Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Media reception'

The study takes ideological domination in the field of the media as a point of departure, concentrating on current affairs as one of the most keenly debated issues in the field of mass media since the emergence of news agencies and up to the present age of satellite television channels. The study deals in particular with monopolies of news coverage by the major news agencies, including Reuters, Associated Press (AP), United Press International (UP), and Agence France Press (AFP). The study focuses on the cultural dimensions of news stories and the controversies over their content which have spurred regional and international efforts to establish alternatives to the one-way flow of news and information from core countries to the rest of the world. The study also focuses on American domination in the field of news and the establishment of CNN, which has itself become a symbol of American influence as well as a significant influence on the live news coverage of events. The impact of CNN has also triggered many reactions, including efforts in various countries to compete with it in order to cover the news from perspectives within these countries. The study goes on to focus on the Arab region, which has its own characteristics but also shares many features with other peripheral countries, particularly in the field of the mass media and the reliance of Arab audiences on news sources in core countries. This study deals with various issues concerning the mass media and news coverage in the Arab region, providing a historical framework for the development of its mass media; the political atmosphere and other factors which have affected their performance. The study also examines attempts by Arab countries to work collectively in order to establish alternatives to the core countries’ news outlets. By focusing on the Arab region this study aims to examine in particular the significance of the Arab satellite news channels and their success in competing with the news outlets of core countries. The competitiveness of the Arab satellite channels is evaluated, considering Al-Jazeera as a particularly important example. The study finally focuses on Libya as an example both of an Arab county and as a representative of peripheral countries. This section of the work involves an empirical study into perception and evaluation of regional and international news. This provides ideal opportunities to assess the theoretical framework of the study with references to the features and difficulties of peripheral countries. Libya’s efforts in the field of mass media, and particularly its news outlets, are also evaluated. In addition the study examines the attitudes of the Libyan people towards domestic, regional and international news outlets and their significance in terms of news coverage. This provides a thorough understanding of the perceived weaknesses and strengths of these news outlets, and such information may help in the development of a new strategy for the Libyan mass media in order to make them more competitive.

This study offers insight into international audience reception of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) communication. Swedish companies are currently reaching international audiences through a variety of social media channels and this study analyzes how audiences in Sweden and the U.S. respond to specific messages.   Qualitative interviews with professionals offer background information on how CSR is currently communicated while audience responses to CSR communication are gathered through a web-based survey and focus groups consisting of American and Swedish citizens.   Results indicate that the two countries have more similarities than differences. Americans have a slightly more positive outlook on the communication and they are more likely to look up information about CSR initiatives after hearing a corporate message. This might indicate a more profound interest. Cultural and social differences are given as a possible explanation for the key differences.

Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Centro de Comunicação e Expressão.
Made available in DSpace on 2012-10-18T00:51:33Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0Bitstream added on 2014-09-25T17:18:15Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 143326.pdf: 6891677 bytes, checksum: 39129b078fc487d3b018693c52dd85f6 (MD5)
Recepção da ficção de John Updike na mídia brasileira que tenta resgatar, dentro de uma perspectiva histórica, o que foi dito sobre o romancista no Brasil. Propõe verificar quais valores foram atribuídos a sua ficção ao longo de 30 anos de sua recepção aqui. Utiliza a teoria da estética da recepção de Hans Robert Jauss e também a noção de comunidades interpretativas da crítica de Stanley Fish para definir o grupo de jornalistas que escreveram sobre Updike no Brasil. A maneira como os jornalistas perceberam o trabalho do romancista produziu valores para sua ficção no contexto brasileiro. Visto que os valores atribuídos à ficção de Updike experimentaram mudanças, o estudo da recepção está dividido em 3 períodos que revelam expectativas diferentes dos jornalistas, que são considerados os leitores da ficção de Updike no Brasil. Tais períodos estão associados a publicações dos romances aqui, a seu reconhecimento mundial como artista maior, e a sua visita ao Brasil.

The dissertation examines the early reception of Piers Plowman through the responses of the poem's early readers and copyists in order to revive the context in which the poem was originally read and understood. These responses are derived from manuscript evidence. The dissertation is divided into five chapters, and begins with an examination of the background to the study, previous work on and assumptions about the reception of the poem. This is followed by a discussion of the theory of reception of literary works, and its relevance to MS studies, thus setting out the theoretical basis of the dissertation. A brief discussion of methodology follows. The next three chapters analyse the evidence from the MSS, examining respectively the contributions of the professional book producers in terms of layout, decoration and rubrication; readers' comments, usually in the form of marginalia; and the contribution of the scribes, through alteration of the text. The concluding chapter draws together the evidence from all three areas of analysis and discusses the relevance of the study to the understanding of the poem. There are four appendices, the first providing a list of early poems associated with Piers Plowman in the sixteenth century, and a list of names associated with the poem before Robert Crowley printed the poem in 1550. The other three appendices provide evidence from the MSS, respectively descriptions of all the Piers Plowman MSS; all the professional rubrication from the MSS; full readers' annotation from selected MSS, Digby MS 145, BL Additional 35287, Douce MS 104, and BL Additional 35157, the reader's wordlist from CUL L1 4.14, and glossed words from TCD MS 212. These appendices are included to provide as much evidence as possible from the MSS in a readily accessible form.

This research explores Iranian audiences of Farsi Christian satellite channels. It considers what the narratives and interviews of participants of this research reveal about the way audiences interact and negotiate with both religious broadcasts and their socio-political or religious contexts. What are the motivating factors that led the audiences first to watch Christian channels and secondly, where relevant, to change or add to their religious belief system? For those whose faith was transformed, how did this process happen according to their self-declared stories? Expressions of belief are analysed in order to consider their different understandings of religion, faith and their own belief system. The research also studies the triangular relationships between the audience, Farsi Christian media, and the audience’s culture(s). It is therefore a study of Farsi Christian channel audiences, their motivations in viewing the Christian message, their methods of interpretation and negotiations with different media texts, and their process of changing or altering their religion, using the concept of conversion as a tool of analysis. More specifically, I investigate the motivations of those in the audience of the four Farsi Christian satellite channels who stated that they had become Christians through that medium. I will examine factors that influenced both their interpretations of and negotiations with the religious media message, and their process of changing, adding to or modifying their belief system, including their understanding of religious conversion. My research investigates the interactions and negotiations between meaning making and mediation, and the process of faith transformation within Reception Theory against the background of the sociology of religion and culture in contemporary Iran. This research contributes to three areas of study: media reception (largely religious television) and sociology of religion and culture, mostly from the point of view of selfidentified conversion; Media, Religion and Culture, mainly using audiences’ interactions and negotiations methods with the channels, and the religion of Islam and Christianity in the Iranian political-cultural context. This involved analysing three hundred narratives drawn from audiences of four Farsi Christian satellite television channels, during the period between 2010 and 2015, as well as fifteen semi-structured interviews, two focus group discussions and a telephone survey. The argument develops over nine chapters. Chapter one provides the socio-political and religious context of the Iranian audience as well as presenting literature reviews and methodology, while Chapter two gives the Iranian (state and society) understanding of religion (din and mazhab) and of globalisation, as well as discussing the satellite channel usage. Chapter three introduces the four Farsi Christian satellite channels using data from interviews channel directors. Chapter four analyses the two focus groups’ discussion of the central question: how do audiences interact and negotiate with the Christian message presented on the channels? Chapters five, six and seven examine the participants’ narratives and interviews using respectively experimenting, negotiating and resisting attitudes of participants. Chapter eight discusses and analyses the findings, the conclusion sets out the implications, contributions and limitations of the research.

Although efforts have been made by the Afghan government and its international partners to promote the tents of gender equality in Afghan society, biases against women and other marginalized groups persist in the society and media sector, particularly. The current study is a timely research because feminist media studies are an under-researched field in the context of Afghanistan. My research aims to be a contribution to this field and open a path for Afghan feminist media studies. The current study explores the representations of gender relations in transnational television soap operas broadcast on Afghan television stations, audiences’ decoding of the representations, and the role of the media in promoting social change. The selected soap operas for the study are Paiman and Qesay Maa, Turkish television soap operas dubbed in the Dari language. The current study is based on feminist theory and feminist methodology, providing a balance of content and reception analysis. Drawing on feminist media studies and focusing on media representations, the content analysis of transnational soap operas echoed previous studies on representations of gender relations and indicated that gender relations are often portrayed in stereotypical and traditional manners. The content analysis further demonstrated that women are objectified in different ways and are often represented as domestic, passive, selfless beings in men’s service. Moreover, relationships between women are often based on rivalry, hatred, and shaming and often without any particular reason. The study also found that contrary to women, men are often represented at outdoor and professional settings. Additionally, grounded on encoding/decoding model through a feminist lens, the thematic analysis of focus group discussions demonstrated that audiences constantly interact with media text and actively make meaning. Interestingly, FGD findings further indicated that as active viewers, both female and male participants, derive multiple and often diverse meanings from the media text. Although both female and male participants problematize the content of transnational soap operas, their interpretations of representations of gender relations and gender equality are dissimilar. The study concludes that transnational soap operas, and the media in general, can play an important role in promoting social change in Afghanistan, particularly gender parity through the Entertainment-Education strategy. However, an intersectional framework is essential in designing EE programmes for promoting gender equality in a diverse society like Afghanistan.

