary Rodham Clinton in the presidential election mediated storytelling strategies focusing on national identity become obvious: Particularly in the internet people produce a polarized discourse about Senator Clinton. Her opponents criticize her violation of gender norms, because she wants to be the first female president in the White House. “How do we beat the bitch?” the conservative camp asks the amused Republican Party nominee John McCain in a famous YouTube video. This question refers to the cultural practice and tradition of discriminating women that do not subordinate to male hegemony. Mediated scandalizations like this symbolic “witch-hunt” are work up current (invisible) social conflicts referring to national identity.

Calles-Santillana, Jorge Alberto
Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla, México
Keeping In Touch With Home: Affluent National Minorities in Puebla, Mexico, and International Electronic Newspapers

No abstract available

Chin, Esther
University of Melbourne, Australia
Journalism and ‘Cosmopolitan’ Worldviews: Mediated ‘Public Connection’ Among ‘Local’ and ‘Diasporic’ Youth in Melbourne

This paper uses a phenomenological approach to explore the relationship between journalism and ‘cosmopolitan’ notions of mediated “public connection” – “a basic orientation towards a public world where matters of common concern are, or should be, played out” (Couldry et. al, 2006). It builds on Ulrich Beck’s notions of “cosmopolitan gaze” (Beck, 2000) and “cosmopolitan vision” (Beck, 2006) and proposes their conceptual differentiation to investigate how subjects structure and translate between two distinct modes of cosmopolitan worldview-construction. Drawing from results of empirical research, conducted in 2007, on media use and national identity perceptions among ‘local’ and ‘diasporic’ youth in Melbourne, Australia, this paper recommends a typology of five ‘cosmopolitan’ identity types. It also illuminates how conversions between “cosmopolitan gaze” and “vision” may be related to subjective participation in and mobility between journalistic cultures of ‘first-hand’ and ‘second-hand’ information, as well as particular constructions of the ‘foreign’ within national communicative cultures.

Choi, Jinbong
Texas State University, USA
A Comparison of Four International Newspapers’ Coverage of the 2007 South Korean Presidential Election

No abstract available

Chu, Donna
The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong
Redefining News Values in J-Blogs: Case Studies of Journalist Bloggers in Postcolonial Hong Kong

This study aims to discuss recurring themes concerning journalism in post-colonial Hong Kong in a new media context. Using content and textual analysis, the study summarizes and analyzes the key messages of independent blogs kept by eight Hong Kong journalists. These journalist bloggers are further interviewed for their views on professional journalism and blogging practices. The findings reveal how journalists in Hong Kong interpret and re-interpret their everyday work, and how they redefine news values in the process. It is found that journalist bloggers, albeit unintentionally, are making sense of the many questionable practices they encounter in their daily work through blogging. By revealing and exposing behind-the-scene stories, subtle or overt political and economic pressures, conflicts with colleagues and/or supervisors, their blogs provide valuable insights about how Hong Kong journalists define and redefine the normative expectations for journalism in the postcolonial Hong Kong.

Flew, Terry
Queensland University of Technology, Australia
Democracy, Participation and Convergent Media: Case Studies in Contemporary News Journalism in Australia

The shift from 20th century mass communications media towards convergent media and Web 2.0 has raised the possibility of a renaissance of the public sphere, based around citizen journalism and participatory media culture. This paper will evaluate such claims both conceptually and empirically. At a conceptual level, it is noted that the question of whether media democratization is occurring depends in part upon how democracy is understood, with some critical differences in understandings of democracy, the public sphere and media citizenship. The empirical work in this paper draws upon various case studies of new developments in Australian media, including online-only newspapers, developments in public service media, and the rise of commercially based online alternative media. It is argued that participatory media culture is being expanded if understood in terms of media pluralism, but that implications for the public sphere depend in part upon how media democratization is defined.

Froehlich, Romy & Kaspar, Emily
University of Munich, Germany
Participatory Journalists in Germany – New 'Journalists' in the Web 2.0 Era? An Online Survey

In Germany, and not only here, we so far do not know very much about participatory journalists. Thus, we conducted a standardized quantitative online-survey of participatory journalists at the German language website “myheimat”, a German-based hyperlocal participatory journalism portal with about 14,000 contributors. The purpose of the survey has been to examine the individual characteristics of participatory journalists (socio demographics, expertise, qualification and gender aspects), why they write articles for myheimat (societal/individual motivations), what they think about their role and function as grassroots journalists (identity/self-concept), what they know and what they think about established editorial practices (attitudes toward traditional professional journalism), how they think about their audience and how they differ in all these aspects from traditional professional journalists – if at all. Our results contribute to the understanding of the participatory system in general and of the forces behind the enormous popularity of participatory journalism, its conditions and its future development.

Gajevic, Slavko
University of Melbourne, Australia
Journalism in a time of conflict-uniform practices and collided memories

This paper argues that a time of conflict is the context that provides us with possibilities to better understand the complex processes that affect transnational and national media, uniformity in journalism practices and their resistance to cultural, political and ideological amalgamation. The paper studies the discourses of the New York Times and Politika, the oldest Serbian daily. In February 2008, articles were written by these papers’ editors and published within two days focusing on the same topic: Serbia’s position in the world and the independence of Kosovo. The first of these two discourses claims to represent ‘the World’ with the New York Times advising ‘Go West Serbia!’. The second discourse symbolizes the struggle of a nation to explain itself to ‘the World’: ‘The West is wrong!’ advocates Politika. The selective yet collective memories represented in these two discourses collide and evoke a Manichean schema of a nation-state versus globalization.

