bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Public Relations
Authors: van Ruler A. A. Betteke , Heath Robert L.
Published: September 2017

However timeless the practice of public relations (PR) is (Heath 2005), in the manner we know today it became a robust professional practice in the latter part of the nineteenth century in the United States and in other democratized parts of the world, especially in Europe. Although often featured as a democratic process, it has nondemocratic even propagandistic origins and applications; it has a long history of being used to impose control by totalitarian regimes, business/corporate interests, and nonprofits. At issue is whether it is a tool of some elite to bend publics to its interest or a tool for bending organizations to serve and empower communities. Its emergence in the nineteenth century paralleled the development of mass production/mass consumption society, as a means both for promoting goods and services and for engaging in public policy debates issues management. The twentieth century witnessed the profession's development as a set of strategic best practices and an academic discipline dedicated to bringing data theory into play through sophisticated scholarly investigation and discussion. Pedagogy swings variously between best practice theory‐/research‐driven curriculum design. Because of these professional and academic forces, PR is on its way to becoming a matured practice and academic discipline all over the world. Academic professional development research generates a wide variety of perspectives and theoretical approaches.
Public Relations Planning
Authors: Ferguson Sherry Devereaux
Published: September 2017

The 1952 edition of
Effective Public Relations: Pathway to Public Favor
(Cutlip & Center) set the standard for PR education for decades to come. Chapters 5–7 introduced planning as the second of a three‐stage process model. The first step was fact‐finding, the second planning, and the third communicating. By 1958, the authors had moved evaluation (originally in step one) to step four. In 1963, Marston created the popular acronym
RACE
(Research, Action, Communication, and Evaluation) to represent the four‐stage process conceptualized by Cutlip and Center. As in the earlier model, planning took place at the second stage (→ Public Relations).
Qualitative Methodology
Authors: Scholl Armin
Published: September 2017

Qualitative methodology includes a variety and diversity of methods, procedures, and research designs. All kinds of qualitative methods have in common that their main research aim is a deeper understanding of the research object. Therefore, they are nonstandardized tools that can be adapted flexibly to every kind of research object, which can better be called research subjects because qualitative methods do not measure them objectively but interact with them. Thus, method is not considered a neutral tool in order to gain knowledge about researched subjects but is part of the social reality investigated.
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
Authors: Downing John D. H.
Published: September 2017

Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty were among the half dozen major broadcast information sources for the Soviet bloc from soon after World War II until the final collapse of the Soviet system in 1991. The two shortwave stations were covertly founded in 1950 (Radio Free Europe) and 1953 (Radio Liberation from Bolshevism, its initial title) by the US Central Intelligence Agency. Radio Liberty broadcast to the citizens of the Soviet Union, and Radio Free Europe to most of the sovietized eastern and central Europe, including the Balkan states. Radio Liberty's signal began to reach the USSR with any strength only in 1960 (→ International Radio).
Relational Uncertainty
Authors: K. Knobloch Leanne
Published: September 2017

Relational uncertainty is the degree of confidence people have in their perceptions of involvement within interpersonal relationships. The construct has its roots in → uncertainty reduction theory (URT; Berger & Calabrese 1975), which emphasized the relevance of uncertainty to interactions between strangers (→ Initial Interaction). As scholars began to examine URT in the domain of close relationships, they recognized the need to reconceptualize uncertainty in ways that attended to features of intimate associations (Knobloch 2010). The relational uncertainty construct was developed to fill this void.
Religion and Popular Communication
Authors: Radwan Jon
Published: September 2017

“Communication” derives from the Latin term
communicare
meaning to share or impart and to make common (→ Communication: Definitions and Concepts). “Popular communication” refers to those efforts of, by, and for the people that establish and maintain this sharing and commonality (→ Popular Communication). In this sense, communication is the basic requirement for sustaining any social group. “The people” are generally understood as the average or common members of a society, the masses, and are contrasted with elite sub‐groups that possess an unusual degree of power, wealth, or information. “The people” are also distinguished from “others,” who are nonmembers of any particular group at issue but are members of their own social groups (→ 
Popular Culture
).
Research Dissemination
Authors: Kerner Jon F.
Published: September 2017

When considering how the lessons learned from science can be used by those audiences who might benefit from them, the term “research dissemination” (Lomas 1993) has been coined to focus on the active process by which information gleaned from science is actively communicated to those audiences who are thought to be most likely to benefit from this information. However, there is considerable confusion in terminology among those who focus on this important issue. Thus, “communication,” “diffusion,” and “dissemination” are often used interchangeably to describe the processes by which information from science is moved into the public or practice domains (→ Diffusion of Information and Innovation). Similarly when focused on the benefits of research dissemination processes, knowledge transfer, translational research, research translation, knowledge integration, and knowledge implementation are often presented as comparable outcomes from research dissemination.
Research Ethics
Authors: Plaisance Patrick Lee
Published: September 2017

