Showing papers in "Journal of Communication Inquiry in 1996"

The Resurgence of the Critical Theories of Public Sphere

Abstract: The challenge of the dominant discourses on &dquo;public&dquo; and &dquo;public sphere&dquo; as well as on &dquo;private&dquo; and &dquo;non-political&dquo; is a practical necessity of any radical political initiative. In recent decades, some of the most significant contributions of the Critical Theory of the Frankfurt School have been centered on the notion of &dquo;public sphere&dquo; (Offentlichkeit). Habermas’ and Negt and Kluge’s theories of public sphere have recently aroused widening interest in the English speaking world. This article critically assesses their established theories as well as their tentative new interventions on

Crucial Advice on how to Get the Guy: The Rhetorical Vision of Power and Seduction in the Teen Magazine YM:

Abstract: In the process of appealing to female adolescents, the teen-oriented maga­ zine YM has featured articles entitled: \"Should parents let kids have sex at home?\" (March 1994), \"What do you think of a girl who doesn't put out on prom night?\" (March 1994), \"100 pages on love, sex & you\" (Summer/ Fall 1993), \"Are you a sucker for slime balls?\" (January 1994), \"Extra: best bikinis (make him sweat)\" (May 1995), \"Wil l my boyfriend go to jai l if we have sex?\" (October 1994), \"Hit on him\" (July 1994), \"Quiz: are you a good liar\" (April 1995), \"Are you a guy repellent?\" (November 1994), \"Can a bra change your life?\" (November 1994), and many other provoca­ tive topics. Additionally, YM is a magazine that its readers say they trust to provide information about matters which concern them (STARS Demo­ graphic Comparison 1992). But, what is the nature of the information? What answers are provided? And, what symbolic realities of adolescent life are expressed in its rhetoric? This paper examines the dramatized images which appear in the pages of YM, and analyzes how reality is shaped through the rhetorical strategies used in its editorial and advertising content. We argue that the pages of YM present didactic dramas, or blueprints for living for adolescent fe­ males. These dramas present a particularized view of gender relations, a view which we contend is ultimately damaging to the well-being of the magazine's young audience. The paper will use dramatistic methods of analysis to uncover its powerfully patriarchal representations of life. The analysis reveals a social reality in which the only power available to young women is achieved through seduction, beauty, and fashion.

The taming of the shrew: Women’s magazines and the regulation of desire

Abstract: Love and sex are prominent and recurring themes in women's magazines: as McCracken (1993,2) has noted, these magazines \"reach a broad spec­ trum of women with messages that conflate desire and consumerism.\" The most casual glance at the contents of any magazine in this genre, from Cosmopolitan to Ladies' Home Journal or Seventeen, inevitably yields a plethora of titles on these subjects that range from the banal to the exact­ ing: \"When he wants you to take charge in bed,\" \"Cycles of desire: how couples reconnect,\" \"Lust horizon: in search of sexual confidence,\" \"How to make your man better in bed,\" and so on, ad infinitum. Articles on love and sex in women's magazines are generally prescrip­ tive, normative or explanatory in tone (Ilouz 1991); they are intended, quite clearly, to guide readers in making decisions about their personal relationships. This tone is unremarkable in the tradition of women's maga­ zines, which have, since their genesis in the mid-seventeenth century, sought to instruct women in appropriate conduct for living. That these magazines have been phenomenally successful in this aim is almost be­ yond question: women's magazines comprise the largest segment of the consumer magazine market and have been shown to be enormously influ­ ential in the socialization of women in contemporary Western society (e.g., Ferguson 1983; Friedan 1963; McCracken 1993; McRobbie 1991; Winship 1987; Wolf 1991). In terms of this practice, women's magazines comprise part of a web of societal institutions that exercise a certain regu­ latory function in the governance of women's behavior and, in particular, their sexuality. A number of studies have examined the role of social institutions in the control of women's sexuality (e.g., Bartky 1988; Brownmiller 1975; Dworkin 1987; Millett 1969; Tuana 1993), but most of this work over­ looks or trivializes the influence of mass culture in this process. In this respect, I would argue that a significant factor in this system of regulation