Gimeno, Jacques DM* & Freeman, Bradley C.**
*University of Asia and the Pacific, Philippines
**Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
The Ethics of Videoblogging: Public Journalists Have their Say on YouTube

Boasting 89.4 million unique monthly visitors in the U.S. alone, YouTube is the fastest growing website in terms of audience share; and with almost 5.5 billion streams in April 2009, it tops the list of the best online video brands in the U.S. With millions of videos uploaded every month YouTube has become a popular destination for people, who both seek and disseminate information, such as journalists and cyberactivists. This study looked into unethical videoblogging in the context of human rights videos on YouTube that are uploaded by cyberactivists who see themselves functioning as journalists and believe that they’re doing better at information dissemination. Results from a survey of 379 YouTube users show that many of them find human rights videos uploaded to the site inappropriate for viewing; and a large majority of them favor a code of ethics for videoblogging.

Gomez y Patino, Maria
Universidad de Zaragoza, Spain
Women: globalized or feminized identities?

Given that journalism in the 21st century is transforming rapidly with the globalization of news organizations, new audiences and content producers have changed the public sphere. It is precisely in this new public “arena” where women have irrupted to play their own role, the 21st century role. This paper is an attempt of reviewing the new feminine role as far as women’s identity is concerned. Women are no more passive news consumers but active news producers within the news global organizations, where their work style is being imposed. If traditionally news organization were ruled and characterized by a manly style, nowadays some news organizations are being feminized. Globalization has found one space for women: either as professionals or consumers. Actually, journalism is being feminized based not only on numbers (quantitative data) but on style differences (qualitative data). Never before there was such a quantity+quality of women in TV, radio or in newspapers. The most important thing is that technology and globalization are supporting women at their personal growing and development. Women’s empowerment is coming hand-in-hand with news technology, in global systems. Women within these media organizations are turning from pure consumers to international news producers and becoming media and communicational leaders. The question is: Are women getting a feminine or a national/globalized identity

Grimm, Jürgen
University of Vienna, Austria
Journalism at War. Comparing the 2003 Iraq War Coverage in Seven European Countries and the US

The aim of this paper is – on the basis of an internationally comparative study carried out at Vienna University on European war and crisis journalism – to test the thesis of a trans-cultural effect of news factors and the extent of cultural differences between the countries by examining the 2003 Iraq war coverage and evaluating it with regard to a possible functional change of journalism during war times. On the basis of the data collected it remains to be seen if the postulated “Rally-around-the-Flag”-effect (McLeod&Eveland&Signorelli 1994, Brewer&Aday&Gross 2005) in countries at war is implemented comprehensively or if it is determined by certain contextual conditions within the respective country. Also, Robinson’s (2001) „policy-interaction-model“, which says that media effects in those deciding external affairs occur only in the case of political uncertainty whereas generally the media are geared to the political elites within their own country, is being evaluated.

Gutgold, Nichola D.
Pennsylvania State University - Lehigh Valley Campus, USA
Where There's War There's Amanpour: Christiane Amanpour's communication style as a case-study for the globalization of broadcasting

Despite the slow start in television news, women have gained a presence in the competitive and influential world of broadcast news. One female news figure transcends all others when the topic of global news is raised: Christiane Amanpour. Christiane Amanpour has helped viewers understand the world through her storytelling and narrative reports on global issues. This study examines the unique career of Christiane Amanpour: her biography, early work experiences and the communication style that has enabled her to be successful, unlike any other female broadcaster, on the world stage of broadcast news. At a time when broadcast journalism is under assault for sensationalism and trivialities, Amanpour utilizes it to make global issues more understandable to all citizens. Ms. Amanpour's contribution to broadcast journalism is a good model to study as we address the changing role of news media as it occupies a more globalized public sphere.

Gwizdalski, Andrzej* & Koch, Ansgar**
* University of Melbourne, Australia
** Freie Universität Berlin, Germany
Visually constructed identity: A comparative analysis of photojournalistic images of immigrants represented in Australian and German newspapers.

This study investigates how immigrants are portrayed on photographs in four major print media in Australia (e.g. The Age) and Germany (e.g. Sueüddeutsche Zeitung) over a total period of eight randomly selected weeks between 2008 and 2009. Visual representations of immigrants in text-anchored context of migration and multiculturalism were selected and coded. The sampled images (N=55 Australia; N=73 Germany) were content analyzed and organized into main categories for further comparison. Representative samples of images were then presented to migrant-background student focus groups to verify researchers’ coding and grouping. The findings suggest quantitative and qualitative differences between visual representation of immigrants in Australia and Germany which illustrate the historical and political discourses about migration and multiculturalism in these countries. Visual commonalities were also observed in reference to the global context of migration.

