Media Watch Communication Journal Abstract of Articles of September 2013 Issue

Media Watch Communication Journal

Abstract of Articles of September 2013 Issue

Critical Media Literacy in Media Education: A Debate on the Contribution to Democracy

A. Fulya Sen

Firat University, Turkey

The convergence of media and technology in a global culture is changing the way we learn about the world and challenging the very foundations of education. Today, the general trend concerning the main stream media literacy has focused more on the protectionist approach. This study is aimed at discussing the importance of critical citizenship awareness by media literacy. It is argued that critical citizenship and participative democracy are not able to acquire without seeing the ownership structure of media in the capitalist system. This study was based on cultural studies, political-economy and critical pedagogy theories where the concept of media literacy was discussed as a combination of approaches of critical media and pedagogy.

Media Education in India and United Kingdom:

A Comparative Study

Anuradha Mishra Gaur

Vivekananda Institute of Professional Studies, Delhi, India

It is possible to gain a lot of media literacy by mere exposure to the media. In that sense, there is no need for any formal media education. That, however, is not sufficient to gain professional proficiency in this field. A lot of systematic training is required to maintain the standards expected from this fourth pillar of democracy. Presently, the existing structure of media education is at a crossroads. With the changing technology, social structure and international relations the rationale behind the media education in India is getting changed. Under these circumstances we need to form an opinion on what should be the corresponding changes in media education system in India. This paper has compared the media education system of India with some universities of United Kingdom so as to discover the most appropriate path for the future growth of media education in India. 

Exploring Interdisciplinarity in Indian Media Education and Research: An Analysis

NIDHI SHENDURNIKAR TERE

Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, India

ARCHANA CHANUVAI NARAHARI  

Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, India

The discipline of media and communication studies has demonstrated its ability to borrow and integrate knowledge from various theoretical strands in political science, sociology, economics, psychology, cultural studies and anthropology. The inter-disciplinary nature of media studies has enabled its growth, expansion and stature as a discipline and field of academic inquiry in its own right. The inter-disciplinary thrust of media education owes much to the media’s basic nature and need of being reliant on social, political, economic and cultural forces in its surrounding environment. The core argument of the paper favours an inter-disciplinary approach to media studies and media research for the discipline to flourish. In this paper, the authors examined four key areas of inter-disciplinary research and education i.e., political communication, media economics, sociology of communication, and cultural communication that have contributed to furthering the scope of media studies. To substantiate this line of thinking, the authors examined course curriculums of media studies offered by universities in Gujarat.

De-Westernizing Media and Communication Education in India

Vemulakonda Sai Srinivas

Osmania University, India

Post World War II, many countries liberated themselves from colonial rule, started looking up to western media as role models. Later they realized that there has been an information imbalance. NAM also emphasized on alternatives to western news values. India is one such country which vied to establish individuality, create an identity and, an image for itself in the backdrop of its bitter past experience. In this process, developing countries in general and India in particular started developing alternative perspectives. In this context, Indian theories of communication such as Sadharanikaran, which existed 500 B.C., came into prominence. In this background, endeavors to de-westernize media and communication education started by incorporating alternative media, traditional folk media, community radio, Indian theories of communication etc., in the curriculum of mass communication courses. This paper analyses in detail how efforts are made to de-westernize media and communication education in India.

Small Screen in the Indian Subcontinent: A Study on Five Decades of Doordarshan

Rohini S. Kumar

Monash University, Malaysia

The obligation of a public service broadcasting media is very much crucial and tricky in a fast developing country like India, where it has to cater diverse audiences, cultures and languages. Historically, public service broadcasting has been vested with certain roles—an educator, entertainer and informer. But this concept is losing ground as 24 hour satellite channels are altering entertainment and educational needs and perceptions of the public to a greater extent which result in the tapering demarcation between commercial and public service broadcasting in India. The article tries to analyze or review the progress of Doordarshan (Indian Television) in its 54 years of its journey.