In this essay a mediated video game reception of the game Life Is Strange is made, with the purpose of examining the players' meaning-making processes from a gender perspective. The materials of this essay consist of videos from six different YouTube channels where each player film themselves whilst playing through Life Is Strange as a way to review and share the gaming experience. The results show how the meaning-making processes are littered with gender discourses and affects. The affects offset discourses by amplification or by revealing discord between available cultural narratives and the simulated reality of the game. Even though the game highlights themes like female-centric relationships, suicide, euthanasia, lesbianism, socio-economic circumstances, social accountability and men's violence against women, it successfully delivers highly involving, enjoyable and appreciated gameplay experience. The game is shown to provide players with a platform around which they can connect and continue to discuss, raise awareness and produce knowledge around these important topics. The fan generated culture will in turn, reach a much larger audience than the game sales numbers reflect.

Treated in seminar at Stockholm University

The aim of this study is to explore advertising and in particular advertising reception as a significant part of contemporary social practice. Although advertising in some form has been a feature of a wide range of societies, historically and culturally, its economic and social importance has perhaps never been greater. Advertising, across the industrial period and in particular since the Second World War, has through the entrenchment of market economies and the development of different media technologies increased its reach and density through a variety of means. It has become a significant media form, received by audiences differentiated by social, economic, spatial and other factors. This study enquires into the nature of audience reception of advertising through an exploration and application of the encoding/decoding media model. The study argues that attention to the textual and formal elements of the model need to be given greater emphasis and the decoding aspect of the model broadened to deal with a complexity of contextual factors contributing to the process. Advertising media by their nature are comprised of different formal and presentational means. The study focuses on newsprint, television and billboard and other outdoor advertising. The public and private environments in which these forms appear can be characterised through the social and symbolic difference between the domestic environment in which much television is viewed and the outdoor urban environment in which much billboard advertising appears. These are recognised as contributory elements in the reception of advertising and any significance the advert may have for its audience. Audience decoding of advertisements is then a combination of producer intent and a complexity of contributory factors brought to or found in the decoding process. This includes a recognition of various ways of seeing associated with different media forms and social and spatial circumstances and the presentation and reception of adverts as part of a flow of advertising and of a wider social experience. The relation between adverts and other texts also has important intertextual consequences for reception. In the process of decoding, it will be argued that social groups can be understood to act as interpretive communities and a process of advertising diffusion can be observed. Three empirical case studies form a survey of mainly car or car related advertising, featuring television, billboard and newsprint advertising, and highlight a range of possible decodings. The significance of historical and social factors is confirmed as important in securing particular readings of advertisements, and spatial, environmental and contextual features are emphasised in this survey. The survey acknowledges the significance of advertising form and medium and highlights the circumstances in which negotiated and oppositional readings may occur. This study re-emphasises that advertising texts form their signification within a complex arrangement of synchronic and diachronic circumstances in which immediate social and environmental factors should be accorded further significance in the study of advertising. The study concludes with a reflection on its methods and procedures and a consideration of further work that might be carried out in the area of empirical advertising studies. In the interest of a richer understanding of advertising, further research would acknowledge the complexities of audience reception and might include an enquiry into further advertising contexts and environments.