Hanitzsch, Thomas* & Hanusch, Folker** & Mellado, Claudia***
*University of Zurich, Switzerland
**University of the Sunshine Coast, Australia
***Universidad de Concepción, Chile
Political Determinants of the Journalist’s Professional Worldviews: A Comparative and Multilevel Analysis

This study intends to address these crucial omissions. Its central objective is to assess the relative influence of political forces on journalistic cultures around the world across individual, organizational and national levels of analysis. Research questions for this analysis are: Which political influences are of primary importance in shaping journalistic cultures? Does a hierarchy of influences exist in terms of their relative importance? The analysis is based on interviews with 1700 journalists from approximately 350 news organizations in 17 countries. The study was simultaneously conducted in Australia, Austria, Brazil, Bulgaria, Chile, China, Egypt, Germany, Indonesia, Israel, Romania, Russia, Spain, Switzerland, Turkey, Uganda and the United States.

Hanusch, Folker
University of the Sunshine Coast, Australia
The New Mediators of Distant Cultures: Travel Journalists and their Role in a Transforming Media Environment

Journalism is undergoing substantial changes, with many media outlets reducing their foreign news reporting in order to cut costs in an increasingly competitive environment. At the same time, the concept of news itself has undergone somewhat of a transformation, with the rise of ‘soft news’ and lifestyle content challenging traditional news reporting. In particular, the genre of travel journalism is playing a growing role in mediating distant cultures. However, academic inquiry has so far neglected this field to a large degree. This paper addresses the gaps in existing knowledge, and presents preliminary findings of the first large-scale investigation of the production of travel journalism by examining Australian travel journalists’ beliefs, values, attitudes, standards and role perceptions. Of particular concern will be journalists’ perceptions of their role in reporting about other cultures, which is important in the context of the function travel journalism has in the 21st century.

Hartley, John
Queensland University of Technology, Australia
Risk and Representation: Girls in the News and the Fear of Agency

No abstract available

Heinrich, Ansgard
University of Melbourne, Australia
Global News Flows and Transforming Notions of ‘Foreign’ Journalism

In an increasingly globalized news sphere characterized by constant news flows, notions of how to report about ‘the news from afar’ are under revision. Examples such as the coverage of the recent Iran elections driven by material exchanged via platforms such as Twitter or YouTube serve as a case in point. A sphere of information exchange is developing in which “gatekeepers” of news are not only foreign correspondents or wire services any longer. This paper will address the challenges of changing global communication infrastructures for journalistic practice and explore how this new ‘interactive’ sphere of news exchange can be conceptualized. I will argue that the emergence of a global news sphere triggers the urge of a revision of ‘foreign’ journalism concepts in a global ‘network society’, in which the dynamics of newsgathering, production and dissemination gain a new quality on a transnational level. I will suggest referring to this transforming sphere of news journalism as the sphere of ‘network journalism’.

Hou, Cheng-Nan* & Tsai, Tzung-Je**
* I-Shou University, Taiwan
** The Open University of Kaohsiung, Taiwan
Cyber Citizen Politics in Formosa: Online Citizen Journalism in the Dynamics of Political Change in Taiwan

The empirical investigation of the online citizen journalism has shown that the circuit of participatory online news culture is an ongoing process in political communication. In Taiwan, the Internet creates opportunities for its users to pressure for liberal and democratic political change, and Internet technologies can allow users to engage in collective actions against authorities. Thus, citizen journalism may be another way to engage Taiwan’s public to pursue that original public broadcasting mission of maintaining an independent media, and online journalism provides different perspectives and knowledge to facilitate public discussion in public sphere. On the other hand, a convergence culture of online journalism has been created and happened by various kinds of practitioners, and the engagement with online participatory journalism also has challenged the role of mainstream media news.

Hwang, Seongbin
Rikkyo University, Japan
Post-Americanization and Japan: America’s Position in the “Cool Japan”

No abstract available

Kenyon, Andrew T. & Marjoribanks, Tim
University of Melbourne, Australia
Regulating Journalists: Defamation Law and Public Debate in Five Countries

As journalism practices worldwide undergo processes of transformation, significant debates relate to the extent to which media provides a space for public speech and debate. One key factor that influences the relationship between media and public debate is the law. We engage with this relationship by undertaking a comparative analysis of defamation law and journalism across five countries, Australia, Malaysia, Singapore, the UK and US. Key findings of our research indicate that defamation law is an important part of everyday media practice in all five countries, thereby influencing public debate, although to a much lesser extent in the US. Our research also indicates that, across all countries, the emergence of internet-based media is providing an opportunity for new forms of journalism to emerge, which potentially challenge existing relationships between defamation law and journalism.

Kim, Minha; Shin, Yun-Kyoung & Yang, Min-Je
Sungkyunkwan University, South Korea
Double Faces of Journalistic Objectivity: How News Influences Civic Engagement in Protest Activity

There is blame over the journalistic norm of objectivity for causing public cynicism and disengaging citizens from the public sphere. As an alternative, focus is given to public journalism, which re-maps the journalist’s role from observer to participant, takes a lead to engage citizens in public issues. News articles propelled by public journalism reflect deviation from the objectivity principle as indicated by the fact that journalists express frankly their subjective opinions and contentious arguments. This study has conducted an experiment in order to answer the questions of whether objective reporting actually inhibits political participation, and whether, in contrast, an article reinforcing a particular position enhances civic engagement. The issue of candlelight vigils opposing US beef imports in Korea has been selected for close examination. It was revealed that the impact of the type of news article on participation depends on levels of conversation with fellow citizens. For the subjects who had frequent conversation with others on the issue, the objective article enhanced their intention to participate in the protest. Meanwhile, the reinforcing article was found to drive participation among those who had a sparse level of conversation with fellow citizens.

