Showing papers in "Journal of Communication Inquiry in 1991"
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors focus on the public discourse of rap music as an ELECTRONically mediated forum, which is being used by participants in order to redefine their ethnicity and relationship to the mainstream.
Abstract: out historical precedent. Resultant problems are often exacerbated by the &dquo;hall of mirrors&dquo; effect of a mass media subject to manipulation by those who derive power from existing conflicts. We have many examples of how the mass media inflames tensions between different ethnic groups, and all too few examples of how these groups can use the media for creative resolution of their differences. One example of such conflict resolution can be found in rap music. I would like to focus here on the public discourse of rap music as an &dquo;electronically mediated&dquo; forum (Poster 1990) which is being used by participants in order to redefine their ethnicity and relationship to &dquo;mainstream&dquo; culture. Although rap is an artform primarily pioneered by black urban youth, the majority of its audience its non-black. This paradox is resulting in a heated debate which, I believe, can shed light on our efforts to come to an understanding of &dquo;what diversity means.&dquo; Rap music supplies &dquo;the only commentaries that many black youths will listen to,&dquo; the New York Times has noted (Leland 1989, 29). They are also increasingly one of the few commentaries many non-black youth take seriously. Stereotypes of rap as a forum for phallocentric boasting may be reinforced by highly publicized events like the 1990 2 Live Crew obscenity trial (see Adler 1990). But some critics close to rap argue that contrary
34 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors argue against notions of academic discipline (which perhaps also excludes interdisciplinary studies), science as a paradigm within which to study culture, and specifically comparative research, which is an outgrowth of disciplinary science.
Abstract: Recently there has been a call among communication researchers for increased comparative research.’ However the fundamental contradiction in that call for increased comparative work in communication studies is that the intellectual laborers (i.e. researchers) refuse to recognize the power disparities, not simply in the object of their research but in the subjectthat is, among and between themselves. This paper asks questions, some of which concern the politics of comparative communication research. Other questions deal directly with the context within which the research is funded, conducted, written and read. These questions suggest not answers, but alternatives which must also be explored and which affect the process as well as the products of intellectual labor. The field of communication studies is experiencing a period of challenges to its paradigms and programs of research, challenges which continue to disrupt the discipline. Taking a defensive posture, Chaffee and Berger (1987) felt compelled to exclude &dquo;intellectuals who criticize the symbolic output of individuals or media from the community of communication science researchers,&dquo; asserting that &dquo;communication is becoming a discipline itself.&dquo; Communication science, interdisciplinary communication studies, critical cultural studies and other paradigms vie for legitimacy, all attempting to define, and in some instances impose, some notion of &dquo;discipline.&dquo; This paper will argue against notions of academic discipline (which perhaps also excludes interdisciplinary studies), science as a paradigm within which to study culture, and specifically comparative research, which is an outgrowth of disciplinary science. I suggest that there are alternatives to a research model which participates in and supports a world economic and communication system and a way of life which is at its core
11 citations
TL;DR: For example, in small midwest communities like Eau Claire, Wisconsin, law enforcement officials have asked record store owners to keep copies of 2 Live Crew’s album As Nasty As They Wanna Be off the shelves and to not sell them to minors as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: itself. Rap groups such as 2 Live Crew, NWA, Public Enemy and Digital Underground are causing a stir as big as or bigger than any rock group did in the 1960s. 2 Live Crew and NWA have been singled out for particular scrutiny, the former for sexually explicit lyrics and the latter for allegedly advocating violence against the police. Even in small midwestem communities like Eau Claire, Wisconsin, law enforcement officials have asked record store owners to keep copies of 2 Live Crew’s album As Nasty As They Wanna Be off the shelves and to not sell them to minors. There is more to this controversy, though, than the seemingly simple attempt to silence controversial voices. Popular music had been an outspoken and controversial form long before the advent of rap music. Indeed, popular music has been a dissenting voice, one that threatens authority, from its earliest manifestations. To understand the full extent to which its
11 citations
TL;DR: Contradictions between juxtaposed segments of television flow are not necessarily systematic in the sense of being willfully or consciously planned by programmers or sponsors as discussed by the authors, but they occur regularly, if individually, throughout the course of television programming.
Abstract: Contradictions between juxtaposed segments of television flow are not necessarily systematic in the sense of being willfully or consciously planned by programmers or sponsors (though on occasion one suspects conscious planning). However, they occur regularly, if individually, throughout the course of television programming. Almost everyone can cite particularly striking examples .—Mimi White (1987, 158)
8 citations
TL;DR: This paper examined the role of American newspapers during the 19th century and found that economic/technological imperative was not the driving force behind the dramatic change in the newspaper industry in America.
Abstract: Nineteenth-century America has proven to be a productive period of research for journalism scholars, primarily because it was during the 19th century that the commercial role of American newspapers was bom. Most examinations of this transformation have relied heavily on describing economic/technological imperative as the driving force behind this dramatic change (Weisberger 1961; Mott 1962; Schudson 1979, 31-42). However,
8 citations
TL;DR: The preppy murder of Levin and his roommate at Dorrian's Red Hand was investigated by as mentioned in this paper, who found that the events that took place between the time they left the club together at approximately 3 A.M. and the discovery of Levin's body three hours later are uncertain; with no witnesses, only Chambers's version-an elaborately conceived tale of his own molestation at the hand of Levin-is available.