La interpretació en llengua de signes (ILS) és un dels principals serveis d’accessibilitat als mitjans audiovisuals, juntament amb l’àudiodescripció i la subtitulació. Tot i la seva rellevància, la recerca en aquest camp és incipient. Actualment, les organitzacions de radiotelevisió que ofereixen aquests serveis no compten encara amb guies de bones pràctiques basades en resultats empírics. Aquesta tesi té com a finalitat cobrir parcialment aquest buit de coneixement a partir de l’estudi dels paràmetres formals que afecten la llegibilitat de la ILS i la lectura dels diferents elements visuals de la composició de la pantalla televisiva. El marc conceptual d’aquesta recerca conjumina dos models complementaris sobre els drets dels usuaris de la LS: (1) el model inclusiu d’accessibilitat i (2) el doble estatus social d’aquest grup, com a persones amb una discapacitat sensorial i com a membres d’una comunitat lingüística minoritària. Aquesta tesi té dos objectius: d’una banda, (1) identificar els paràmetres formals d’inserció de la ILS i els seus efectes en l’accessibilitat als contingut televisats. De l’altra, (2) estudiar la recepció i el processament d’un documental interpretat a la LS emprant diferents dissenys. La investigació implementa mètodes mixtos seguint un disseny exploratori seqüencial que integra tres etapes: (1) un estudi inicial qualitatiu, (2) una etapa intermèdia de desenvolupament de l’instrument de mesura psicomètrica i (3) una etapa final amb l’estudi preeminent de naturalesa quantitativa. La primera fase es va dissenyar amb l’objectiu de recollir dades qualitatives de dos dels principals grups d’interès del servei d’ILS a la TV: (1) les intèrprets professionals i (2) els sords signants com a principals usuaris dels serveis d’accessibilitat. Els resultats d’aquesta primera fase de recerca suggereixen que la velocitat i la mida de la intèrpret a la pantalla són els paràmetres formals més importants pel que fa a la llegibilitat, mentre que la posició pot ser un dels paràmetres que condicionen la lectura dels diferents elements visuals de la pantalla. Aquests resultats varen constituir la base per al desenvolupament de les fases posteriors de recerca. L’etapa intermèdia tenia com a objectiu desenvolupar una eina de recollida de dades que pogués implementar un qüestionari accessible en LS i que constituís un instrument vàlid i fiable per avaluar el record visual d’informació en LS. L’etapa quantitativa final va incloure dos estudis experimentals: (1) la captura dels moviments oculars per estudiar els patrons de distribució de l’atenció visual dels signants sords a la pantalla de TV amb ILS incrustada i (2) les proves de record mitjançant qüestionaris de memòria per mesurar l’accessibilitat del contingut. A partir d’aquestes proves quantitatives de recepció, es pot concloure que, a l’hora de produir continguts audiovisuals accessibles que inclouen una finestra per a la ILS en un format televisiu de pantalla dividida, la mida en combinació amb la posició a la pantalla són factors importants a tenir en compte. Els resultats mostren que el format de pantalla òptim per a l’accessibilitat als contingut audiovisuals s’obté mitjançant la combinació d’una finestra de mida mitjana per a la ILS a l’esquerra de la pantalla. Tot i que la visualització de continguts televisius en LS és una tasca complexa que requereix atenció dividida, els resultats d’aquesta tesi mostren que implementar els paràmetres òptims pot tenir un impacte positiu en la llegibilitat i la lectura dels continguts i, en definitiva, sobre la usabilitat i l’accessibilitat global. Aquesta tesi constitueix un primer pas cap a la realització de futurs tests de recepció de la LS dins del camp de l’accessibilitat als mitjans i la traducció audiovisual.
La interpretación en lengua de signos (ILS) es uno de los principales servicios de accesibilidad a los medios audiovisuales, junto con la subtitulación y la audiodescripción. Pese a su relevancia, la investigación de los servicios en lengua de signos (LS) en el campo de la accesibilidad a los medios es incipiente. Actualmente, las radiotelevisiones que ofrecen este servicio no cuentan aún con guías de buenas prácticas basadas en resultados empíricos. Esta tesis doctoral tiene como finalidad cubrir parcialmente este vacío de conocimiento a partir del estudio de los parámetros formales que afectan a la legibilidad de la ILS y la lectura de los diferentes elementos visuales en pantalla televisiva. El marco conceptual de esta investigación combina dos modelos complementarios sobre los derechos de los sordos signantes: (1) el modelo inclusivo de accesibilidad y (2) el doble estatus social de este grupo, como personas con una discapacidad sensorial y como miembros de una comunidad lingüística minoritaria. Esta tesis tiene dos objetivos: por un lado, (1) identificar los parámetros formales de inserción de la ILS y sus efectos en la accesibilidad a contenidos televisados; por otro, (2) estudiar la recepción y el procesamiento de un documental con inserción de la ILS empleando diferentes diseños de pantalla. La investigación implementa métodos mixtos siguiendo un diseño exploratorio secuencial que integra tres fases: (1) un estudio inicial cualitativo, (2) una fase intermedia de desarrollo del instrumento de medida y (3) la ulterior fase principal cuantitativa con el estudio de recepción. La fase cualitativa fue diseñada para recoger datos exploratorios de los principales grupos de interés del servicio de ILS en la TV: (1) las intérpretes profesionales y (2) los sordos usuarios de la LS, como principales usuarios del servicio de accesibilidad. Los resultados sugieren que los parámetros formales más importantes en cuanto a legibilidad son la velocidad y el tamaño de la intérprete, mientras que la posición puede ser uno de los parámetros que condicionan la lectura de los diferentes elementos visuales de la pantalla. Estos resultados constituyeron la base para el desarrollo de las fases posteriores de investigación. La fase intermedia tenía como objetivo desarrollar una herramienta de recogida de datos que pudiera implementar un cuestionario accesible en LS y que constituyera un instrumento válido y fiable para evaluar el recuerdo visual de información en LS. La fase cuantitativa final incluyó dos estudios experimentales (1) la captación de los movimientos oculares para estudiar los patrones de exploración y distribución de la atención visual en la pantalla de TV con ILS y (2) las pruebas de memoria mediante cuestionarios de recuerdo visual y lingüístico del contenido. A partir de estas pruebas cuantitativas de recepción, se puede concluir que a la hora de producir contenidos audiovisuales accesibles que incluyen una ventana para la ILS en un formato televisivo de pantalla dividida, el tamaño en combinación con la posición en la pantalla son dos factores importantes a tener en cuenta. Los resultados muestran que el formato de pantalla óptimo para la accesibilidad se obtienen mediante la combinación de una ventana para la ILS de tamaño medio (1/4 del ancho de pantalla) a la izquierda de la pantalla. Aunque la visualización de contenidos televisivos en LS es una tarea compleja que requiere atención dividida, los resultados de esta tesis muestran que implementar los parámetros óptimos tiene un impacto positivo en la legibilidad y la lectura de los contenidos y, en definitiva, sobre la usabilidad y la accesibilidad. Esta tesis constituye un primer paso hacia la realización de futuros tests de recepción de la LS dentro del campo de la accesibilidad a los medios y la traducción audiovisual.
Sign language interpreting (SLI) is the third major media accessibility service along with audio description and subtitling. Although SLI first appeared on TV nearly seventy years ago, the field of media accessibility on SLI still lacks critical investigation on tested te- chniques to produce guidelines that can constitute best practice for both broadcasters and stakeholders. This PhD thesis has the purpose of partially filling this knowledge gap by studying the formal parameters that affect legibility and readability of the sign langua- ge on the screen. It is framed within two complementary conceptual models regarding deaf sign language users' rights: (1) the inclusive model of accessibility and (2) the dual category status, where deaf signers are regarded as both persons with a disability and as members of a minority language group, namely a Sign Language Community. This dissertation is exploratory in nature and has two aims: (1) to identify the SLI on-screen parameters and their relevance to content accessibility and SLI service usability and (2) to explore the reception and processing of different split screen composites including sign-interpreted content -combining two variables- by deaf sign language service users in a documentary film. Within a mixed methods research approach, an ins- trument-development variant of an exploratory sequential design was implemented in order to meet the research aims. The research consisted of three steps: (1) an initial quali- tative phase; (2) an intermediate instrument development phase and (3) a final prioritised quantitative phase. First, the qualitative phase was designed to collect open-ended information from two stakeholder groups: one including semi-structured interviews with professional sign lan- guage interpreters working on TV, the other including focus groups with deaf sign lan- guage participants that were TV access service users. The results suggest that the speed rate and size of the interpreter on the screen were the most important formal parametersaffecting legibility while position may be related to screen readability. These findings provided informed choices to develop the next research phases. The intermediate phase aimed to develop a data collection tool that could implement an accessible and reliable questionnaire to assess information recall in sign language. The final quantitative phase aimed to gather close-ended information on both users' behaviour and performance. It included two experimental studies, the first using eye-tracking techniques to analyse deaf signers visual attention allocation patterns on sign-interpreted TV and the second using recall tests to analyse content accessibility. From the quantitative reception tests, it can be concluded that size in combination with on-screen position are two important factors to consider when producing AV works including signing in a TV split screen design. The results show that the most balanced information content recall scores are obtained using a mid-sized interpreter's window screen in a left position displaying the scene screen on the right. From this finding, it can be concluded that this split screen composite format encompasses the optimal combination of features for the size and position para- meters to access broadcast documentary contents. Although watching audiovisual contents with signing services is a complex task requiring divided attention, the results from the user tests show that implementing the optimal pa- rameters can have a positive impact on the SLI service legibility and readability and, ulti- mately, on service usability and content accessibility. This novel methodology combining users' opinions and measuring their psychological responses in a controlled reception test will hopefully constitute a first step towards conducting future research in the field of SLI in media accessibility and audiovisual translation studies.

The transgender community in India, commonly known as hijras, consists of people who were born as males but address themselves as females. They have been considered as the third gender in India for millennia and have had specific religious and sociocultural values and roles, but are forced to live in shadows in this day and age. Isolation of this community is also reflected in the way transgender characters are represented in Indian entertainment media. The study analyses two transgender themed films semiotically and the audience reception of those representations by 20 members of the transgender community. Semiotics is a helpful tool to understand the ways signs communicate ideas to viewers. This study applies syntagmatic and paradigmatic analyses to understand how images are used to represent and relay information to the audience. Reception theory along with double colonization has been incorporated in this study to analyse the ways in which the transgender community interprets the representations in entertainment media.

Lately, the trailer for the game “Battlefield V” received a massive backlash from the players of the Battlefield franchise due to the fact that the game inspired by World War II featured a woman as the main character. This research set out to investigate how female elements are interpreted in a traditional male-dominated digital space, and aims to highlight the elements to consider when introducing a female lead character in a video game. The method employed was the critical discourse analysis method (CDA) which interprets discourse by drawing out the implicit meanings in texts. The analysis sought to discern the elements depicting the woman soldier in the online discourse around the game that originated from the controversy. The interpretation of the results is based on the reception theory, as well as the concept of identification and develop around the theory of gender and media and game theory (ludology). The results revealed that the perception of women as a role, from a presence and aesthetic perspective in a virtual space, is influenced by gender roles and the reception of History. Another conclusion is that when giving a female character the main role, with all the attributes of a male character, it seems to confuse the players, resulting in that they cannot identify themselves with the avatar. In addition, the physical appearance contributes to the identification with a character and confirms the precedent studies about male players identifying with male players. The findings support the autonomy of historical understanding and its connection to visual culture in order to explain the phenomenon. As a consequence, the rejection of the main character has led to the creation of a community built around the online discourse and the imbalance of gender values, favorising masculinity over femininity.

Jag är bland de första studenterna som genomgått en utbildning med huvudämnet Kultur Medier och Estetiska uttrycksformer. Syftet är att undersöka hur relevanta mina mediekunskaper är för verksamheten ute på skolorna. Jag har gjort ett medieprojket i en åk 2-3. Min frågeställning är: Hur kan styrdokumentens direktiv om medieundervisning omsättas i praktiken? Jag har använt mig av enkät, video, intervju och dagboksanteckningar som metodunderlag. Elever kan förhålla sig kritiska till media. Men det förutsätter att vi lär dom utifrån deras erfarenhetsområden och fokuserar på estetisk form istället för innehåll. Att använda media i undervisning kan ge upphov till en både individuell och social process. Det råder stor osäkerhet bland pedagoger hur mediaundervisning ska utformas. Därför tvivlar jag inte på att mina kunskaper är relevanta i skolpraktiken.