Langmia, Kehbuma
Bowie State University, USA
Globalization and Culture: A Case Study of Cameroon and the New Media

Indigenous cultures especially in the developing world are gradually being eroded by the wind of the so called "global culture." This global culture, in essence, is a whirlwind that is crushing burgeoning traditional modes of expressions particularly in Africa. The Internet, ipods, cellular phones, digital television, DVDs and laptop computers have now become the new forms of communication. This paper intends to examine this phenomenon in greater detail by demonstrating the importance and value of local written and oral cultures in Cameroon. It shows how new forms of communication and journalistic practices are creating new definitions of national identities for Africans in general. It also shows how globalization has failed to address critical issues facing nationhood. Attempts will be made to provide ways of narrowing the digital divide as is relates to written and oral culture in Cameroon, Africa and the world at large.

Lei, Weizhen* & Deng, Li**
* Renmin University of China, China
** The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong
Hidden Transcript in Existing Journalism Institutions: Online Discourse in Chinese Journalist-blogs

China serves as a likely example to illustrate how the liberalizing power of the Internet is magnified in the media transformation which is called “media liberalization under authoritarianism”. At a micro level, this study analyzes how journalists’ practice and discourse make a difference in the existing journalism institutions with the tool of new technologies. Instead of focusing on the media self-censorship, journalists are regarded, in a more positive way, as “entrepreneurial social actors” such as in Journalist-blogs (J-blogs). Using a combination of content analysis and discourse analysis, this paper investigated 105 blog items from 15 J-blogs on the official websites of People Daily, Shanghai Morning Post and Southern Weekend, which respectively represented the patterns of “party organs”, “city newspapers” and “investigative newspapers” in China. This research found that when the liberalizing impact produced by the Internet meets the conventions of the existing institutions, Chinese journalists’ online discourses, using the theory of Scott (1990), form a mix of both public transcript and hidden transcript with different proportions. It shows not only the conflict between individual journalists and the organizations they belong to in the virtual social space, but also the current situation that various types of news media coexist in the transforming reality.

Lester, Libby* & Hutchins, Brett**
* University of Tasmania, Australia
** Monash University, Australia
Power Games: Environmental Protest, News Media and the Internet

No abstract available

Li, Xiufang
Macquarie University, Australia
Framing China and the United States: the Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s Current Affairs Television Program in the 21st Century

The article examines how the ABC (the Australian Broadcasting Corporation) represents China and the United States in the 21st century. It focuses on whether there are any differences and similarities between the coverage of two countries, and tries to explore the reasons for that. By drawing on framing theory, the findings show that the anti-Chinese government frame, the alarming frame and the other image frame distinguish the reports of China from that of the United States. At the same time, the Australian media’s construction of China is influenced by the historical stereotypes, the Sino-Australian relations, and responds consistently to the global media agenda dominated by the West.

Lin, Tsui-Chuan, Trisha
Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
Coping with Shifts in Workflow and News Practices after Adopting Integrated TV Newsrooms

This paper explores the impact of implementing integrated digital newsrooms on TV news production, organization, work, and collaboration in four early adopting stations in Taiwan (Formosa TV, Eastern TV, TVBS and DA-AI). This multiple case study not only interviews 96 news managers, reporters, editors, and news crews, but also observes the dynamics in the newsrooms to investigate how the cases are shaped by digitalization and how they cope with changes in workflow and news practices. The findings show that digitalization has significantly changed news production process in editing, broadcasting, archiving, and cross-platform distribution. Previous tape-related news practices are altered drastically. Work adjustment, new divisions and roles, as well as multiskilling are found in the cases to smooth digital workflow. Tapeless news production lets the interaction in newsrooms less stressful and more collaborative; however, gate keeping is more prone to mistakes due to unclear responsibilities and unfamiliarity of server operations.

Lingenberg, Swantje
Jacobs University Bremen, Germany
New Audiences between the Global and the Local: The Case of the European Transcultural Public Sphere

This paper aims at shedding light on how new audiences emerging along with globalization and mediatization processes contribute to the existence of transcultural public spheres and how citizens being located in different media, cultural and political contexts participate in and appropriate political discourses. Drawing on the example of Europe the paper first develops a pragmatic concept of European transcultural public spheres emphasizing the importance of citizens’ media based perception of the impact of common problems and EU-political decision-making as well as the subsequent participation in European political discourses. The second part of the paper then presents the findings of qualitative case studies conducted in France, Italy and Germany to explore citizens’ discursive appropriation and cultural localization of the European constitutional debate. Results illustrate how citizens being located in different contexts mediate between the ‘local’ and the ‘global’ or rather ‘European’ by ascribing meaning, (re)articulating and culturally localizing news from ‘Europe’.