As the field of ethics addresses the philosophical foundations for standards of behavior and treatment of others when personal, social, and professional values conflict, social science researchers in general and communication researchers in particular are required to consider ethical implications of their work. Ethics is a process of deliberation that helps illuminate the dimensions and implications of our moral agency. It enables us to draw upon broad moral values to help question or justify a decision that will affect others. As professionals whose work both depends upon the willingness of others to cooperate and whose work can have direct or indirect bearing on the welfare of others, researchers are obligated to ensure their activities reflect commonly accepted ethical standards. Potential risks to subjects of research vary depending upon the nature of the questions explored and the methodologies used, but researchers are obligated as professionals to uphold fundamental values involving reduction of potential harm and respect due to all research participants as autonomous agents (→ Research Methods).
Response Sets
Authors: Mangold Roland
Published: September 2017

In many social empirical studies subjects are provoked by situational conditions to exhibit reactive behavior patterns. From these reactions (e.g., marking point 5 on a seven‐point rating scale), the kind and the strength of the subjects' behavioral dispositions (e.g., beliefs, personality traits or states, emotional feelings) may be inferred. For reliable and valid conclusions to be drawn from collected data (→ Test Theory), the subjects' reactions should only depend on these inner states under study, and not be influenced by other factors that are irrelevant to the research topic. In other words, the methods chosen for the measurement of values in a study (→ Scales) should provide data that resembles the “real values” of these inner states as close as possible.
Reticence
Authors: Kelly Lynne
Published: September 2017

Reticence is a communication problem with cognitive, affective, and behavioral dimensions and is due to the belief that one is better off remaining silent than risking appearing foolish (Keaten & Kelly 2000). Reticent individuals tend to avoid communication in social and public contexts, particularly novel situations that have the potential for negative evaluation. The publication of Gerald M. Phillips's first article on reticence in 1965 was groundbreaking in that it expanded scholarly interest in communication anxiety and avoidance problems beyond fear of public speaking (→ Speech Anxiety), spawning cognate constructs such as communication apprehension (McCroskey 1970) and launching a major new line of research (→ Communication Apprehension and Social Anxiety).
Rhetoric in Africa
Authors: Osha Sanya
Published: September 2017

This description of rhetoric in Africa will focus on two primary tendencies, namely, the valorization of the virtues of classical antiquity on the one hand, and the highlighting of an ethos of cosmopolitanism and the politics of the private on the other. These two disparate discursive operations are often complementary and give a deeper meaning to the political and cultural formations of the contemporary age.
Rhetoric, Argument, and Persuasion
Authors: Van Eemeren Frans H.
Published: September 2017

Rhetoric, argument, and persuasion come together in the study of argumentation. According to a handbook definition,
argumentation
is a verbal, social, and rational activity aimed at convincing a reasonable critic of the acceptability of a standpoint by advancing a constellation of propositions justifying or (in cases where the standpoint is negative) refuting the proposition expressed in the standpoint (van Eemeren et al. 2014). This definition does justice to the “process–product ambiguity” of the term “argumentation” because it captures not only the activity of advancing reasons, but also the discourse or text resulting from it.
Rhetoric and Politics
Authors: Parry‐Giles Shawn J.
Published: September 2017

The study of rhetoric and politics examines the role of → Persuasion in the political process. The study of rhetoric most commonly begins with readings from ancient Greece and Aristotle's handbook,
On rhetoric
. Classical scholars conceived of rhetoric as a practical art involving the performance of public oratory in the contexts of politics, law, and ceremonial occasions, separated from the philosophy of knowledge. As Isocrates' words expressed during the classical period: “Speech is responsible for nearly all of invention. It legislated in matters of justice and injustice, in beauty and baselessness… . With speech we fight our contentious matters, and we investigate the unknown” (
Antidosis
254–256, in Mirhady 2000; → Rhetoric, Greek; Rhetoric, Roman). While twentieth‐century rhetorical scholars continued to address the role of persuasion in the → Public Sphere, its study has more recently expanded beyond public oratory to include other persuasive texts, including advertisements, autobiographies, → cartoons, films, manifestoes, memorials, photographs, → Television and print news, and many other forms of → Discourse circulating in public spaces (→ Advertising; Cinema; Newspaper; Photography). Rhetoricians of today also recognize the epistemological contributions of rhetoric, which accentuate its role in creating knowledge and constituting perceptions of political reality (→ Media and Perceptions of Reality; Rhetoric and Epistemology).
Rhetoric and Race
Authors: McPhail Mark Lawrence
Published: September 2017