Despite the long history of stand-up comedy as a distinct form of popular entertainment, there has been little sociological attention given to its cultural significance. Comedians have arguably become legitimate and visible voices in many public conversations about social issues and social justice. This dissertation explores the cultural work of women’s comedy in popular culture. Specifically, I examine narrative representation and audience reception of women’s stand-up comedy through multi-method qualitative inquiry. First, I analyze stand-up performances by popular U.S. comedians Amy Schumer, Wanda Sykes, and Margaret Cho. Through narrative analysis, I focus on the ironic performativity of Schumer and the charged styles of Sykes and Cho, and I discuss how these women use humor (in different but overlapping ways) to challenge dominant cultural narratives pertaining to gender, race, and sexuality. Second, I conduct an audience reception analysis using focus groups in order to better understand how people consume and interpret stand-up comedy. Due to the polysemic nature of comedy and satire, audiences decode these texts in a myriad of ways. My analysis shows how different audiences perceive the comedian as unpacking social “truths” in comedy. I elaborate these audience decoding positions, discuss the layers of interpretation (i.e., intersectional positionality and interpretive frameworks), and discuss how participants negotiate symbolic boundaries around what is deemed funny or topically appropriate for comics to say. My findings further highlight the importance of identity in critical referential viewing by incorporating standpoint epistemologies. In particular, audience members of marginalized social groups experience a “bifurcated consciousness” (Smith 1974) in their interpretations compared to those from dominant identity groups, and women and minority audience members are more likely to interpret these performances as counterhegemonic texts.

This thesis develops a social semiotic analysis of pedagogic communication in a media studies course which the author taught from 1993 until 1997. The author taught the course as part of an undergraduate honours degree about science, culture and communication in a university in the UK. The analysis describes the structuring of pedagogic practice on the level of the curriculum, and within the author's own "Communicating Science" module. The analysis also describes student receptions of pedagogic practice. The research reveals the extent to which pedagogic communication served to sustain the order which the degree was designed to contest: an order based on positivist conceptions of science, science communication, and therein, media theory and practice. The thesis concludes by proposing a theory of instruction which is designed to enable students to acquire the rules of realisation for more critical forms of science communication.

Finland’s Biggest Dress Party – A Study of the Role of Women’s Appearances at the Independence Day Reception, aims to understand the role of dresses at Finland’s Independence Day Reception by focusing on how the reception has earned a title “Finland’s biggest dress party”, and meanings behind the dresses. The aims are studied combining fashion and media studies in three analytical chapters focusing on the media’s development and influence, how the dresses work as a communication tool and what kind of messages are sent through dresses, and Finnishness and national identity in the dresses. The chapters are linked to each other by the importance of the communication between the dresses, the media and the audience during the hype around the Independence Day Reception. The study is based on interviews, which were conducted with seven reception guests and three dress designers, archival studies, visual culture studies and (fashion) media discourse. The study draws on theories by Roland Barthes, Malcolm Barnard and Erving Goffman.

Drawing on the fieldwork in a village community in Eastern Thailand, Ban Noen PutsaPluak Ked, this thesis explores the complex relationships between processes of globaIisation, representations in the mainstream media and activist media; and villagers' responses to change. The research, summarised here has three interrelated objectives: First, to examine how globalisation and industrialisation are represented in the mainstream and activist media. Second, to investigate the role played by the activist media in promoting counter visions of possible futures. Thirdly, to investigate the practices and ideas that local people have developed to resist or accept globalisation. The research employs a multi-method approach combining ethnographic methods, a questionnaire survey; textual analysis; and focus groups. The findings point to a complex relationship between mediated representations and visions of modernity. They also demonstrate that villagers' responses are strongly stratified by age, length of residence, and relation to the pivot of the new industriaIisation- a major chemical plant and that they remain strongly influenced by the crucial nexus of traditional Thai society, the patron client system. Additionally, content analysis and critical discourse analysis suggest that Thai news television programmes reproduced both the ideology of globalism and the celebration of consumerism. Moreover, the voices of marginalized groups and local people are also absent from the activist media.

The study was conducted in Phitshane-Molopo in Botswana. Phitshane-Molopo is located about 115 kilometers south of the main village of Kanye in which the Rural Industries Innovation Centre operates. The study constitutes the first attempt at evaluating audience reach and reception of the RIIC media messages. In this study, a sample of 50 representatives of households (the rationale is covered in chapter 1) was taken, for which a questionnaire was administered, including conducting in-depth interviews with key informants. The study found that RIlC media are not reaching the audience in keeping with the corporate goals and assumptions on the basis of which the communication strategy was established. The audience has claimed that the print media relayed to them through the extension officer channel do not reach them. The study also found that the audience possessed adequate literacy skills and the majority of them could read materials produced in Setswana. Only a few individuals preferred media text produced in the English language. The study therefore deplores RIIC's proclivity towards producing its media texts only in the English language. This has tended to marginalise members of the audience who cannot read in English. It is thus hoped that this study would provide a learning experience for RIIC to consider producing its communication media in relation to the needs of the audience. The study also found that the impact of the RIIC radio programme is very poor, with only a low of 2% of the sample population having listened to this programme. The problem stems from the poor Radio Botswana transmission system. The audience said that for the larger part of the day, they can't get Radio Botswana on air. As a result, they have shifted their interest to the South African radio stations such as Radio Tswana and Radio Mmabatho, which are constantly on air. The study concludes that the RIIC communication strategy is failing in the study area because the paradigm in which it is located is somewhat flawed, as a result of which it does not effectively impact upon reach and reception. At the core of this failure rate are implementation problems and the lack of evaluation that would have picked up the - problems earlier, for which solutions would have been found. Consequently, th~$tudy recommends the need to explore the suitability and effectiveness of the indigenous media for possible syncretization with conventional media as recommended in the need based integrative model (Nwosu and Megwa: 1993). Indigenous media are ideally suited to rural communication needs because they are consistent with the socio-cultural expectations of the audience. RIIC therefore stands to benefit from these media because the bulk of its audience resides in rural areas.

In light of the recent trend of body positive advertisements, the question arises if they are having the positive outcome intended. The purpose of this study is to investigate how women create meaning in relation to two recently launched body positive commercials from KappAhl and Lindex. This is explored through studying how women experience and assess the selected ads, how they perceive body positive advertisements more generally, and how they experience their potential to change the perception of the ideal body in society. The primary material consisted of semi-structured interviews which were analyzed through Schrøder’s multidimensional model of media reception, objectification theory and commodity feminism. The main results showed that the reception of the body positive message is complex. Overall, the women had a predominantly positive attitude towards both the ads and body positive messages in general. Regarding the advertisements, the main critique concerned the authenticity of the message, where the women emphasized the importance of genuine and realistic portrayals of both the models and the scenarios in the ads. Body positive messages were generally perceived as creating identification and representation of diversity, as well as broadening the view of what is normal. A recurrent critique was that companies are exploiting a trend which led to the women questioning the companies’ intentions. Concerning the potential to change the perception of the ideal body, the conclusion is that it would be possible through long term exposure and more companies contributing to the change. This research provides insights regarding how distancing women from the negative effects of the thin ideal can contribute to strengthening their prosperity and empowering them.

By examining viewer reception of female antagonists in traditionally feminine roles on television—particularly the role of wives and mothers who have husbands to answer to and children to look after and are thus expected, in some form, to act as a caretaker or guide for others—we can explore modern societal attitudes towards female agency and gender-based expectations of behavior.

Lifestyle blogging has become a vast and profitable domain, with visitors engaging with new content in a variety of ways. The communities that begin to form around these blogs has rarely been analyzed, due to a lack of metrics and a complex definition of virtual communities. Relying on Henry Jenkins work on virtual communities, a set of metrics were used to analyze the depth and breadth of three communities: A Cup of Jo, Wit & Delight, and Cupcakes and Cashmere. The three areas these metrics worked to measure were: awareness, membership, and belonging. Through this audience reception study the clear marker of a community was the direct and systematic blogger engagement with the readership. Many other factors are influential in building a virtual community on a blog, however, what set the three blogs apart was the ways in which Joanna Goddard (A Cup of Jo) and Kate Arends (Wit & Delight) reached out and built relationships with their readers, strengthening their community and allowing it to thrive.