Lu, Ye* & Guo, Zhongshi**
* Fudan University, China
** Hong Kong Baptist University, Hong Kong
Is the Grass Greener? The Impact of Alternative Media on Audience Evaluations of Mainstream Media in China

The notion of alternative, when used as a prefix to news and media, carries a set of complex implications far beyond the scope of journalism, especially in authoritarian societies. Given the nature of alternative media in China, demographic anchoring is treated as an important antecedent to an individual’s selection. Our operational definitions of key concepts divide into four groups: social stratum, media use, mainstream media evaluation, demographics. We ask of what alternative media do to users’ perception and evaluation of the performance of mainstream or domestic media. On the assumption that frequent use indicates preference, we seek to explore a research question on whether frequent users of alternative media tend to have higher expectations (thus lower evaluations) of home media, compared with non-frequent users. The idea being that people make evaluations of media on a relative basis, gauging judgment of one source on that of another comparatively.

Lynch, Jake
The University of Sydney, Australia
A Global Standard for Reporting Conflict?

Newspaper journalism has more readers than ever before, but it is in crisis because many of them cannot be aggregated into commercially viable markets. At the same time, rapidly developing internet connectivity is deepening the digital divide since half the world’s population have never made a phone call. There is a stronger case than ever for non-market economic models, drawing on publicly administered funds, to extend the spread of news as a public good and civic tool in democracy. It begs the questions of what is ‘good’ journalism and what would make it worthy of public or philanthropic funding? Recent comparative studies have offered content analysis of conflict coverage by different countries’ media, using the peace journalism model. This paper will examine its credentials and explain the research project now underway to devise a global standard for reporting conflict, capable of being applied under Quality Assurance criteria of the International Standardisation Organisation.

Mackey, Stephen
Deakin University, Australia
Sophistic 3.0 and the End of Media Relations

This paper looks at Web 2.0 as a new form of discursive art which may be changing human subjectivity - which may be producing new kinds of people. It casts the Web 2.0 era as the 'Third Sophistic' in comparison to the two other sophistics: (1) the period from the Ancient Greek Enlightenment when grammar, rhetoric and dialectic were invented by the original pre-Socratic sophists up until the times of Plato, Aristotle, and Isocrates; and (2) the Second Sophistic in the early centuries of the Common Era when 'epideictic,' that is subtle, artistic rhetoric was perfected. These sophistics marked alterations in the possibilities for human cultural expression and conception. Are we experiencing a 'Sophistic 3.0'? If so what are the likely consequences for contemporary discourse and its media?

McKay, Susan & Fitzgerald, Richard
The University of Queensland, Australia
News Language in Contemporary Media Environments

Within the potential cacophony of voices calling for our attention the somewhat traditional broadcast news medium of ‘one to many’ competes with more interactive and niche news delivery TV news broadcasting has continued to expand through cable and satellite proving resilient as it evolves its strengths. However, as news adapts to its technological and audience environment it can be seen that there is a shift in targeting news delivery to attract/address particular cohorts of audience. In this paper we examine some of the current discursive and textual strategies adopted in TV news broadcasting noting the physical, technological and linguistic features of contemporary news presentation as programmers endeavour to capture and hold target audiences in an environment where news is available around the clock and where constant updates via the internet are accessible not just to news providers but directly to audiences themselves.

Murrell, Colleen
The University of Melbourne, Australia
The local and the foreign: an exploration of the newsgathering roles of the fixer and the correspondent in today’s Iraq.

Post-war Iraq is now so dangerous that Western television correspondents have been forced to change their modus operandi and rely more heavily on locally-hired fixers. This paper asks if the virtual absence of overseas reporters from Iraq’s streets has led to a less authentic newsgathering role. Conversely it may have delivered a more nuanced form of editorial and logistical task-sharing between the international correspondent and the locally-hired media worker. This research uses Bourdieu’s analysis of cultural capital as a frame to examine the exchange of different forms of power and expertise that are being deployed by the two main players. In this particular crisis newsgathering arena, fixers would appear to have more power to insert local story ideas into the western media agenda than ever before. Correspondents from the BBC and CNN Baghdad bureaux were used as case studies for an exploration of changing news gathering behaviour.

Nolan, David
University of Melbourne, Australia
Negotiating Public Authority: Journalism and the (re)constitution of legitimacy

No abstract available

O’Donnell, Penny* & McKnight, David**
* University of Sydney, Australia
** University of New South Wales, Australia
Can citizen journalism live without newspapers? Quality journalism in the online world.

This paper evaluates the changing business of news, exploring the potential market failure of newspapers as well as the odds of citizen journalism filling any resultant vacuum in political communication. It argues academic enthusiasm for online alternatives to journalism has failed to address the question of citizen journalism’s dependence on newspapers. . Online media research tends to focus on the democratic potential of this flourishing civic energy and political talk at the expense of basic issues of political economy. The implications of the current financial crisis facing Australian newspapers for quality journalism are discussed before considering the competition from free public information sources. The paper identifies a problem of scholarship underpinning misleading claims about citizen journalism’s resemblance to political journalism. It concludes by urging further consideration of what news veterans mean when they speak of ‘the bond of trust’ between readers and newspapers as being fundamental to the future of journalism.