Early studies of race and rhetoric focused on literary and → discourse analyses and tended to emphasize black communication (→ Rhetorical Criticism). Over time, research on rhetoric and race expanded to address gender and sexuality, white power and privilege, and → cultural studies. Rhetorical studies of race and racism offer important opportunities for examining the symbolic and social dimensions of identification and division, and, perhaps most importantly, the potential for discourse to promote social transformation and change. Rhetorical studies of race and racism pose provocative challenges to a society that has struggled throughout its history to overcome what W. E. B. Du Bois presciently coined “the problem of the color line,” the struggle for racial equality and social justice.
Rhetoric, Vernacular
Authors: Hauser Gerard A.
Published: September 2017

The rhetorical tradition began with, and has remained linked to, the public discourse of official forums. Aristotle named these deliberative, forensic, and epideictic rhetoric (→ Rhetoric, Greek). Although these first appeared as genres and later included additional forms of address, such as the sermon and the essay, the distinctive focus of rhetorical theory and criticism into the mid‐twentieth century remained on speaking and writing. With some notable exceptions, these genres were typically delivered in an official site, such as a legislative chamber, or by a person who was in a position of power, such as the leader of a movement. They are captured by the category of “public address.” From the mid‐1960s this category was challenged on a number of fronts, such as its inability to account for protest rhetoric, the rhetoric of new media, or that of marginalized groups, which became subjects of inquiry among rhetoricians (→ Rhetoric and Social Protest). In the mid‐1990s, this challenge was extended theoretically and critically to reconsider excluded voices without access to official sites, voices that are not in positions of leadership, or whose modes of expression do not take the form of public address or formal essay, by considering them as they were manifested in vernacular exchanges, orvernacular rhetoric.
Rhetorical Criticism
Authors: Campbell Karlyn Kohrs
Published: September 2017

Rhetorical criticism analyzes → discourse in order to understand its communicative power. In US departments of speech and communication, it grew out of the emphasis on public speaking as an expression of democracy and from perspectives developed by literary theorists (→ Rhetorical Studies; Speech Communication, History of).
Rhetorical Studies
Authors: Gaines Robert N. , Gronbeck Bruce E.
Published: September 2017

The rhetorical impulse may be conceived as the desire to express one's thoughts in a way that affects the thoughts of others. Such an impulse is universal among humans, and historical evidence exists for its cultivation in ancient civilizations of Africa, Asia, Europe, and the Americas (Lipson & Binkley 2004). Early instances of theoretical inquiry concerning rhetorical communication have been documented in China (c. eighth centurybce), Egypt (c. eleventh centurybce), India (c. fourth centurybce), and Greece (including Magna Graecia,c. fifth centurybce; → Rhetoric in East Asia: China and Japan; Rhetoric, Pre‐Socratic; Rhetoric in South Asia). Arguably, each of these regional developments gave rise to a different tradition and trajectory of indigenous rhetorical studies. However, as a historical matter, the European tradition was most closely related to the emergent discipline of communication; accordingly, it receives emphasis here.
Right to Know
Authors: Mendel Toby
Published: September 2017

In 1990, only 13 countries had laws recognizing a right to access information held by public bodies, which has variously been called the right to know and → freedom of information, among other things. As of the time of writing, the number is approaching 70 countries, and many of the new constitutions adopted since 1990 recognize access to information as a fundamental human right. Numerous intergovernmental bodies, particularly financial institutions like the World Bank, have also adopted policies on the disclosure of information. This explosion in legal and policy recognition has been accompanied by a similar growth in authoritative international statements on the importance of access to information, the key focus of this entry.
Risk Communication
Authors: Ruhrmann Georg
Published: September 2017

Risk communication is a field of communications research that is used by a variety of professionals, including professionals involved in purposive communications in government and the private sector (→ Public Relations; Strategic Communication). Risk communication can be defined as a process that increases the selectivity of the → perception and communication of decision consequences. The decision consequences experienced by the decision‐maker are based on calculated “uncertainty” (Althaus 2005; Fischhoff & Kadvany 2011), a situation where actions have to be taken under conditions of incomplete information. The prominent theoretical concepts of risk communications are based on analytical concepts in the sociology of risk (Luhmann 2005), as well as history and cultural theory (Fischhoff & Kadvany 2011), integration policy (Sommer & Ruhrmann 2010), journalism research (Guenther & Ruhrmann 2013), health communication (Wright et al. 2013), and/or more normative concepts in public relation research (Palenchar 2010).
Rituals in Popular Communication
Authors: Rothenbuhler Eric W.
Published: September 2017