Rethinking Ideology: Polysemy, Pleasure and Hegemony in Television Culture:

Abstract: By the mid-1980s, the active audience theory had led to the reconceptualization of the nature of mass communication and popular culture. Television was, in particular, regarded as a cultural resource rather than a tool for ideological domination (Saenz 1992, 37). The new approach implied the substitution of old categories such as television messages and programs by television texts and intertextuality, audiences by semiotic workers, viewing by &dquo;reading&dquo; practices, and so on. However, it was perhaps the abandonment of ideology as a useful cat-

The Cost of Fighting Mother Nature: News Coverage of the 1993 Midwest Floods

Abstract: It began with the rains in April. Communities along the Mississippi were suddenly under water; a lot of water. Most of the world, however, re­ mained unaware—a small disaster among so many others (Gays in the military, Rodney King, Waco). Besides, the river soon backed down and life returned to normal. Then, the rains came back—again and again. Noah and his Ark, God's 40 days and 40 nights, pigs on the rooftops, and people in mud. These were the images the media and people carried dur­ ing the Great Flood of 1993. Friends and family from the area sent or brought personal and newspaper photos to gatherings. Hometowns and friends were underwater. Some canoed to their homes and others watched their neighbors go \"crazy\" because of the never-ending onslaught of water. Ironically, some took boats to work but talked of changing vacation plans—\"you can't canoe down swollen rivers.\" Yet, the flood was more than a great topic of conversation. People in Iowa, Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Wisconsin and South Dakota lost their homes, farms, livestock, personal belongings and records. Some lost their sanity. The Great Flood of 1993 was also more than a personal or regional di­ saster, it was a major news event. Time, Newsweek, and The New York Times covered it as did regional papers such as the Des Moines Register, the Saint Louis Dispatch and the Kansas City Star. For two months, be­ tween July 1 and August 31, the Midwest flood was a principal topic of discourse in the mass media. How was this discourse framed by the print media? What were the underlying themes or frames used to explain the disaster to those experiencing, and those far removed from the event? Finally, what did the discourse tell us about the economic and personal

Politics of Media Economics and Economy of Media Politics: An Overview:

Abstract: Contemporary macro-conceptual studies of the relationships among the state, the capitalist system, and the media often focus either on the authori­ ties' political control of the media, or the capitalists' economic control of the media market. While the former, namely, the political interpretation of the media content, adopts a structuralist perspective; the latter, the eco­ nomic analysis employs an instrumental view of political economy. This paper discusses the possibility of an integration of the political and eco­ nomic approaches under a revised perspective of political economy of mass communication.

Television's Everyday Life: Towards a Phenomenology of the “Televisual Subject”

Abstract: Film studies, argues Stacey (1993, 260), \"rarely debates questions of methodology.\" While methodological questions are present in television studies, answers have still to be obtained. What are we doing? I 'd suggest that integrating audience-centred and text-centred accounts of producing televisual meaning is being placed on the research agenda. Examining television's reception in the home and elsewhere is itself now simulta­ neously contextualised by insights into the \"determining\" content of programs themselves. Research is re-engaging with both sides of the de­ finitive project set in motion by Brunsdon and Morley in their work on the texts and audiences of Nationwide (Brunsdon and Morley 1978; Morley 1980). Suggesting experimental protocols in this quest for an integrated study, my article seeks to align itself with a series of recent investigations emphasising the philosophical dimension of television's everyday life. Where this research associates television with a \"public sphere\" of discur­ sive interaction, its capacity to support the rational negotiation of meaning in a \"life-world\" is foregrounded for consideration. Amongst these inter­ nationally located accounts of television I would include (in an easily contested list): Comer's Television Form and Public Address (1995); Livingstone and Lunt's Talk on Television (1994); Moores' article \"Me­ dia, Modernity and Lived Experience\" (1995); Scannell's article \"For a Phenomenology of Radio and Television\" (1995); Silverstone's Television and Everyday Life (1994); and my own Watching Television (Wilson 1993). Here, I am concerned with television's evaluation of action for a life-world, its \"moral science\" and \"recipes\" for success.