Owen, Thomas
Massey University, New Zealand
Representations of Global Governance in Press Coverage of the Access to Medicines Debate

This paper examines international press coverage surrounding the cancellation of a 2001 legal dispute between an alliance of multinational pharmaceutical companies and the government of South Africa over the government’s right to import generic medicines. Widely reported as a “victory” for South Africa and the transnational civil society campaign that supported their cause, the dispute provides an exemplary case of a networked power dynamic in global governance – where the nation-state government is but one among many social, political and economic actors seeking to exert power and influence. This paper examines how this dynamic was represented in the press, using Ulrich Beck’s ‘cosmopolitan vision’ and Peter Berglez’s framework of ‘global’ and ‘national’ outlooks in the media to illuminate where a global inter-related dynamic was articulated, and where it was segregated back into a nation-centric vision of global governance.

Pallaver, Günther & Hug, Theo
University of Innsbruck, Austria
Political Journalism in Stress: Between Autonomy and Dependence

In this paper the proposition to be tested is whether the political elites’ attempt to exert influence on day-to-day news coverage and thus on political journalism is increasing and whether as a result political journalism’s autonomous leeway is continually diminishing. The countries examined are the United States, Germany, Austria and Italy. In this context the question whether there are structural differences due to the diverse political systems of the countries under consideration (presidential vs. parliamentary systems; systems centred more on parties vs. systems centred more on the media) will also be investigated. Last but not least, the role of Internet developments and different media systems will be considered, too (media under private law, dual systems including the Italian version).

Perrin, Daniel*; Burger, Marcel**
* Zurich University of Applied Sciences, Switzerland
** University of Lausanne, Switzerland
Talk ’n’ Action and National Identity. Practicing Internal Multilingualism in the Newsroom

“Promoting public understanding“ is part of the programming mandate of SRG, the public broadcasting company of Switzerland, a highly multilingual country. From a sociolinguistic point of view, this means linking speech communities with other speech communities, both between (external multilingualism) and within (internal multilingualism) the German-, French-, Italian-, and Rumantsch-speaking parts of Switzerland. Our presentation is based on such the key concepts and the outcomes of the ethnographic research project "Idee suisse: Language policy, norms, and practice as exemplified by Swiss Radio and Television". The research question was whether and how the Swiss broadcasting company, caught between public service demands and market forces in a multilingual country, should, can, actually does – and could – fulfill language policy requirements. The discussion of the findings will reshape a core problem of Applied Linguistics: providing adequate knowledge transfer between research and application field.

Putra, I Gusti Ngurah
Universitas Gadjah Mada, Indonesia
Local Government Control of the Press in the Post New Order Indonesia

Transition to democracy in Indonesia has brought profound effect in the ways government at the local level deals with the press. This paper concerns with how government, especially in a country in transition to democracy engage with the media as the character of the relations between government and the media changes following the changes of political system. It discusses, firstly, the changing nature of relationship between government and the press in Indonesia after the reformation of 1998. It argues that, despite the greater freedom the press achieves especially in term of government control through coercive mechanism, the government at local level tend to create and established various mechanisms to control the press.

Quinn, Stephen
Deakin University, Australia
The Mobile Journalist Around the World

No abstract available

Rao, Shakuntala* & Johal, Navjit Singh**
* State University of New York, USA
** Punjabi University, India
Glocalization of Indian Journalism

No abstract available

Salgado, Susana
New University of Lisbon and Foundation to Science and Technology, Portugal
Journalism and Citizenship in the Internet Era

This paper focus on the Internet’s influence in politics and in journalism and addresses specifically the cases of Angola and Mozambique, both countries facing processes of democratic transition and representing new possibilities of organizing the public sphere and new opportunities to citizen politics and to journalism. Some preliminary conclusions from media analysis and interviews show that, in spite of the limited access, the Internet, through information websites, online newspapers, blogs, etc., is strengthening civil society in different situations. Because it helps to surpass some distribution and cost barriers, it is an important vehicle to disseminate the printed press contents across the country. Moreover, the Internet promotes participation and discussion, stimulates the presence of different actors in the public sphere, and influences journalists, who are using the Internet to look for new approaches and new opinions.

Schönhagen, Philomen & Bosshart, Stefan
University of Fribourg, Switzerland
Citizen Journalism – a revolution of public communication?

Some authors consider the so-called citizen journalism to be a revolution of professional journalism – or even a substitute for it. However, the discussion of the relevant literature shows that the term citizen journalism has not yet been defined precisely, and is used for various phenomena like blogging and citizen-as-reporters. Therefore it is suggested to distinguish between “amateur publishing” on the one hand and “citizen-participation in journalism” on the other. Both phenomena are not new at all, but have coexisted with journalism for centuries. An analysis of historical examples and the theoretical discussion shows that amateur publishing provides only specific, limited services for social communication – whereas professional journalism offers a complete overview of “communication reality” and therefore enables a broad social and political orientation. Furthermore empirical findings concerning motives of so-called citizen journalists and their selection criteria suggest that they do not replace professional journalism, but rather act as a complement.