Rituals and ritualization can be found in all aspects of contemporary social life: religion, education, politics, → 
Popular Culture
, work life, family life, friendship, consumption, and leisure. Formal ceremonies such as religious observances, weddings, funerals, or oaths of office are familiar; the rest of social life is also punctuated by small bits of ritual and ceremoniousness, which we often overlook. From the rules of politeness to military codes of honor, from the celebration of birthdays and holidays to presidential inaugurals, from the conduct of board meetings and superior–subordinate communication to the conduct of a symphony orchestra concert, from dinner parties to Super Bowl parties, to the groups of television viewers gathered for news of disaster and crisis, the distinctive moments of life are marked by ritual.
Rogers, Everett
Authors: Singhal Arvind
Published: September 2017

When Everett M. Rogers passed away on October 21, 2004, his ashes were returned to the family's Pinehurst Farm in Carroll, Iowa, where he was born on March 6, 1931. In a career spanning 47 years, he wrote 36 books, some 325 peer‐reviewed journal articles and book chapters, and over 100 research reports. His prolific writing and clear prose have left an indelible mark on our understanding of the role that communication plays in social change (→ Planned Social Change through Communication).
Satellite Television
Authors: Papathanassopoulos Stylianos
Published: September 2017

There are many different uses for satellite technology, and television broadcasting is only one of them. In fact, communications satellites are also used for maritime applications, intercontinental telephony, business systems, and broadcasting television programming. In television, satellite is the easiest way to transmit a large number of services and thus a wide range of choices across a wide region, thereby overcoming the need for the complex infrastructure of terrestrial transmitters that a terrestrial network needs to broadcast its signals throughout a country.
Scandalization in the News
Authors: Sanders Karen
Published: September 2017

Scandalization in the news refers to the apparent tendency for news content to focus on material exposing the foibles and misdemeanors of fellow citizens, especially the rich, famous, and powerful. Scandals themselves have an ancient pedigree. The original Greek terms, the noun “skandalon” and the verb “skandalizein,” refer to a spring‐trap for prey, recalling the Indo‐Germanic root “skand,” meaning to spring or leap. “Scandal” was used in a figurative way in the Christian Bible to describe a trap, an obstacle, or a cause of moral stumbling.
Scripts
Authors: Kellermann Kathy , Lim Tae‐Seop
Published: September 2017

Understanding and production of messages and social behaviors are based on communicators' prior knowledge, which is organized and structured by schemas (Bartlett 1932; Rumelhart 1980). Over the years, researchers have identified different kinds of schemas, such as frames, story schemas, macro‐structures, scenarios, mental models, scripts, and memory organization packets (MOPs).
Secular Social Change
Authors: Finnegan John R.
Published: September 2017

The concept of secular social change in → Health Communication studies emanates from the findings of quasi‐experimental community and group randomized trials of health promotion campaigns (→ Health Campaigns, Communication in; Prevention and Communication). Specifically, many longitudinally designed intervention studies have discovered that outcome variables of interest (e.g., knowledge, beliefs, behaviors) often show changes over time trending in the same direction both in the intervention groups – where the campaigns have been introduced – and in the “control” communities or groups, though often stronger in the former than the latter (Finnegan & Viswanath 2002).
Segmentation of the Advertising Audience
Authors: De Pelsmacker Patrick
Published: September 2017

Organizations communicate core messages (position themselves) to different types of audiences (target groups) that they select out of a list of possible → audience segments or profiles, defined according to a number of segmentation criteria (→ Audience Segmentation). On the basis of this segmentation, audience profile selection, and positioning decision, organizations will define communication objectives and messages and build a communication plan.
Segmentation of the Advertising Audience
Authors: De Pelsmacker Patrick
Published: September 2017

Organizations communicate with different audiences (target groups) that they select out of a list of possible → audience segments or profiles, defined according to a number of segmentation criteria (→ Audience Segmentation). On the basis of this segmentation, they select audience profiles to which they target their messages and build a communication plan of which advertising is a part.
Selective Exposure
Authors: Bryant Jennings , Davies John
Published: September 2017

The study of selective exposure seeks to understand how and why people consume particular communication content when faced with a constellation of choices. Broadly defined, selective exposure refers to behaviors that are deliberately performed in an effort to bring communication content within reach of one's sensory apparatus (Zillmann & Bryant 1985). In the modern, media‐saturated world, selective exposure often occurs within the context of mass media, although by definition it encompasses all forms of human communication. Within the discipline of communication, → mood management, cognitive dissonance, and → informational utility represent the major areas of selective exposure research (→ Cognitive Dissonance Theory). The current state of research in this area can be understood by tracing historical approaches to selective exposure, outlining key theoretical components, and describing directions of current research.
Self‐Presentation
Authors: Smith Sandi W. , Yoo Jina H. , Walther Joseph B.
Published: September 2017