Portrayals of sexual and/or domestic violence committed by men against women appear in the television schedules and in movie theatres on almost a daily basis. There is a long established tradition of concern about how depictions of violence in the audiovisual media can impact on audiences. However, minimal consideration has been given to what kind of discursive 'messages' such portrayals might contain and how audiences engage with these. This research explores to what extent audio-visual portrayals of violence against women might offer certain ways of reading and understanding that violence, and how women audiences interpret these. It investigates this through both textual and reception analyses, with the framework through which reception is examined being directly related to the textual material itself. The study assesses to what degree audio-visual texts are capable of structuring audience interpretation, and whether there is any direct relationship between this and how women viewers actually read the texts. Four audio-visual products are examined: the Hollywood film The Accused; an episode of the soap opera EastEnders; the television play Closing Ranks; and an edition of Crimewatch UK. Ninety one women, formed into 14 focus groups, participated in the reception research. Half of these women had experienced violence of a domestic and/or sexual nature, whilst the other half had no experience of such violence. Groups further varied in terms of nationality (Scottish and English), class (working-class and middle-class) and ethnic background (white, Asian and Afro-Caribbean). The research demonstrates that neither audio-visual texts nor their reception can be considered outwith an appreciation of how social and cultural factors influence both. The media are involved in the circulation of cultural meanings about acts of violence against women and in mediating this cannot help but draw on existing discourses which surround such violence. As audiences, women also draw on their socialised conceptions of such violence, though how they engage with and read its representation is affected by their social and cultural positionings and their own lived experiences.

Uppsatsens syfte är att analysera hur genus är konstruerat i fyra relationer i TV-serierna Buffy och vampyrerna och Angel. Målet är att ta reda på om karaktärerna har en traditionell, delad eller omvänd genuskonstruktion. Uppsatsen kommer att undersöka både hur maskulinitet och femininitet är konstruerat textuellt och hur relationerna uppfattas av en grupp fans. Studien kommer att redogöra för skillnader och likheter mellan de fyra paren. Paren som ingår i analysen är Buffy & Angel, Willow & Tara, Buffy & Spike liksom Angel & Cordy.

Studien är baserad på feministiska teorier av Liesbet Van Zoonen, Judith Butler och Lena Gemzöe. Men kommer också att inkludera en tillbakablick på hur genus representerades på TV under 1970 och 1980-talet som är presenterat av Barrie Gunter och hur uppfattningen av genus har ändrats sen dess. Några specifika teman som kommer att analyseras i uppsatsen är tv våld, sexualitet och egenskaper som anses mer manliga eller kvinnliga. Göran Erikssons teorier om receptionsstudier spelar också en viktig roll i detta kapitel. Teorikapitlet innehåller dock även några teorier om fankultur av John Fiske, Henry Jenkins, Lawrence Grossberg, John B. Thompson och Joli Jenson.

Metoden som används i uppsatsen är att göra en receptionsstudie med två lika stora delar. Den första delen är en semiotisk text analys baserad på teorier om TV koder av John Fiske. De valda koderna är utseende, kamera, handlingar och ljud och dialog. Urvalet för den semiotiska text analysen var totalt 35 scener från elva avsnitt av serierna. Den andra delen utgjordes av en kvalitativ intervjustudie med 16 fans av serierna och är baserad på metoder av Thomas R Lindlof och Larsåke Larsson. Metodkapitlet tar också hänsyn till några metodproblem och etiska frågor som uppstår när man intervjuar människor för en studie.

Uppsatsens semiotiska analys visade att TV koderna ger Buffy & Angel och Cordy & Angel en traditionell genus konstruktion där hon är kvinna och han är man. Även fast karaktärerna också har vissa drag som normalt tillskrivs det andra könet. Karaktären Buffy i synnerlighet har en delad genuskonstruktion, då hennes manliga sida kommer ut i hennes relation med Spike. Buffy & Spike och Willow & Tara har en delad genuskonstruktion där Willow och Buffy har flest manliga drag. Koderna av utseende och kamera reproducerar patriarkat mest medan koder som ljud, dialog, händelser och narrativ ger en mer komplex delad genuskonstruktion. Intervjustudien visade att de flesta fansen delade min tolkning av karaktärernas genuskonstruktion, men att de mediala texterna är öppna för motsatta och förhandlade tolkningar med. Det fanns vissa skillnader från mina tolkningar då fansen tillskrev Spike högre nivåer av kvinnlighet och Willow mer maskulinitet än jag gjort. Deras uppfattning av de specifika paren varierar också mycket beroende på deras egna åsikter och värderingar och alla fansen gör en tolkning som de föredrar.

Mina resultat ger stöd till tidigare forskning om genus på Buffy av Arwin Spicer, Susan A. Owens och Frances Early. De ger också stöd till tidigare forskning om fankultur och jag tycker att teorierna av John Fiske och Liesbet Van Zoonen i synnerlighet har varit användbara under uppsatsskrivandet. Trots att karaktären Buffy är mer kvinnlig än man först hade kunnat tro och att vissa fördomar lever kvar sedan 1970-talet så har Buffy hjälpt till att utveckla tv-landskapet. Intervjupersonerna i den här uppsatsen accepterar homosexualitet på TV. Serien visar även att det är okej för kvinnor att slås tillbaks och skickar ut ett feministiskt meddelande i det avseendet att intervjupersonerna anser att kvinnlig frigörelse är en bra sak och att Buffy är en förebild. För fortsatta studier vore det intressant att ta reda på hur feministiska nyare TV-serier är och vilken effekt serier som Buffy haft på den generationen som växte upp medan de tittade på den.

The purpose of this study is to clarify university students’, between the ages of 18 and 25 years, awareness of and attitudes towards greenwashing in advertising as well as understand a potential connection between their awareness and attitudes and their perceived environmental engagement. One quantitative method and one qualitative method were used to collect data; an online survey with 148 respondents was conducted, and three separate focus group interviews were held and later transcribed and analyzed through a qualitative text analysis. Two theoretical frameworks were used: Stuart Hall’s encoding/decoding model to process audience reception and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) to process the topic of greenwashing. The results of the study showed that the students’ awareness of greenwashing was high and that their attitudes were almost exclusively negative towards it. The students’ awareness of greenwashing was shown to possibly affect their decoding of advertisements, as they tended to have more positive attitudes towards advertisements in which they judged greenwashing to not be very prominent. The students’ perceived environmental engagement could be linked to their awareness of greenwashing but no clear connection between their perceived environmental engagement and their attitudes towards greenwashing could be found. Our conclusion states that greenwashing may become an increasingly ineffective advertising strategy in the future, as current students, who have the ability to see through and not be deceived by greenwashing, will be in decision-making positions within a couple of decades and may demand stricter regulations.

Syftet med studien var att utforska hur barn beskriver sin tolkning av filmen Frost, i egenskap av en multimedial text, samt hur barnen ser på filmen utifrån lärandebegreppet. Filmen ses som multimedial då den bland annat kommunicerar med visuella, auditiva, och språkliga intryck. Receptionsteori beskriver att hur åskådare skapar mening av ett medium är beroende av den sociala kontexten och individens tidigare erfarenheter. Detta gjorde studiens problemområde komplext. Studiens ambition var att genom observation, enkäter och intervjuer försöka få en inblick i barns upplevelser av filmen. Studien fokuserade på hur barn tolkar en fiktiv berättelse, hur barn kunde identifiera sig i en sådan samt hur de såg filmen som ett föremål för lärande. Studien utforskade även om det förekom skillnader mellan flickors och pojkars svar. Resultatet åskådliggjorde att barn i hög grad använder sina egna erfarenheter när de skapar mening ur en berättelse. Det visade även att barn identifierar sig med karaktärer utefter olika karaktärsdrag i form av utseende, personlighet och egenskaper. Här förekom det skillnader mellan vad flickor och pojkar fokuserade på i identifikationsprocessen. Studiens resultat pekade även på att barnen hade svårigheter i att se hur denna typ av film kunde bidra till deras eget lärande. Samtidigt tydde deras svar på omedvetet relationellt lärande. Barnens syn på lärande visade på att de ansåg att nya kunskaper kräver ämnesspecifika nyttoaspekter för att räknas som lärande och att lärarens roll är avgörande.

This thesis examines the nature of the relationship between Shelley and the thought, politics, and discursive practices of Owenism and Chartism. Its objects of analysis are Owenite periodicals and Chartist newspapers, which I theorise as active in the process of transmission and reception. This thesis locates the reception and transmission of Shelley’s poetry and politics within the broader context of the movements’ political and social commitments. It makes an original contribution to knowledge by demonstrating that the movements used Shelley’s poetry critically and with discrimination. It also argues that Owenite and Chartist approaches to Shelley changed as the movements developed over time in response to historical pressures. I argue that a cultural materialist approach enables us to reconsider the nature of Shelley’s influence and popularity within these movements, something that has become a critical commonplace. It also allows us to distinguish between Owenite and Chartist ‘Shelleys’. I argue that the Owenite periodicals the Crisis and the New Moral World produced a qualitatively different Shelley from the one that emerged in Chartist newspapers such as the Northern Star. Although there was a degree of overlap between the two movements in terms of social commitments and personnel, the parameters set by the formal qualities and discursive strategies of the movements’ print cultures allowed different Shelleys to emerge within them. In terms of content, the Owenites quoted Shelley’s poetry to support their social theories and the most frequently quoted poems were Queen Mab and The Revolt of Islam. The Chartists also used Queen Mab, but were less interested in a feminist poem like Revolt and more interested in poems that allowed them to articulate class conflict. I account for such differences within my broader argument: that the two movements had qualitatively different conceptions of the possibilities of language and aesthetics, and different approaches to social conflict.