Sima, Yangzi
The University of Melbourne, Australia
An Electronic Renaissance?: New Media Technologies, Public Relations and Power Dynamics in Changing China

The integration of the Internet into public relations (PR) has been hailed as an ‘electronic renaissance’ (Williams, 1983: 245), although critique of the situation in the Chinese context has been sparse. At a time when news cycles are drastically shortened and online media are evolving into popular news sources and agenda setters in their own right, corporate public relations practitioners (PRPs) in China are confronted by both challenges and opportunities. A combination of Web 1.0 and 2.0 technologies have enabled them to circumvent media gatekeepers and deliver messages directly to the public, more efficiently cater to media needs, monitor public opinion, and sponsor powerful media and commercial portal Web sites to consolidate their offline advantage. Meanwhile, the Internet also empowers individuals and traditionally resource-short groups, such as activists, to access and distribute counter discourses, build linkages, acquire greater visibility, and mobilize the public. This paper examines how the Internet is transforming the practice of PR in China in both corporate and civil society contexts through ethnographic case studies of a multinational corporation and a grassroots environmental non-governmental organisation (ENGO). Further, it explores the efficiency of the Internet in enhancing two-way symmetrical dialogues (J. Grunig, 1984) between organisations and their publics, as well as its capacity to equalize environmental activists’ communication resources in self-representation and stakeholder engagement.

Sison, Marianne & Oakham, Mandy
RMIT University, Australia
A marriage of convenience or a marriage on the rocks?: the future of journalism and public relations in the new rationalized media world.

In this new era of wide scale cutbacks in newsrooms, coupled with the rise and rise of spin in all its forms, new questions need to be asked about the role of journalists and public relations practitioners in the modern multimedia world. If Nick Davies is right and the new journalism is now “churnalism” is there a place for these two different practitioners with their divergently opposed principles of practice? This paper will explore the different theoretical models that have been proposed by the developing disciplines that support these two different practices and will question the modifications that need to be made in the light of developments in the media terrain. Some are arguing that the old business model for journalism can no longer continue and if this is the case what new models could be developed? Can the practice of journalism continue without major modifications of its processes and the norms which underpin them? And if journalism and public relations are truly symbiotic practices then change in one arena must result in changes in the other or are these truly ideologically oppositional practices which will continue to follow parallel, yet separate lines?

Slade, Christina
CITY University London, UK &Universiteit Utrecht, The Netherlands
Media & Citizenship: Measuring Satellite and Cable Delivered Media Use by Arabic Speakers in the European Union

This paper reports on a EU funded project which investigates the ways that Arabic speakers use television across Europe. There are no reliable ratings on who is watching satellite television across Europe. Hundreds of Arabic channels are available, ranging from rebroadcast local channels (eg Moroccan), through transnational channels such as BBC Arabic and Al-Jazeera. The project began with a questionnaire followed by a diary survey. At this stage, the results are tentative, but we hypothesize that there is not one transnational Arabic speaking public sphere in the EU, but two types of Arabic speaking audience. One group tentatively described as 'translocal' oscillated between viewing local national channels and retransmitted local television of the country of family origin (chiefly in our survey Morocco and Algeria but also Tunisia); whereas the other group used a wide range of transnational media in both Arabic and other languages.

Somani, Indira
Washington and Lee University, USA
Enculturation and Acculturation of Television Use Among Asian Indians in the U.S.

This study explored how a cohort of Asian Indians who migrated to the U.S. nearly 40 years ago have become acculturated to watching Indian television via the satellite dish. The study used the integrative communication theory and how two concepts of the theory relate to adaptation: enculturation and acculturation. The study produced findings that described how these Asian Indians used American television to acculturate to the U.S.; as well as how this cohort learned the act of watching television. Another finding was that the portrayal of India and Indian culture in American media was stereotypical. The third finding showed described how these Asian Indians maintained their sense of Indian culture through using other forms of media and cultural practices. The fourth finding demonstrated how Asian Indians discovered a new way to stay connected to their culture, particularly in real time as they watched Indian programming via the satellite dish. The fifth finding was that this cohort used American television as a filter through which they judged Indian television. It uncovered the ways how these Asian Indians became skilled television viewers and could distinguish between good and bad programming.

Stockwell, Esther
Hosei University, Japan
Youth and News Media Credibility in Japan

Findings from investigations into the effect of the Internet on people’s use of traditional media have been varied. For example, as people become more familiar with the online world, their average exposure time to printed newspapers declines, and the average time spent accessing online newspapers rises. It has also been found that people frequently use online news sites to follow up on something that they read in the newspaper or watch on TV. Results from investigations into Internet credibility, however, have been mixed, and while some suggest that traditional media are considered as more credible than new media, others have advocated a more complex relationship dependent upon online experience. This study investigates Japanese university students’ usage habits and credibility perceptions of news media. The results are discussed in terms of the complementary relationship between traditional and online news media, and the relationship between media usage and credibility judgments.

Storr, Juliette
Pennsylvania State University, USA
Caribbean Journalism in the 21st Century: Globalization, Regional Integration and National Identity

The practice of journalism in the Caribbean, and the production and consumption of media products, has always been influenced by transnational corporations. International news organizations have had a dominant position in the flow of information in the region for most of the 20th century. In the 1970s regional news organizations and media scholars protested the control of the flow of information from North to South. At the turn of the century, news flows differ from those of the 1970s through a much larger volume and greater diversification. But the major wire services have retained their privilege of defining what constitutes news. This research examines how the practice and profession of journalism is being transformed in the 21st century Caribbean with globalization of news organizations and convergent digital technologies. It examines a variety of emerging issues shaped by new forms of transnational public communication, forms which affect journalistic practice and the meaning of news and news cultures. This research provides an opportunity to present much needed discussion of new journalistic forms in the Caribbean public sphere.