In 1959, sociologist Erving Goffman publishedThe presentation of self in everyday life. The heuristic value of the concepts he introduced in that volume have been wide‐ranging, particularly in the field of communication with its focus on the ways that communication is used to establish and maintain relationships. Human desire for contact and companionship require teammates who help to present the self and an audience to react to the presentation. Goffman used the metaphor of a theatrical performance as the basis of his model of the ways that people present themselves to others in work situations. He cautioned that one drawback of the metaphor is that theatre presents situations that are not genuine, while authenticity is present to some extent in everyday life. He does claim, however, that even honest performers must present themselves in ways that avoid discrediting the impression they are fostering in their audience.
Sex and Pornography as Media Content, Effects of
Authors: Malamuth Neil M. , Huppin Mark
Published: September 2017

Research on sex media has often been divided into two categories, depending on whether the sexual stimuli are embedded within a larger context or not. The first type, illustrated by a TV soap opera in which some of the scenes, although typically not a majority, include references to or actual portrayals of sexual interactions, depicted in varying degrees of sexual explicitness. The second category, typically referred to as “pornography,” is primarily intended to sexually arouse the consumer and contains mostly explicitly sexual content.
Sex and Pornography as Media Content, Effects of
Authors: Hald Gert Martin , Malamuth Neil M. , Huppin Mark
Published: September 2017

Research on sex and pornography as media content has often been divided into two categories, depending on whether the sexual stimuli are embedded within a larger context or not. The first type may be illustrated by TV soap operas or movies in which some of the scenes, although typically not a majority, include references to or actual portrayals of sexual interactions. Although varying in degree of sexual explicitness, these portrayals typically do not show explicit sexual acts or aroused genitals. Nor is the primary apparent purpose of the material that of continuous sexual stimulation and consequent arousal. The second category, typically referred to as “pornography,” or “sexually explicit material,” is primarily intended to sexually arouse the consumer and contains mostly sexual content with explicit sexual acts.
Sex and Pornography as Media Content: Feminist Perspectives
Authors: Arthurs Jane
Published: September 2017

The ubiquity of sexualized images and narratives across all media forms signals the importance of this topic for research and analysis. In mainstream communications research in the US it has been located in the → “Media Effects” tradition, where the emphasis has been on the moral risks of explicit sexual content to “family values” (Gunter 2002). This research uses content analysis, which relies on attaching predefined codings of → meaning to large datasets of, mainly, television content, to measure the number of sexual incidents portrayed, and the kind of values they promote (→ Content Analysis, Quantitative). Often funded by pressure groups such as the Kaiser Family Foundation, the aim of this research is to influence media policy on censorship and controls over children's access to sexual content. The worry is that young people will be influenced to engage in premature sexual activity outside of marriage without heed to the attendant risks. In feminist scholarship, on the other hand, there has been a different agenda. Here the initial emphasis was on the ideological reproduction of patriarchal power relations through the cultural preoccupation with women's sexuality. Most feminist research uses qualitative analysis of a few exemplary texts, to reveal the ideological work that they perform, such as the degree to which textual pleasure is predicated on women's subjection to male control (→ Content Analysis, Qualitative).
Sexism in the Media
Authors: M. Byerly Carolyn , Mendes Kaitlynn
Published: September 2017

Sexism in the media relates to concerns about a range of gender inequalities – in content, employment, policy, decision‐making, and ownership – that have been a major focus of women's liberation movements throughout the world since the 1970s. Mass media matter to women everywhere. They play a central role in the formulation and dissemination of ideas and the shaping of → public opinion, whether their format is news, entertainment, or → advertising. In fact, the media's influence is even greater today than ever, with 24/7 news channels, a range of social networking sites such as → Twitter, YouTube, and → Facebook, and hundreds of satellite and cable services offering everything from natural history to hardcore pornography and picture messaging via cell phones (→ Satellite Television).
Social Behavior, Media Effects on
Authors: Rubin Alan M.
Published: September 2017

Surveillance, correlation, and transmission functions are basic to the role of mass media in society.
Surveillance
means locating and disseminating → news and → Information.
Correlation
deals with interpreting and editorializing about this information (→ Commentary).
Transmission
is the socialization of norms, → attitudes, and values between groups and generations (Lasswell 1948). Socialization research, for example, has compared the effectiveness of different agencies of socialization, such as the family, peers, teachers, and the media, for fostering information gain or molding attitudes about groups and society (→ Socialization by the Media).
Social Identity Theory
Authors: Reid Scott A. , Giles Howard
Published: September 2017

Social identity theory (Tajfel & Turner 1979) was originally developed to explain prejudice and discrimination, and the circumstances under which societies would move from relatively cooperative and harmonious arrangements to overt conflict. The theory has since expanded enormously, and has become the basis for a general social identity approach to social psychological and communicative phenomena. This includes, but is not limited to, ethnolinguistic identity theory (Giles & Johnson 1981), → communication accommodation theory (Giles & Coupland 1991), and self‐categorization theory (Turner 1987). This expansion has occurred through empirical and theoretical advances that have elaborated the core idea of the theory to explain a wide range of other phenomena. Notable examples include the use of the social identity approach as a basis for understanding language expansion and language death, bilingualism and multilingualism, communicative shifts in accent and language along micro‐ and macro‐social dimensions, language attitudes, social influence and → Persuasion, stereotyping, and most recently, media selection and perception.
Social Movement Media, Transnational
Authors: Wilkins Karin Gwinn
Published: September 2017