Abstract: summer and, on that evening, they had met at Dorrian’s Red Hand. The events that took place between the time they left the club together at approximately 3 A.M. and the discovery of Levin’s body three hours later are uncertain; with no witnesses, only Chambers’s version-an elaborately conceived tale of his own molestation at the hand of Levin-is available. Coupled with Chambers’s fortuitously astute talent for the sensational, the murder rapidly became a full-blown media extravaganza, complete with lurid tabloid headlines (&dquo;Sex Play ’Got Rough’ &dquo; and &dquo;Wild Sex Killed Jenny&dquo;) and a front page article in the New York Times that screamed concern for the &dquo;darkness beneath the glitter&dquo; of the life of upper-class youth (Freedman 1986, 1). The news is comprised of the discursive machinery of knowledge production. It involves the process of making certain events in the world meaningful in particular ways. This, and its relation to ideological determinations, has been excellently demonstrated by numerous cultural and media critics 2 Events do not speak their &dquo;newsworthiness.&dquo; Rather, with this culturally defined category stands an informal set of criteria informing what is to enter a position of popular scrutiny. Further, as events become part of popular cultural knowledge, a whole referential and significatory frame moves as well. In this way, the complex social function of news reporting operates as a technology of power ; as we begin to &dquo;know&dquo; an event, we enter under the weight of the power to organize, to moralize, to valoriz~a power that is enacted upon events and our understanding of events, hence, it is enacted upon as. Taking the preppy murder as a specific case study, I want to uncover the mechanisms of these determinations.
6 citations
TL;DR: Easterbrook drew the distinction between pornography as a form of freedom of expression and preventing such things as "insult, injury, battery, and rape" from happening to women as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: at home, battery and rape on the streets.&dquo; Thus he opposed the law because of first Amendment protection of free speech. The negative effect of pornography &dquo;simply demonstrates the power of pornography as speech.&dquo; Easterbrook draws the dispute over pornography as one between freedom of expression and preventing such things as &dquo;insult, injury, battery, and rape&dquo; from happening to women. This is a difficult choice, one far different from the more traditional opposition to pornography: that it is morally unacceptable. This distinction is similar to that made by Mary Douglas (1966) in Purity and Danger. No longer is pornography unclean
6 citations
TL;DR: Gouldner as discussed by the authors examined the shift from the partisan press's call for freedom of expression as a tool to subvert all forms of domination to its commercial development from the penny press forward when these editors began to tout their freedom from ideology.
Abstract: bites-than when he first made them public almost 15 years ago. Prior to postmodernists’ criticism of the unrealized claims of the Enlightenment, Gouldner had already begun a radical, historical critique of freedom of expression. His analysis incisively examined the shift from the partisan press’s call for freedom of expression as a tool to subvert all forms of domination to its commercial development from the penny press forward when these editors began to tout their freedom from ideology.l 1
5 citations
TL;DR: The authors examined colonial North Americans' perceptions of Native American societies, and examined how political institutions operated in the native societies with which the colonials had contact, particularly the most influential of them, the Iroquois.
Abstract: While European precedents for the United States’ concepts of freedom of expression have been copiously examined, little attention has been paid to these concepts as practiced in Native American societies with which the new Americans mingled in the &dquo;New World.&dquo; This paper examines colonial North Americans’ perceptions of Native American societies, then examines how political institutions operated in the native societies with which the colonials had contact, particularly the most influential of them, the Iroquois. Consulting the writings of colonists between 1600 and 1800, the paper argues that they often perceived Native Americans as an exemplar of liberty, and incorporated this image in practical ways during the years leading up to the American Revolution. The paper concludes with an examination of writings by Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, Tho-
3 citations
TL;DR: Kielbowicz as discussed by the authors examines one often-neglected aspect of government press controls-the postal system and concludes that despite efforts by some scholars to treat it as an aberration, postal censorship has been sustained over many generations.
Abstract: The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution notwithstanding, freedom of speech and freedom of the press have always been tenuous rights-held sacred as a matter of rhetoric, but rarely extended to those struggling for fundamental social change. Scholars increasingly recognize the myriad of state and federal restrictions on press freedom that have been imposed both in peacetime and in war. An extensive literature exists on formal legal controls such as the Alien and Sedition Acts and the Espionage Laws (e.g., Levy, 1985; Chafee, 1967; Sloan and Schwartz, 1988). At least as important in determining the extent of actual freedom of expression, however, are institutional controls on circulation. Kielbowicz (1989) demonstrates the extent to which postal policies shaped and fostered the press. The post office carried news to publishers, delivered papers to subscribers, and often acted as circulation agents-all at subsidized rates or for free. Yet important as these services were, they were not made available on an equal footing to all publishers. This paper examines one often-neglected aspect of government press controls-the postal system. Previous work in this area has tended to focus upon the exercise of postal powers to suppress ’pornography,’ to exclude ’propaganda’ mailed to this country from abroad, and to suppress antiwar and radical publications during the first World War (e.g., Hilton, 1948; Johnson, 1962; Fowler, 1977; Scheiber, 1960). Yet despite efforts by some scholars to treat it as an aberration, postal censorship has been sustained over many generations.