Stover, Diana
San Jose State University, USA
The Internet: Antidote to Global Media Giants and State-Censored Media

No abstract available

Taha, Mustafa
American University of Sharjah, United Arab Emirates
Demystifying Darfur Conflict: Media Framing of a Complex Humanitarian Crisis

This paper uses frame analysis to explore the New York Times' coverage of the Darfur conflict. A thorough examination of the Times' editorials reveals major themes characterizing the coverage namely genocide and ethnic cleansing by the Janjaweed Arabs against black Africans. An important theme focuses on the need for replacing an ineffective African Union's force with a robust UN force. According to the Times China should be shamed for protecting Sudan in the UN Security Council, and United States and Europe should exert more pressure on Sudan. In a nutshell, Sudan government and its proxy Arab militias used "genocide," and "ethnic cleansing," to control the Darfur region. The paper concludes that the Times' coverage was simplistic and stereotypical. The Times' framing of the conflict in Darfur fails to contextualize the complex economic, social, and cultural situation in the region. It's far from objective, and leaves much to be desired.

Tapsell, Ross
University of Wollongong, Australia
New Technologies and Foreign News Reporting: Australian reporting of Indonesia in the 21st Century

The improvements in communications technology during the latter half the twentieth century have created remarkable changes in the foreign news process, and the way foreign correspondents operate. While means reporting can be rich and timely, there are concerns when the immediacy of news determines its content. The consequences of these technological improvements are an increase in parachute journalism, greater editorial direction from Australia, and greater emphasis on ‘rolling news’ stories. These are major hindrances for contemporary correspondents aiming to provide Australia with complete coverage of a story or region. The ABC’s current North America correpsondent, Michael Maher, summed up his professional practice when he wrote: “The lot of the foreign correspondent today is to feed rather than be fed – to feed a voracious beast with an insatiable, twenty-four hour appetite.” This paper will use the example of twenty-first century Australian reporting from Indonesia, and argue that the often sensationalist and misleading reporting was largely a result of new technologies shaping journalists’ professional practice.

Tong, Gin Chee
The University of Melbourne, Australia
Asian Youths On the Information Superhighway: But Is Anyone Paying Attention?

In many parts of Asia, communicative mediums are often befitted with the fundamental role of advancing the government’s agenda. The advent of new media technologies such as the Internet and SMSs has however, resulted in significant shifts to Asia’s national news mediascape. Similarly, youths are widely touted as “harbingers of change” in many of Asia’s authoritarian regimes, due chiefly to their active and oftentimes vocal online presence. Yet despite the utopian view, data from six focus group discussions suggest that youths are themselves sceptical of their ability to supposedly bring about change, as they believe neither the public or the government view their contribution as significant.

van Hout, Tom
Ghent University, Belgium
Quality churnalism: ethnographic insights into business news production

This paper feeds into public and academic discourses about declining quality standards in print journalism, in particular the claim that newsroom pressure for increased productivity invariably yields low quality journalism or churnalism, the churning of ready-made source materials into news articles. Drawing on ethnographic data collected at the business newsdesk of De Standaard, a Flemish quality newspaper, I illustrate how business journalists actually write news from corporate and agency sources by tracking the news production process from story entry to (pre-final) publication. My data provide detailed empirical evidence for the discursive intricacies of reproductive newswriting, i.e. writing from sources. Specifically, my data highlight how churnalism: (i) forces attention to the materiality, creativity and domain knowledge of journalists; (ii) prompts news frames which enable journalists to write fast and efficiently; (iii) is a journalistic genre in its own right. Taken together, these findings contribute to a more empirically grounded discussion of sourcing practices in a globalized journalism.

Willnat, Lars
Indiana University, USA
How the World Sees America: Media Use, Politics and Anti-Americanism

Foreign perceptions of the United States have reached record lows in recent years. The war in Iraq and other foreign policy blunders by the Bush administration all but eliminated the international support that characterized foreign relations shortly after the 9/11 terrorist attack. The 2008 U.S. presidential election, however, has renewed the hopes that a new president will allow the United States to repair its strained international relations with other nations and improve its political image around the world. To gain a better understanding of how the 2008 presidential elections might be related to perceptions of the United States and its people, this study analyzes survey responses from more than 10,000 university students in 27 countries. The data come from an international online survey conducted in October 2008, about four weeks before the U.S. presidential election. As predicted, the findings indicate significant associations between media use, anti-Americanism and perceptions of the presidential candidates and Americans in most nations.

Xin, Cynthia Jing
University of Canterbury, New Zealand
Distinctive Features of Web Journalism in Mainland China

This paper studies distinctive features of Web journalism in mainland China through qualitative analysis of in-depth sections for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. By comparing the special topic sections of popular mainstream news websites in China with those in the United States, United Kingdom, and New Zealand, my paper argues that journalists’ practice is indeed context dependent. Distinctive economic, social and cultural factors are contributing to shaping Chinese Web journalism in a way that contradicts the notion of a homogeneous worldwide journalism. National-specific elements are quite prominent in Chinese news websites. As a result, I propose the study of distinctive features of online journalism worldwide offers benefits in understanding the world’s media system and illuminating emerging trends in the field of journalism.