Transnational social movements engage in communication processes as well as the creation of media products in their strategic work toward social change. Media attention to these efforts as well becomes part of the ongoing struggle to promote social justice, political opportunities, and economic equality. The bridging of social movement interests across national boundaries signals the importance of issues beyond narrowly defined territories along with the coordinated efforts of actors across political boundaries (→ Transnational Civil Society; Social Movements and Communication).
Social Perception
Authors: Samochowiec Jakub , Wänke Michaela
Published: September 2017

The term “social perception” might seem a misnomer, as it refers less to how people perceive their social environment through their senses than to how they make a judgment. Unlike the color of a car or the loudness of a piece of music, both of which can be more or less directly perceived by the respective sensory systems, the trustworthiness of a person or the aggressiveness of a social exchange can only be inferred or construed from various indirect cues. People have to go beyond the information given in order to arrive at a social judgment. In this sense, social perception is an
active and constructive process
of the perceiver. Not surprisingly, then, the same social situation or the same person may be “perceived” quite differently by different perceivers, or by the same perceiver in different situational contexts.
Spectacle
Authors: Sturken Marita
Published: September 2017

The term “spectacle” refers to an event or image that is particularly striking in its visual display, to the point of inspiring awe in viewers. In its origins, the concept of spectacle was used to describe something impressive and unusual, which thrilled because it looked like things never seen before or which deployed immense scale to dwarf its spectators. The notion of spectacle was applied to high‐culture products such as visually impressive dramas or operatic displays as well as religious ceremonies and folk spectacles.
Spiral of Silence
Authors: Petersen Thomas
Published: September 2017

Developed by German survey and communication researcher → Elisabeth Noelle‐Neumann (1916–2010) in the 1960s and 1970s, the spiral of silence theory describes collective opinion formation and societal decision‐making in situations where the issue being debated or decided upon is controversial and morally loaded (→ Public Opinion; Conflict as Media Content; Social Conflict and Communication). The theory is one of the most frequently cited and debated to emerge from the field of communication studies during the latter half of the twentieth century.
Statistics, Explanatory
Authors: Scheufele Bertram
Published: September 2017

Explanatory statistics is also called inferential statistics or statistical induction and deals with inferences about the population from the characteristics of a random sample, i.e., with making (probability) statements about usually unknown parameters of a population. For instance, when taking a random sample (e.g., n = 1,000) of television viewers from the population of all TV viewers (e.g., N = 1,000,000), we want to know if the average time of TV viewing in the sample (e.g., 184 minutes/weekday) comes close to the average time in the population from which the sample was taken (→  Statistics, Descriptive; Sampling, Random; Generalizability).
Stereotypes
Authors: Lasorsa Dominic
Published: September 2017

Stereotypes are gross generalizations about people. A stereotype is a category‐based cognitive response whose affective counterpart is prejudice and whose behavioral counterpart is discrimination. By judging others not on knowledge of their individual complexities but on their inclusion in an outgroup, stereotyping is categorical thinking that can engender racism, sexism, homophobia, xenophobia, and other types of intolerance.
Strategic Communication
Authors: Holtzhausen Derina
Published: September 2017

Strategic communication is the study of how organizations or communicative entities communicate deliberately to reach set goals. Although the term
strategic communication
has been in use for years, twenty‐first‐century scholars are only now fully engaged in defining the field and its theoretical influences. Traditionally communication in its organizational context has been studied through various disciplines academically and functionally scattered over domains from management communication, → marketing communication, → advertising, → public relations, technical communication, → organizational communication, and → political communication, to information or social marketing campaigns (Holtzhausen & Zerfass 2013; → Social Movements and Communication). It also covers the full spectrum of economic and social sectors, such as trade and industry, politics, nonprofit, government agencies, activist groups, and even celebrities in the sports and entertainment industries, all referred to here as communicative entities.
Structuralism in Visual Communication
Authors: Abraham Linus
Published: September 2017

As a body of work structuralism assumes that social life and meaning are organized by a set of deep structures that frame understanding and perceptions of reality. Social meaning is the product of systematic conceptual structures through which we apprehend reality (→  Structuralism). Structuralism traces its existence to the work of Swiss linguist Ferdinand de Saussure, who set out his principles on language in hisCourse in general linguistics(published 1959, after his death). Saussure's interest was in the study of language as a system, and he made a distinction betweenlangue(the formal structures of language) andparole(the way language is employed in varied and individuated ways in actual speech). His argument was that while the individual instances of use (parole) may vary, underlying all of them is a formal set of consistent codes and conventions of language (→ Code; Language and Social Interaction).
Survey
Authors: Traugott Michael W.
Published: September 2017