3 citations
TL;DR: The U.S. tradition of freedom of expression has focused heavily on the need for protection from governmental encroachments and restrictions as mentioned in this paper, which is the basis of the &dquo;Hyde Park Soapbox&dqo; (HPS) model.
Abstract: The U.S. tradition of freedom of expression has focused heavily on the need for protection from governmental encroachments and restrictions. It rests on what we may call the &dquo;Hyde Park Soapbox&dquo; (HPS) model of freedom of expression, in which the condition of freedom of expression is assumed to be met if everybody is permitted to speak and pass out handbills to passersby in the streets and other public places without interference.’ Except possibly for public education needed to foster a lit-
TL;DR: The First Amendment freedoms of speech, press, assembly, petition, and religion which we now celebrate and hold essential to republican government have evolved slowly with Western cultural assumptions and Anglo-American political developments as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: The First Amendment freedoms of speech, press, assembly, petition, and religion which we now celebrate and hold essential to republican government have evolved slowly with Western cultural assumptions and Anglo-American political developments. This essay focuses upon another American experience with constitutional government and legal parameters for freedom of expression: the constitutional provisions and statutory enactments of four Native American nations.
TL;DR: The authors argue that the programs' appeal lies in their form which unites the TV ministers and their long-distance flocks by evoking and expressing a shared history and set of cultural meanings.
Abstract: This essay recounts my journey from casual spectator to engaged interpreter of two religious television programs-&dquo;The Jimmy Swaggart Telecast&dquo; and &dquo;The 700 Club&dquo;-and my effort to understand the structure of their appeal. I argue here that the programs’ appeal resides in their form which unites the TV ministers and their long-distance flocks by evoking and expressing a shared history and set of cultural meanings. Grasping hold of and articulating those meanings demands active engagement with the texts, with the histories they reveal and the communities they construct.’ Envisioning a cultural form as the embodiment of socio-historical relationships, I suggest, provides a way to re-think the speaker-text-listener relation.
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TL;DR: The Ayatollah's call for the assassination of Salman Rushdie was a graphic reminder of the cultural and historical nature of the concept of freedom of expression in the West.
Abstract: The late Ayatollah’s call for the assassination of Salman Rushdie was a graphic reminder of the cultural and historical nature of the concept of freedom of expression. Commentators described the affair as a classic example of the perennial confrontation of intellectuals and social authorities. Many likened it to another signal event in the historical struggle for free expression-the trial of Galileo (see, e.g., Dyer, 1989). But in the West, the authority of religion was long ago replaced by a scientific rationality that is philosophically grounded in free inquiry and expression. While the case of Galileo is kept alive by historians and philosophers of science, it commands only fleeting references or footnotes in mass communication studies. For scholars of freedom of expression, Galileo is remembered only as the old prisoner of the Inquisition wistfully recalled by Milton in the Areopagitica. This paper resurrects Galileo’s encounters with entrenched beliefs in
TL;DR: The major concerns regarding the relationship of the First Amendment to the mass media are arguably those which address which specific activities by the commercial media (e.g. advertising, pornography, libel, exposing celebrity lifestyles) are eligible for First Amendment protection from government regulation.
Abstract: enues for these businesses. By this dominant reasoning, it is simply assumed that the capitalist marketplace of ideas is the &dquo;natural&dquo; media setup for a democratic society and, moreover, that this capitalist marketplace will best protect the public interest and promote the creation of an informed citizenry so necessary to the functioning of a democracy. Accordingly, the state serves as the primary agency of evil; the lesser the role for the state, the better off are free expression and democracy. Within the parameters of these presuppositions, the major concerns regarding the relationship of the First Amendment to the mass media are arguably those which address which specific activities by the commercial media (e.g. advertising, pornography, libel, exposing celebrity lifestyles) are eligible for First Amendment protection from government regulation. In effect, the First Amendment has become trade legislation for one of the most dynamic sectors of the capitalist economy as much as it serves as any sort of charter for the establishment and maintenance of a democratic polity. In general, the trajectory of the past few decades has been for the scope of the First Amendment to be expanded to cover many new activities, of-
TL;DR: A social work graduate student is told that he might be reprimanded for expressing his opinion that homosexuality is a disease that can be cured through competent psychological intervention (Doe v. University of Michigan, 1989).
Abstract: A social work graduate student is told that he might be reprimanded for expressing his opinion that homosexuality is a disease that can be cured through competent psychological intervention (Doe v. University of Michigan, 1989). Students at Kenyon College in Ohio are told by the school administration that they should seek &dquo;re-education&dquo; after they satirized &dquo;gay awareness week&dquo; with their own &dquo;heterosexual awareness&dquo;