Media Studies

NAVIGATING THE COMPLEXITIES OF MEDIA, POLITICS, AND SOCIETY IN CONTEMPORARY RESEARCH

2024-09-18T23:13:07+02:00

The current issue of the Media Studies journal brings together a diverse range of scholarly works that delve into critical and contemporary topics at the intersection of media, politics, technology, and identities. Through this collection, we aim to provide a comprehensive overview of how various dimensions of media consumption, political engagement, social practices, and identity formation are being reshaped in the modern era. This special issue reflects on how media practices and political dynamics intersect with everyday life, shaping public opinion, political participation, identity construction, and even humanitarian actions in a digitalized world.

BOOK REVIEWS

2024-09-18T23:41:12+02:00

“THEY ARE SMALL, YET THEY ARE BIG...” SHOULD THE AGE LIMIT FOR ACQUIRING ACTIVE VOTING RIGHTS BE LOWERED?

2023-10-25T13:37:19+02:00

The focus of this paper is on the issue of lowering the voting age, i.e., the age for granting active suffrage. Over the past decade or so, in countries that have lowered the voting age from 18 to 16, several studies have been published attempting to examine some of the arguments commonly raised in normative debates about the advantages and disadvantages of lowering the voting age. These studies address the situations in individual countries and represent a valuable contribution to insights and discussions on the topic. However, within the academic literature, there are few analyses attempting to synthesize the main results of these studies and draw more general conclusions, which is precisely the main goal of this paper. Based on a review and analysis of research conducted in Austria, Scotland, Germany, and Norway, the respective results are presented and synthesized, and attempts are made to draw certain conclusions. The studies under scrutiny corroborate the arguments in favour of lowering the voting age much more strongly than the arguments against lowering the age limit for gaining active suffrage.

DANGER, IMAGINED THREAT, OR CONSPIRACY? MEDIA, POLITICS, AND ATTITUDE TOWARDS THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC AND THE RESPONSE TO IT IN CROATIA

2024-05-02T13:02:13+02:00

The study explores which factors shape the attitude of citizens towards the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), their evaluation of the measures taken against the disease, and their trust in the national anti-pandemic system. To examine to what extent the social and economic position of the respondents, the attitude towards traditional divisions, the attitude towards politics and the party in power, and the attitude towards the media shape the attitude towards the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), survey data collected at the beginning of the second wave of the pandemic are used. Regression models show that age, attitudes towards the political system and elites, political awareness, and trust in the media are the factors that most shaped the public’s attitude towards COVID-19, anti-pandemic measures, and the national anti-pandemic system. Traditional cleavages and the individual’s economic position have a significantly smaller effect. At the same time, the attitude towards the party in power shaped the evaluation of measures and the attitude towards the anti-pandemic system, but not how the nature of COVID-19 was understood. Trust in the media is the variable that systematically has the most robust effect on all dependent variables in the analysis.

NEWS REPERTOIRES IN DESTABILISED EVERYDAY LIVES: A STUDY AMONG ADOLESCENTS IN SLOVENIA

2024-04-25T15:14:51+02:00

Traditional media consumption in the form of reading, watching or listening is being replaced by ephemeral practices such as clicking, searching and scanning, where the ‘checking circle’ has become a daily routine of constant browsing, checking and posting. In particular, these interrelated practices are constantly present among adolescents, who skilfully switch between multiple media, contexts and situations. The interdependence of such cross-media uses suggests that empirical research should focus beyond a single medium. The aim of this research was to examine news repertoires from the perspective of adolescents and highlight how biographical disruption during the Covid-19 pandemic had affected news consumption among young audiences. This article presents the results of a research project, within which focus groups on a sample of 67 adolescents aged 12–19 years were conducted. It also provides an analysis of a slightly smaller sample of 59 media sketches. The aim of the latter analysis was to identify the media preferences and potential interactions of young people. Six distinct news repertoires have been identified, which confirms the ambivalence of teenagers in terms of their media preferences. At the same time, teenagers generate their own personal ‘news media assemblies’ within their disrupted everyday lives.

CLICKBAIT AS BULLSHITTING: ATTITUDES OF CROATIAN JOURNALISTS AND EDITORS

2024-01-12T10:28:08+01:00

In this paper, the views of Croatian journalists and editors on clickbait are presented on the basis of semi-structured interviews with editors and journalists of the three Croatian daily newspapers with largest circulation, which also have their own news websites – Jutarnji list, Večernji list and 24sata, that were conducted in 2023. The research showed that financial necessity and increasing the reach of online editions are the main reasons for using clickbait, while editors and journalists emphasize the attracting function of headlines, whereby its informative aspect is neglected. Journalists and editors justify this practice by saying that the sensationalist headlines cannot overshadow quality articles, but it turns out that they do not perceive the danger that clickbait headlines often lead to worthless content. Some editors and journalists still believe that bullshitting, as it can be characterized in terms of the linguistic modus operandi, may be harmful to the medium in the long term, despite the obvious immediate financial benefit. The research also pointed to the important problem of applying different standards when editing an article for the printed edition, and then using clickbait in the electronic edition, not always with the author’s approval.