Surveys are one of the standard forms of collecting data on individuals. The process is uniquely suited to the collection of knowledge, attitudes, and opinions, but there are many circumstances where it is the only way to obtain information about behaviors as well. Surveys are sometimes distinguished from polls (→ Public Opinion Polling) because they are more likely to be conducted by academic than commercial researchers or because the interviews tend to be longer. This distinction is not applied here.
Social Media
Authors: Haferkamp Nina , Eimler Sabrina C.
Published: September 2017

The term “social media” is one of the buzzwords that emerged after 2005, when O'Reilly's postulates on the next generation of the → Internet came into focus. To this day, there is no generally accepted definition of the term. Thus, “social media” is best used as an umbrella term, comprising various digital services whose specific characteristics make it possible to distinguish them from other forms of media (Lietsala & Sirkkunen 2008). In its core meaning, “social media” is closely allied to the terms
Web 2.0
and
social web
.
Tabloid Press
Authors: Grabe Maria Elizabeth
Published: September 2017

Tabloid means compact size. In reference to the press it describes smaller sized newspapers. Yet in contemporary journalism the term tabloid refers to both → newspapers and Television and carries a strong normative evaluation of news work (→ Television News). In many respects, the term tabloid has become removed from its original meaning and attached itself to the idea of sensational news coverage (→ Scandalization in the News; Sensationalism). Slogans like “if it bleeds it leads” and “bodybag journalism” refer to emphases on death and destruction and are commonly used in reference to tabloid news. An assessment of public debate among media critics and academics about this journalistic style reveals sweeping declarations about its corruptive influence on journalism. Periods of public outrage about tabloid news have become a frequent ritual in many countries around the world. At the heart of this debate are two popular concerns: tabloid journalism violates notions of social decency, and it displaces socially significant stories.
Tailoring, Communication and
Authors: Campbell Marci K.
Published: September 2017

Tailored messages are formal individual messages in which the content and/or style of the materials have been created based on data specific to the individual. Tailoring is distinguished from targeting, in that targeting refers to audience segmentation and development of group‐specific messages, whereas tailoring involves individual‐specific assessment and feedback driven by that assessment. Individual computerized tailoring for health promotion typically combines health behavior change theory (→ Health Communication; Health Behavior Change, Transtheoretical Model of), communication theory, social → 
Marketing
principles, and computer‐based programs and algorithms, in order to produce personally relevant health messages for each project participant. Information obtained from each individual is accessed and assembled using specially created software to generate customized messages for each person that are designed to promote healthy behavior changes (Campbell et al.

; Kreuter et al.

). Providing individualized messages means the information can be tailored so that it is particularly relevant, interesting, culturally appropriate, and credible to the message recipient (Skinner et al.

).
Teacher Communication Concern
Authors: Feezel Jerry D.
Published: September 2017

Teacher communication concern (hereafter abbreviated TCC) is a concept and research line that developed from attempts to describe specific behaviors of teachers that could influence student learning. Initially conceived as three factors of worry or anxiety about self (confidence and competence as teacher), task (mastering the specific skills), and impact (affecting learning), it is an area that is part of the general category of instructional communication (→ Communication Education, Goals of), which is the interaction of teacher and student talk in classrooms (→ Classroom Student–Teacher Interaction).
Teacher Communication Style
Authors: Nussbaum Jon F. , Lara Ladori
Published: September 2017

Education scholars interested in the communication that transpires within the classroom have often mentioned the importance of studying the teacher as a pivotal source of that communication (→ Classroom Student–Teacher Interaction). After searching the literature, Norton (

) wrote that very few studies had specifically investigated teacher communication style as it relates to teacher effectiveness, though many of the exciting investigations did allude to the various components or sub‐constructs that entail stylistic aspects. To fill this void within the literature, Norton (

) utilized his conceptualization of → communicator style to investigate teacher effectiveness as a function of the way a teacher communicates within the classroom (Norton

).
Teacher Influence and Persuasion
Authors: Kearney Patricia
Published: September 2017

Teaching is a social influence process. Teachers influence students to learn. Influencing students to learn requires teachers to find ways to change students' existing attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors. Teachers may need to induce a positive attitude toward learning mathematics or science. They may need to alter students' beliefs about the causes of World War II. Teachers may need to encourage students to read more books. In order to effect such changes, teachers need to strategize ways to influence, motivate, or persuade students.
Teacher Influence and Persuasion
Authors: Kearney Patricia , Waldeck Jennifer
Published: September 2017