Sexy Sports: A reception study of the National Broadcasting Corporation (NBC) Olympics website coverage of women’s beach volleyball at the 2008 Beijing Olympics involves an examination of the sporting media and its reportage of the female athlete. The thesis will focus on the reception of the NBC Olympics website coverage of women’s beach volleyball at the 2008 Beijing Olympics by viewing groups constituted by the researcher. The reason for this is that it would be difficult to find naturally constituted audiences for this website, but its reception is never-the-less of research interest. My hypothesis is that the nature of the images and text on the website is overdetermined by the construction of women on other popular texts such as men’s magazines etc. In focusing on the meanings obtained from the content of the website (texts and images), the study will investigate how these meanings are naturalised in specific moments of production as well as through their intertextual relationships with similar texts involved in the glamorisation of female athletes. Specifically the study explores the meanings obtained from the content of the website (texts and images) and how in turn these meanings are naturalised by the consumers of the website. The study will utilise a qualitative research design to unpack the content of the website through the use of qualitative content analysis, focus group interviews and individual in-depth interviews. The research will be informed via a theoretical framework that draws from feminist theory, sport feminism, the concept of intertextuality between media texts, ideology and Stuart Hall’s model of preferred reading. Increasingly mainstream media uses the image of a woman’s body to sell almost anything from men’s razors to margarine and in so far as the reporting of women’s sports is concerned this holds true. Through the research I intend to account for the connotative power of other texts i.e. the men’s magazines and pornography, and how this is likely to be carried through into shaping the meanings that are read off the website. Arguably the production of the NBC texts and images are overdetermined by the existence of similar texts already in transmission in the circuit of culture.

The entire thesis text is included in the research.pdf file; the official abstract appears in the short.pdf file; a non-technical public abstract appears in the public.pdf file. Title from PDF of title page (University of Missouri--Columbia, viewed on November 17, 2009). Thesis advisor: Dr. Yong Volz. Includes bibliographical references.

Research Problem: The pressure for brands to stand out and at the same contribute to a better world is a constant battle in a competing digital media landscape. Advertising campaigns are ways for brands to separate themselves from their competition. In a recent campaign launched by Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) their advertising campaign What is truly Scandinavian? backfired and caused an active media audience to engage. SAS feared that their campaign got hijacked which resulted in a temporary withdrawal of their film. In light of the rise of online counterpublics and the upswing of so-called cancel culture this essay draws upon these concepts to analyse the reactions to SAS advertising campaign on the Swedish discussion forum Flashback. Aim: The study intends to examine how the reactions to SAS advertising campaign, What is truly Scandinavian?, can be understood as part of a counterpublic and a cancel culture on Flashback. Questions: (1) Which most prominent themes and reading positions can be distinguished among the reactions to SAS's advertising campaign in the selected Flashback thread? (2) How can the studied part of the Flashback thread be understood as a counterpublic? (3) How can the studied part of the Flashback thread be understood as part of a cancel culture? Theories: Active audience theory, counterpublics, cancel culture The empirical material: A specific Flashback thread with a selection of the first 96 posts. Methods: A combination of netnography, qualitative content analysis and reception analysis. Results: Primary themes identified in the thread are Culture and identity, Boycott and other consequences and Negative reactions and emotions. The majority of the Flashback posts are considered to be cynical readings of SAS advertising campaign. Sympathetic and skeptical readings were not as prominent. The reactions in the Flashback thread can be considered a counterpublic where a cancel culture takes place. Significance: Further understanding of an audience reaction and response to a specific advertising campaign in relation to counterpublics and cancel culture. Results on a current case.

The childlike character of ideal femininities has long been critiqued in feminist literature, from Mary Wollstonecraft (1792) to Susan Faludi (1992). Yet, despite the partial gains of feminism the ‘woman-child’ continues to be a prominent subject-position in fashion photography of the West. This thesis builds upon earlier feminist critiques of the infantilisation of women by considering the meaning of childlike femininities in the period spanning 1990 to 2015. In particular, it questions whether representations of childlike femininities can shed their dehumanising, ‘second sex’ connotations and be resignified to a more progressive end in the contemporary context. The possible appeal of ‘girly’ subject-positions to women, following several waves of feminism, is explored through reception studies carried out with female participants in focus groups, as well as theory on the ‘female gaze’. Images were principally drawn from three British fashion magazines: Vogue (UK), i-D, and Lula. Drawing on the work of Michel Foucault and Judith Butler, this thesis demonstrates the ways in which discourses on childhood, girlhood and womanhood overlap and intersect to produce the figure of the ‘woman-child’ in the fashion media and beyond. This subject-position is shown not to be singular but rather as appearing in a number of guises. The many permutations of childlike femininity are subsumed into four overarching categories: the Romantic woman-child; the femme-enfant-fatale; Lolita style; and the Parodic woman-child. This thesis thereby contributes to existing debates in fashion studies by considering in greater detail the different discourses on childhood and femininity that come into play when women are positioned as childlike. A multi-faceted visual methodology is employed, combining visual analysis of imagery with experimental reception studies. Reception studies were conducted in focus groups with female participants and provide insight into the way these women made sense of the ‘woman-child’. In addition, they provide an indication as to whether the participants liked or disliked childlike femininities in the fashion media, thus pointing to the possible investments women might have in childlike subject-positions. Finally, including an element of social research served to challenge and/or reinforce the researcher’s own readings of the imagery, pointing to new avenues of research and expanding the discursive field of enquiry. This aspect of the thesis makes a methodological contribution to literature on the reception of still media imagery in fashion studies, magazine studies and feminist media studies.

The purpose of our thesis was to examine how children think about violence on TV news. We also wanted to find out what children think about violence, both in other TV programmes and in reality. Adults often speak for children, we wanted to hear the children’s own opinions. This study was based on theories of socialization and reception research. We showed violent news clips for 12 eleven and twelve year olds. In the meantime, we recorded the children’s reactions on film. Afterward, we interviewed them about their thoughts and feelings related to the clips. Our study is based on interviews and observations. We came to the conclusion that the children in our study think violence are very unnecessary. Most of the children did not find the clips particularly scary, but many mentioned that they think blood is disgusting to watch.

This study examines the field of playful design as a tool to affect and enhance the reception of a mundane activity. The management of swapping reusable household goods between neighbors is explored by designing playful components to enhance the experience. A pilot field study was carried out to observe recycling areas, in conjunction to 20 interviews being conducted regarding their point of views on recycling habits and their perception on their own local recycling area. The results show a clear indifferent attitude towards recycling and the environment surrounding the recycling area. However the interviewees were predominantly optimistic to the idea of swapping reusable goods with neighbors for its well-known advantages. Concerns were expressed on the practical efficiency and organization of such an activity, as well as on the shameful label perceived by using pre-used goods. A hybrid mobile application prototype was developed as one suggestion on how to incorporate playful design in a way that takes into consideration the needs and concerns of the users for swapping goods. Future research includes carrying out case studies on such playful applications for the current intended uses to gather insight on how they are utilized by potential users. Relevant are also empirical studies on how playful design as a tool may be used and its impact on users to get rid of perceived negative labels.