WE ARE ALL JOURNALISTS: ANALYSIS OF THE RADICAL RIGHT PERCEPTION OF JOURNALISTIC PRACTICES AND NORMATIVE ROLES: THE CASE OF THE 4CHAN FORUM

2024-06-05T11:06:22+02:00

The paper examines the radical right-wing understanding of journalistic practices and normative roles. After presenting the normative roles of journalism (monitorial, facilitative, radical, and collaborative), and the radical right 4chan forum (its subforum Politically Incorrect), a qualitative content analysis of /pol/ user posts is conducted. The analysis identified the presence of a negative perception of contemporary journalism practices, highlighting the belief that true journalism is dead, accusations that journalism spreads propaganda and fake news, and that it is subordinated to the interests of Jews, globalists, and capitalists, along with calls for violence against journalists. The presence of considerations on the normative role of journalism was also established, showing the greatest similarity to the monitorial and radical roles, especially regarding the provision of information and opening of twoway communication between authorities and citizens. The most important finding of the analysis is the confirmation of the existence of specific normative insights of the radical right /pol/ – emphasis on the radical vision of the citizen as a journalist, propaganda as the essence of journalism, and journalism as a battleground for narratives.

EUROPEAN POLITICAL INTEGRATION AND THE CONCEPT OF EUROPEANIZATION: FROM INSTITUTIONAL INTEGRATION TO MEDIATIZATION OF POLITICS

2024-06-03T11:02:55+02:00

The article examines the genealogy of the concept of Europeanization, as one of the main concepts of the political theory of European integration, especially with regard to the institutional background of the emergence of European political integration, and the impact of the Europeanization process on the wider context of political actors in the political system: from public policies to the Europeanization of collective identities. In particular, the relationship between the concepts of Europeanization and mediatization of politics is researched in the contemporary political context, in which the role of not only the political system but also fundamental social divisions and the possibility of creating a political environment is being transformed. In this sense, it is explored how contemporary European politics is also the result of the policy of spectacle, the creation of a democracy of identities and how it was realized by the concept of an empty signifier, as a strategic identity tool.

GENDER SUBVERSIONS OF NON-BINARY INFLUENCERS ON INSTAGRAM

2024-06-21T11:06:10+02:00

Social media is an important factor in the (de)construction of gender identities, the perpetuation of gender stereotypes, but also the representation of transgender and non-binary identities (Blanco-Ruiz & Sainz de Baranda, 2018). Non-binary is an umbrella term for dynamic and flexible gender identities and experiences. Recently, there has been an increasing number of influencers on Instagram who declare themselves as non-binary persons. The focus of the analysis is on the communication of chosen non-binary influencers on Instagram, how their use of language, styles, information structures, tones, and contexts reflect implicit or explicit ideologies, beliefs, and values regarding gender. The research findings indicate that the analyzed non-binary influencers subvert binary gender stereotypes and demonstrate an awareness of the conceptualization of the binary nature of language and context (photographs and video materials), as well as the possible interpretations of these discourses for social relationships and the improvement of the position of this subordinated group in discourse and, consequently, in social reality.

THE EMERGENCE OF DIGITAL HUMANITARIAN ACTIONS: THE CASE OF ‘VRATIMO PALČIĆE U PETROVU’ FACEBOOK GROUP

2024-04-25T15:24:59+02:00

The COVID-19 pandemic greatly affected interpersonal relationships globally. Furthermore, in 2020, Croatia was hit by devastating earthquakes that triggered a series of humanitarian actions. This paper deals with the ‘Let’s bring the premature babies back to Petrova hospital’ Facebook group and its auctioning model. The auctions were created through cooperation of the Facebook group members and, as such, have not been described in scientific literature. The aim of this paper is to understand what the case can tell us about cooperation in the digital environment and its role in creating digital humanitarian actions. Using a mixed-methods approach, the authors analyze posts published by Facebook group members and interviews conducted with organizers to explain the phenomenon of strengthening the existing connections among participants and undertaking a collective action. This case indicates that digital activism does not necessarily result in pure slacktivism. In point of fact, transparent participation of community members, along with a transparent model, can have tangible effects on society through successful humanitarian actions.

KUDOS, SEGMENTS, AND HEATMAPS: SEEKING A MEANINGFUL LIFE USING STRAVA

2023-11-14T16:17:31+01:00

The development and utilization of social media apps creates both opportunities and challenges for users, a phenomenon that includes the endurance sport community. The Strava app, launched in 2009, has grown in popularity to approximately 100 million users as of March 2024. At times referred to as social media for endurance athletes, Strava illustrates a specific form of virtual communication worthy of examination. In this paper the aims are to: 1) describe the app features and its impact on users, both the benefits and the challenges; 2) explore a number of ethical issues associated with using Strava. Methods include a philosophical approach with a particular focus on the American philosophical tradition (e.g., Henry David Thoreau, William James, Henry Bugbee), along with first-person accounts of using Strava for running and swimming workouts.