Teaching is a social influence process. Teachers influence students to learn. Influencing students to learn requires teachers to find ways to change students’ existing attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors. Teachers may need to induce a positive attitude toward learning mathematics or science. They may need to alter students’ beliefs about the causes of World War II. Teachers may need to encourage students to read more books. In order to effect such changes, teachers need to strategize ways to influence, motivate, or persuade students.
Teacher Self‐Disclosure
Authors: Waldeck Jennifer H.
Published: September 2017

Teacher self‐disclosure occurs when teachers intentionally or unintentionally reveal information about themselves to students (Nussbaum & Scott 1979), often concerning their education, experience, family, friends and colleagues, beliefs, opinions, leisure activities, and personal problems (Downs et al. 1988). Moreover, these early studies suggest that teacher self‐disclosure is related in various ways to student learning and teachers’ overall effectiveness.
Teacher Self‐Disclosure
Authors: Waldeck Jennifer H.
Published: September 2017

Teacher self‐disclosure occurs when teachers intentionally or unintentionally reveal information about themselves to students (Nussbaum & Scott 1979), often concerning their education, experience, family, friends and colleagues, beliefs, opinions, leisure activities, and personal problems). Teacher self‐disclosure may occur in face‐to‐face or mediated contexts such as email or social networking websites (Mazer et al. 2009). Research has revealed a consistent relationship among teacher self‐disclosure, student learning, and teachers' overall effectiveness.
TeleSur
Authors: Sotillo Omar Hernández
Published: September 2017

TeleSur was a → Television initiative launched in July 2005 and spearheaded by the government of Venezuela, in cooperation with three other Latin American states – Argentina, Cuba, and Uruguay (→ Argentina: Media System; Cuba: Media System; International Television). The channel was presented by its promoters as “the new television of the south,” with a geopolitical emphasis on the global south reflected in the way they write its very name:
teleSUR
. While there were some undeniably innovative aspects to this project, its central objectives corresponded to old and traditionally unfulfilled political aspirations for Latin American regional integration on the one hand, and for providing alternatives to the hegemonic ideologies of cultural imperialism on the other (→ Cultural Imperialism Theories). This orientation was clearly reflected in one of the channel's slogans, often seen on the screen in promotional spots between programs: “Seeing each other we get to know each other, knowing each other we get to respect each other, respecting each other we learn to love each other, and loving each other is the first step toward integration.”
Television for Development
Authors: Mody Bella
Published: September 2017

During their colonial occupation, many parts of Asia, Africa, Latin America, and the Caribbean were underdeveloped; forced labor was used in mines, fields, and plantations to supply the factories of Europe. Television has been part of state‐led reconstruction attempts for national development since the 1970s, albeit with no explicit policies. After the pressure to privatize and deregulate media in the 1980s, TV for development has increasingly consisted of advertiser‐supported → entertainment education.
Television News
Authors: Conway Mike
Published: September 2017

Almost from the moment Vladimir Zworykin, John Logie Baird, Philo Farnsworth, and others started improving German inventor Paul Nipkow's “spinning disc television” idea in the early twentieth century, the debate began concerning journalism's role on the small screen. Communication researchers, sociologists, and others scholars were slow to take the medium seriously as an information source, even while people around the world turned to television as their primary source of news. Television news became one of the most popular sources for information in the last four decades of the twentieth century, especially in Europe and the US. By the start of the twenty‐first century, satellite technology helped spread news channels in the Middle East, Asia, and other regions of the world, allowing non‐western perspectives on world issues to gain a wider audience (→ Satellite Television; CNN; Arab Satellite TV News).
Ubiquitous Computing
Authors: Burgelman Jean‐Claude , Punie Yves
Published: September 2017

Ubiquitous computing refers to a twenty‐first‐century era of computing in which networking and computing technologies become so small, fast, interconnected, and cheap that they can be seamlessly embedded into the environment and everyday objects. It implies that computing will become ubiquitous. User‐friendly services are expected to be available anytime and anywhere and only when demanded by users. This implies that computing will become intelligent because it will need to understand human behavior in context. The term “ubiquitous computing” was coined by Mark Weiser (1952–1999), chief scientist at the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center (PARC) in California, in a seminal paper published in 1991 (→ Human–Computer Interaction; Information Society; Technology and Communication).
Uncertainty and Communication
Authors: Brashers Dale
Published: September 2017

Uncertainty has been an important concept in communication theory for many decades (→ Uncertainty Reduction Theory). Understanding how people respond to uncertainty in developing relationships (→ Relational Uncertainty) and in intercultural encounters (→ Anxiety Uncertainty Management Theory) has been the foundation of a large body of interpersonal communication research. This work has demonstrated complex relationships between communication, → information seeking, and the management of uncertainty (→ Uncertainty Management).