Made available in DSpace on 2015-03-05T18:25:56Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 17
Nenhuma
Esta pesquisa vincula-se aos estudos latino-americanos de recepção midiática e tem como objetivo analisar os usos que migrantes latino-americanos fazem das mídias relacionados ao universo do trabalho na cidade de Caxias do Sul, RS. A fundamentação teórica baseia-se nos conceitos de migração, recepção e trabalho a partir de autores como Jesus Martín-Barbero, Denise Cogo, José de Sousa Martins, Michel De Certeau, Boaventura de Sousa Santos, Jacques Marre e Anthony Giddens. A metodologia, de caráter qualitativo, está constituída pelas técnicas de história de vida, realizadas com uma amostra de 10 migrantes, da observação e da pesquisa documental. Nos resultados da análise, são destacados os usos das mídias pelos migrantes no empreendimento do projeto migratório, na manutenção e busca de trabalho na cidade de Caxias do Sul, local de migração, e como espaço de trabalho.
This paper relates to Latin-American studies into the media reception and aims to analyze the uses, by Latin-American migrants, of media means related to the universe of labor in the city of Caxias do Sul, RS. The theoretical framework is based on the concepts of migration, reception and work from authors like Jesus Martín-Barbero, Denise Cogo, José de Souza Martins, Michel De Certeau, Boaventura de Sousa Santos, Jacques Marre and Anthony Giddens. The methodology, of a qualitative nature, consists of techniques of life history carried out with a sample of 10 migrants, in addition to observation and documentary research. The results of the analyses highlight the uses of media by migrants in undertaking the migration project, maintenance and search of jobs in the city of Caxias do Sul, migration place and as a work space.

The development of the tabloid press has stirred heated debate among media scholars. Critics have argued against the relevance of tabloids in society, often framing them as the ‘journalistic other’ deserving no place in ‘serious’ journalism. Much of this criticism, however, has not been based on a close interrogation of the phenomenon, or an examination of the reasons for their popularity amongst readers. It is against this background that this study investigates the reasons behind the popularity of the Zimbabwean state-controlled tabloid newspaper uMthunywa, among its Bulawayo readers. In particular, it explores the meanings obtained from the content of the paper and the relevance of this content to the readers’ everyday lives. In undertaking this investigation, the study draws primarily on qualitative research methods, particularly qualitative content analysis and in-depth interviews (both group and individual). As the study demonstrates, these methods uncover the complex manner in which Bulawayo readers are attracted to uMthunywa and how they appropriate its textual meanings to their lived realities. The study establishes that despite uMthunywa being state-controlled, it offers space through which the conventional ways of presenting reality are challenged, and the importance of the newspaper being written in isiNdebele. As the study indicates, the popularity of the newspaper is largely dependent on its excessive formulaic and sensational stories, which cover issues experienced by its readers in their lived circumstances. The study thus argues that the newspaper constitutes an alternative mediated public sphere that finds space in the deeper social conditions that have alienated the people of Bulawayo from the macropolitical life of the nation and the ‘power bloc’.

Tabloid journalism has and continues to spark controversy. Scholarly considerations of tabloid journalism often question its contribution to democratic causes. However, little academic attention has been given to the question of how tabloids are understood and evaluated by their audiences. This study considered a range of audience responses to the Daily Sun by analysing the way some of its readers understand and evaluate it. The study examined the appeal of this popular tabloid to some Grahamstown readers. Reception analysis was employed to determine why these people read the Daily Sun. In particular, the active audience theory was used as a framework to conduct the research. To achieve the objectives of the study, qualitative research methods such as focus group interviews and individual in-depth interviews were employed. Looking at the findings, many of the respondents acknowledged they read the tabloid for interpersonal communication, diversion and entertainment. The results also revealed that their lived context plays a major role in their reading of stories. In a wider context, the research contributes to an understanding of the popularity of tabloid newspapers.

In my earlier work, ‘First steps towards a rhetorical hermeneutics of literary interpretation’ (2006), I argued that academic reading takes the form of an argument between readers. Four serious weaknesses in that account are its elision of the distinction between reading and discourse on reading, its inattention to non-academic reading, its exclusive focus on ‘interpretation’ as if this constituted the whole of reading or of discourse on reading, and its failure to theorise the object of literary reading, ie. the work of literature. The current work aims to address all of these problems, together with those created by certain other approaches to literary reading, with the overall objective of clearing the ground for more empirical studies. It exemplifies its points with examples drawn primarily from non-academic public discourse on literature (newspapers, magazines, and the internet), though also from other sources (such as reading groups and undergraduate literature seminars). It takes a particular (though not an exclusive) interest in two specific instances of non-academic reception: the widespread reception of Salman Rushdie’s novel The Satanic Verses as an attack on Islam, and the minority reception of Peter Jackson’s film trilogy The Lord of the Rings as a narrative of homosexual desire. The first chapter of this dissertation critically surveys the fields of reception study and discourse analysis, and in particular the crossover between them. It finds more productive engagement with the textuality of response in media reception study than in literary reception study. It argues that the application of discourse analysis to reception data serves to problematise, rather than to facilitate, reception study, but it also emphasises the problematic nature of discourse analysis itself. Each of the three subsequent chapters considers a different complex of problems. The first is the literary work, and its relation to its producers and its consumers: Chapter 2 takes the form of a discourse upon the notions of ‘speech act’ and ‘authorial intention’ in relation to literature, carries out an analysis of early public responses to The Satanic Verses, and puts in a word for non-readers by way of a conclusion. The second is the private experience of reading, and its paradoxical status as an object of public representation: Chapter 3 analyses representations of private responses to The Lord of The Rings film trilogy, and concludes with the argument that, though these representations cannot be identical with private responses, they are cannot be extricated from them, either. The third is the impossibility of distinguishing rhetoric from cognition in the telling of stories about reading: Chapter 4 argues that, though anecdotal or autobiographical accounts of reading cannot be taken at face value, they can be taken both as attempts to persuade and as attempts to understand; it concludes with an analysis of a magazine article that tells a number of stories about reading The Satanic Verses – amongst other things. Each of these chapters focuses on non-academic reading as represented in written text, but broadens this focus through consideration of examples drawn from spoken discourse on reading (including in the liminal academic space of the undergraduate classroom). The last chapter mulls over the relationship between reading and discourse of reading, and hesitates over whether to wrap or tear this dissertation’s arguments up.

Abstract

Purpose / Aim: The purpose of this study is to find out why people look at K-1. I wanted to investigate what it was about looking at televised martial arts, specifically K-1, that attracts peoples attention and interest, and what it needs it satisfies within the viewer.

Material / Method: This study consists of three separate parts, where I investigate and analyse the producer side of K-1, the receiver side, and the program in itself as a media text. For the producer part I performed interviews with the chairman of K-1 Sweden, the production manager at Eurosport Sweden and the Eurosport K-1 commentator. As for the receivers I interviewed six people who watch K-1 more or less regularly, in order to find out why the watch the show and what it gives them. The program text analysis I performed on two K-1 programs from Eurosport, and I based it on previous studies done of similar and other kinds of programs. After the separate analysises I discussed the different results in an overarching analysis.

Main Results: There are several main reasons for watching K-1 on TV. The reasons for watching vary between different persons, but it also vary inside one person depending on different outer and inner circumstances. The most important reasons for watching is to get excitement and as an outlet of inner needs, like cleansing of suppressed feelings of aggression and hostility. In different circumstances people watch K-1 to get pleasure and relaxation. One thing that makes it more interesting to watch is that you often identify either with individual fighters or with a “martial arts identity”. This can also hold a social function, for example in terms of watching the show together.