Text to Memory: A Study on Comprehension and Oral Reading Fluency

Susan R. Massey

St. Thomas University, Florida, USA

Research was conducted to test the hypothesis that there is a reciprocal relationship between reading comprehension and oral reading fluency. Previous research indicates that oral reading fluency can aid reading comprehension.  However, more recent models have questioned the uni-directionality of this relationship. This research examines this hypothesis by analyzing second grade students’ oral reading of connected texts. A summary previewing condition was manipulated in an experiment and the effects on students’ passage reading times were evaluated. Grade level students were randomly assigned to one of two groups, an experimental group and a control group. Analyses of Covariance were performed to test the effects of prosodic modeling on oral reading fluency as measured in correct words per minute (CWPM) and prosodic reading, while controlling for students overall achievement in reading as measured by the common state test score. The results showed differences in CWPM indicating the summary preview over the no-preview condition for students at lower levels of fluency performance.

Resistive Reading of Anti-Islam Movies by Educated American Audience: An Analysis

Hamid Abdollahyan
University of Tehran, Iran
Niloofar Hooman
University of Tehran, Iran

This article provides an assessment of the dominant meaning inserted in Hollywood movies that offer anti-Islamic content, compared to the meaning that the American audience attaches to these movies. Framed by a theoretical synthesis of Gadamer’s approach to reception and Said’s notion of Orientalism, we employ such concepts as lived experience, inter-cultural communication and media literacy to indicate how the American audience is taking a resistive orientation. This analytical model suggests that any typical American audience seeks to expand their understanding of the lived experience with Muslims based on their inter-cultural experience with Muslims and apply it to their readings of the popular anti-Islamic movies.  To examine the paper’s theoretical claims we used an internet-based in-depth interview technique in which 12 women and 10 men participated. Some of the findings reveal that the educated American audience may not perceive Hollywood fiction as a reliable source of information about either Muslims or Islam, and that they engage in alternate and resistive interpretations of movie content.

Relationship between Facebook Usage and Self-Efficacy among Collegiate Athletes

JONGSUNG KIM

St. Thomas University, Florida, USA

 This research investigates the relationship between Facebook usage and self-efficacy in collegiate athletes. The sample for this study are St. Thomas University athletes in the United States. The variables used to represent Facebook usage, Facebook frequency of use, Facebook number of friends, and Facebook frequency status updates are measured using Facebook Intensity Scale (Ellison, Steinfield, & Lampe, 2007). The dependent variable used in this study is self-efficacy which is measured using the General Self-efficacy (GSE) developed by Jerusalem and Schwarzer (1995). Data analyses indicate a statistically significant relationship between the number of Facebook friends and self-efficacy. The data also indicates a significant inverse relationship between Facebook frequency status updates and self-efficacy. The results of the correlation analysis indicate inverse relationships between frequency status updates and frequency of use, and frequency status updates and Facebook number of friends. These findings suggest that once the coaches, administrators, and professors attend to the issue of Facebook usage for collegiate athletes, it may enhance self-efficacy and psychological benefits.

Public Perception and Role of Mass Media in Fight Against Corruption in Nigeria

Barry Nnaane
Afe Babalola University, Nigeria

This paper examined how the Nigerian public perceived the role of the mass media in the fight against corruption. The research design used was survey, while Benin metropolis in Edo State, South-South, Nigeria, was the area of study. The two sampling techniques used were cluster sampling and purposive sampling techniques. Four hundred and fifty (450) copies of questionnaire were administered, while 418 copies representing 92 per cent response rate were retrieved. Majority of the respondents agreed that the media in the country have played a positive role in the fight against corruption. The study recommends, among others, that media professionals should be socially-responsible and abide by the ethics of the profession, so that they can fight corruption in the country without fear or favour.

Identification and Analysis of Images in Anjathey

Nithin Kalorth

Mahatma Gandhi University, India

Tamil cinema has undergone a cycle of changes from storytelling to production technology and marketing strategies. This article finds out the film language and grammar of movie Anjathey directed by Mysskin. 36 images/shots were selected from the movie and they have been analyzed on the basis of film language,  narrative aspects of the story cinematography, sound, and editing. Attempts have been made to understand the use of visual language and grammar to express the story by the use of mise-en-scene.

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