The Myth of a Technological Solution to Television Violence: Identifying Problems with the V-Chip:

Abstract: The problem of television violence is by no means a new issue. As early as the 1950s, legislators were calling on the broadcast industry to &dquo;clean up the house of television so that its occupants will not track any more dirt into our homes.&dquo;’ For more than forty years, social scientists have examined the link between television violence and violent behavior.’ During this period, more than one thousand studies have concluded that a positive correlation exists between viewing television violence and acting violently

The Press in Singapore: Freedom and Accountability in the Asian Dialectic

Abstract: In Asia, the concept of press freedom is a cantankerous one. It has raised several ideologically volatile questions concerning how much freedom is enough, what constitutes news worthiness as compared to propaganda, who defines the limits of freedom, and the differences between freedom and social responsibility. What is worrisome about this debate on press freedom is that the lack of it seems to have been documented mainly as an Asian concern (e.g., Lent 1994; Nam 1983). Within the framework of the post-Cold War era, Asian governments and media, in attempting to address the issue, are still being portrayed as draconian legislators, media despots, and enemies of democracy and free speech. These charges are Asian-biased as there is the persistent and un­ questioned notion that press freedom flourishes in the West, especially the United States, and that it is an essential linchpin in a democratic system of government (Mahathir 1981; Tan 1990). It is obvious that the ideological rhetoric of intellectual debates alone does not provide us with much of an answer to the issue. A l l it does is cre­ ating more confusion by pitting the West and East against each other along an ideological divide, promoting unnecessary political labeling, and ag­ grandizing the role of press as defenders of the truth. As noted by journalist Andrew Graham-Yooll, while the end of the Cold War meant liberation, \"it is not yet clear how journalists can best use that new free­ dom. Nobody knows where the limits are until they have been tested and few have tested them\" (Graham-Yooll 1993). To make sense of the current discourse on the state of press freedom in Asia today, this paper attempts to shed light on several questions: How valid is this assessment of the Asian press, especially if the understanding of press freedom is different from that of the West? Must the Asian press

Fostering Social Justice in an Electronic Age: The Teacher as Public Intellectual

Abstract: The faculty governing body at my campus recently conducted a series of focus group discussions to determine \"the faculty's perception of the state of the institution.\" Faculty made comments on a wide variety of issues. Here is what the faculty had to say about students: Some specific areas of concern were that some students are here with only an interest in obtaining job credentials and not in learning. have high grade expectations (expect A ' s and B ' s only). do not have an academic work ethic to match the work ethic they demonstrate at their part time jobs. miss too many classes. repeat too many classes. have goals that may not match their talents/strengths. need a broader world view. The same week this report was issued, our University Bulletin included a report about the \"Fine Dining Experience\" program that's been started at the University. The report begins by saying: \"You're a college graduate who gets an interview with a major corporation, and the bosses want to talk over dinner. At the table with a trio of corporate bigwigs, you don't want to make any mistakes.\" The report then goes on to explain how the \"Fine Dining Experience\" teaches students \"proper eating habits.\" Invited faculty and staff serve as the corporate bigwigs whom students get to dine with. Obviously, faculty at my University are not alone in perceiving stu­ dents as anti-intellectual job seekers. Nor is the dining experience unique to my campus. Readers of this paper can undoubtedly identify campus fol-

On the Block: The "Public Interest" and the 1994 Spectrum License Auctions:

Abstract: maintained that it acts only to serve &dquo;the public interest, convenience, and necessity.&dquo; This phrase has been invoked to justify a range of activities so wide that their totality could never conceivably support any meaningful abstract standard either in word or in deed. Despite numerous and repeated claims to the contrary, the FCC has primarily served commercial broadcasting and industrial interests to the exclusion of other alternatives.’ As Hazlett (1990, 175) has noted, regulators and industry representatives have maintained their respective and mutually supporting agendas by adhering to what he called their &dquo;self-interested rationality.&dquo; Even the FCC’s S