Submitted by Luciana Ferreira (lucgeral@gmail.com) on 2014-08-21T14:40:17Z No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 23148 bytes, checksum: 9da0b6dfac957114c6a7714714b86306 (MD5) DISSERTAÇÃO - NUBIA SIMÃO.pdf: 1008879 bytes, checksum: 21d017fb7fce431b4cbb79f84ca7d501 (MD5)
Made available in DSpace on 2014-08-21T14:40:17Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 23148 bytes, checksum: 9da0b6dfac957114c6a7714714b86306 (MD5) DISSERTAÇÃO - NUBIA SIMÃO.pdf: 1008879 bytes, checksum: 21d017fb7fce431b4cbb79f84ca7d501 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012-06-20
This dissertation seeks to study how is the reception of information and images of violence, the program broadcast daily Fuzz, with the juvenile in conflict with the law. To this end it is a resume of the origins and concept of violence, seeking to question the ownership of media violence. In order to explain the abuse of the use of information and images of violence in the media seek to make a resumption of the consequences of globalization for communication, especially when we observe the intensification of competition and struggle for audiences. Hearing that often is achieved by appeals to the feelings and sentiments of the population, the model of so-called TV news sensationalism. And, attention is drawn to the program in this study Fuzz, who conveyed to urban violence in the metropolitan area of Goiânia. Choosing to focus on images of corpses and mutilation, especially praising comments and make the fight against crime, even if this is denied the right to life of those suspected of crimes. In an environment where information and images of violence are explored thoroughly, there is even making political decisions and actions depend mainly on information, essential item for citizenship, there is the need for discussion of the information conveyed especially on television, to the consolidation of citizenship in Brazil. And the ones that suffer most from lack of basic rights, and here we measure the second-generation rights such as employment, is young people. In the process of rehabilitation must be guaranteed civil rights, political and social to be inserted in a citizen in society, and is also why the group selected for the reception research. Work is therefore concerned with the problem of how young people in conflict with the law re-elaborate and interpret the information conveyed by the program on violence Fuzz. Based on the following assumptions that young people in conflict with the law, from reading the daily spectacle of urban violence become desensitized to such acts, in a sense of trivializing violence, much of the mutilation of death as disseminated, recognize themselves as subjects who may lose their lives, to combat violence in the proposed program, in which the police have to act more and more rigid. That is, do not recognize themselves as bearers of civil rights, or first generation, a process of denial of citizenship, and yet realize that the program appeals to both the use of images as information and commentary on violence and its combat .
A presente dissertação busca estudar como se dá a recepção de informações e imagens de violência, transmitidas cotidianamente no programa Chumbo Grosso, junto ao jovem em conflito com a lei. Para tanto faz-se uma análise das origens e do conceito de violência, buscando problematizar a apropriação midiática da violência. De modo a explicar o abuso do uso de imagens e informações de violência pela mídia busca-se fazer uma retomada das consequências da globalização para a comunicação, principalmente quando se observa o acirramento da concorrência e a luta pela conquista de audiências. Audiência que muitas vezes é conquistada quando se apela para as sensações e sentimentos da população, no modelo de telejornal que se convencionou chamar de sensacionalismo. E, chama-se atenção neste estudo para o programa Chumbo Grosso, que veiculada a violência urbana da região metropolitana de Goiânia. Optando por centrar-se em imagens de cadáveres e mutilações, especialmente e realizar comentários elogiando o combate ao crime, mesmo que para isso seja negado o direito à vida daqueles suspeitos de crimes. Num contexto em que imagens e informações de violência são exploradas de forma exaustiva, observa-se ainda que a tomada de decisões e ações políticas relacionase, sobretudo, de informações, item essencial para a cidadania, observa-se a necessidade da discussão da informação veiculada, especialmente, na televisão, para a consolidação da cidadania no Brasil. E, justamente aqueles que mais sofrem a falta de direitos básicos, e aqui poderíamos considerar os direitos de segunda geração, tais como o emprego com carteira assinada, são os jovens. Em pleno processo de ressocialização necessitam da garantia dos direitos civis, políticos e sociais para se inserirem de forma cidadã na sociedade, e são também por isso o grupo selecionado para a pesquisa de recepção. Trabalha-se portanto, com a questão problema de como jovens em conflito com a lei interpretam e re-elaboram as informações sobre violência veiculadas pelo programa Chumbo Grosso. Partindose das seguintes hipóteses de que os jovens em conflito com a lei, a partir da leitura cotidiana da espetacularização da violência urbana tornam-se insensíveis a tais atos, num sentido de desvalorização da violência, tanto da morte como das mutilações veiculadas, reconhecem-se como sujeitos que podem perder a vida, no combate à violência proposto no programa, em que a polícia tem de agir de forma cada vez mais rígida. Ou seja, reconhecem-se como não portadores dos direitos civis, ou de primeira geração, num processo de negação da cidadania, e ainda assim, percebem que o programa apela tanto no uso de imagens como de informações e comentários sobre a violência e seu combate.

This thesis analyzes the contents of the Turkish magazine programs to explore as if the contents feed anti- establishment feelings or reinforce the existing hegemony in the society. The theses also traces the audience attitudes and beliefs towards the magazine programs in Turkey. The results suggested that programs do not represent any threat to the existing hegemony. On the contrary, it is more plausible to suggest that they represent a serious support to the existing order. The audience reactions revealed an oppositional attitude towards such programs in general which shows differences in terms of gender, education, political views, father'
s education level and hours of TV watching.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-08-03T12:29:51Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Tancy Costa .pdf: 2969816 bytes, checksum: 089e2af356de5f8ebb82b65fbb01e1ef (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013-08-21
Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior
Most research on media and disability studies how disabled people are represented by journalism. The representations as found by researchers are those of welfarism, standardization, overcoming and citizenship. This study seeks to understand the perception of people with disabilities on news magazines and find out how they feel represented by such media. We worked with three news magazines: Veja, Época and Istoé. To build the corpus of the research were selected texts on disability issues in the time period from July to December 2012, during which occurred the Paralympics Games and dates related to campaigns of disabled people. Regarding methodological procedures, at first a content analysis was made. Then rhetorical analysis of discourse of three journalistic texts were chosen, one from each journal, according to the prevailing representation. Finally we made a study of reception, with 16 respondents, half of them of students at the Methodist University of São Paulo and the other portion of Apart patients (Association of Paraplegics of the Taubaté city, Brazil). The analysis revealed that the representation that appeared over this period was that of overcoming, but that people who have physical disabilities want to be better represented, that is in a more humane and inclusive way.
A maioria das pesquisas sobre mídia e deficiência estuda de que forma as pessoas com deficiência são representadas pelo jornalismo. As representações encontradas pelos pesquisadores são de assistencialismo, normalização, superação e cidadania. Este estudo procura compreender a percepção das pessoas com deficiência física em relação às revistas de atualidades e descobrir como essas pessoas sentem-se representadas por tais veículos de comunicação. Analisaram-se três revistas de atualidades: Veja, Época e Istoé. Para compor o corpus da pesquisa optou-se por textos referentes à deficiência nas edições de julho a dezembro de 2012, período em que aconteceram os jogos paraolímpicos, e nas datas relacionadas à luta das pessoas com deficiência. Quanto aos procedimentos metodológicos destaca-se, em um primeiro momento, a análise de conteúdo e, em seguida, a análise retórica do discurso de três textos jornalísticos, um de cada revista, de acordo com a representação predominante. Por último analisa-se a recepção, com 16 entrevistados, sendo oito estudantes da Universidade Metodista de São Paulo e oito pacientes da Associação de Paraplégicos de Taubaté (Aparte). A análise revelou que a representação que mais apareceu no período foi a da superação, e que as pessoas que têm deficiência física querem ser representadas de uma forma mais humana e inclusiva. .

The aim of this master thesis is to contribute to a more profound knowledge of women's magazine reading by giving insights into the readerships’ interpretations of magazine texts. Three different dimensions of interpretation were thereby identified: the relation to the audiences’ own situations in life, the audiences’ reflections on their prior experiences, and the emerging emotions in the interpretation process. Audience and reception theory, as well as feminist media theory, form the theoretical framework of my research. As audience reception concerns the dynamic interaction between text and the audiences’ reception of it, I decided to concentrate on both text analysis and qualitative interviews. With my qualitative, methodological approach – comprising an analysis of three articles concerning texting advice and interviews with six regular readers, I was able to explore nuances and depths of the phenomenon. I identified four interpretative repertoires which the women used for making meaning of the texts: pleasure, rejection, self-reflection, and practical relevance. Pleasure and rejection were found to be the women’s predominant emotions in the interpretation process. Moreover, my research illustrates that women are interpreting the texting advice in a practical as well as in a self-reflexive way. Their own circumstances and prior experiences are thereby variables, which influence the reception. My work strengthens the perspective of readers as being empowered to understand, evaluate, and critique the media content they consume. This is an important finding influencing society at large. As my research outlines, critical readings were found to be superior to possible ideological influences of women’s magazines. Future research should focus on a further in-depth analysis of individual influencing variables in relation to the audiences’ interpretations as I was only able to evaluate some in my study.

Reality TV is a well-appreciated concept in the world of entertainment. The purpose of this study is to approach the viewing of reality television, with the intention to explore if men and women react to and interpret gender roles differently in a chosen reality TV show. Further social factors, such as nationality, age, sexuality and education will simultaneously play a crucial part in the analysis. The Swedish adaption of the well-known format The Bachelor was chosen for this case study to examine if the situations in the show would provoke different reactions and interpretations among the respondents. The thesis delivers two qualitative methodological approaches to capture the reactions and interpretations among the test persons. A focus group discussion with eight Finnish men and women was conducted along with eight individual interviews with Swedish men and women, with the intention of gaining insightful and valuable knowledge regarding how men and women interpret what they see. The study’s findings suggest that there are both differences and similarities among men and women in their reactions and interpretations of gender roles in the chosen show, and that further social factors aid and affect in constructing the different interpretations.