bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Gender: Representation in the Media
Authors: Lemish Dafna
Published: September 2017

The study of representations of gender in the media understands gender to be socially constructed – an ongoing process of learned sets of behaviors, expectations, perceptions, and subjectivities that define what it means to be a woman and what it means to be a man. The main assumption of these studies is that a cultural ordering that presents gender differences as biologically determined and “natural” conceals the working of patriarchal ideology. “One is not born a woman, but becomes one” is Simone de Beauvoir's formative statement that captured the essence of this process (1989, 1st pub. 1949). Accordingly, gender is not viewed as something originally existent in human beings, but rather it is a representation produced by how we relate to our bodies through behaviors and social relations in the practices of daily life. As such, gender is distinct from the biological, sexual differences characterizing humans from birth. It is understood to be a product of “social technologies” (de Lauretis 1987), including media texts, the arts, and institutionalized discourses. For example, while it is a biological fact that women can give birth, it is a social construction (→ Constructivism) that women in most societies are expected to be better suited to be the dominant caregivers of children.
Gender: Representation in the Media
Authors: Lemish Dafna
Published: September 2017

The study of representations of gender in the media understands gender to be socially constructed – an ongoing process of learned sets of behaviors, expectations, perceptions, and subjectivities that define what it means to be a woman and what it means to be a man. The main assumption of these studies is that a cultural ordering that presents gender differences as biologically determined and “natural” conceals the working of patriarchal ideology. “One is not born a woman, but becomes one” is Simone de Beauvoir's formative statement that captured the essence of this process (1989, 1st pub. 1949). Accordingly, gender is not viewed as something originally existent in human beings, but rather it is a representation produced by how we relate to our bodies through behaviors and social relations in the practices of daily life. As such, gender is distinct from the biological, sexual differences characterizing humans from birth. It is understood to be a product of “social technologies” (de Lauretis 1987), including media texts, the arts, and institutionalized discourses. For example, while it is a biological fact that women can give birth, it is a social construction (→ Constructivism) that women in most societies are expected to be better suited to be the dominant caregivers of children.
Gestures in Discourse
Authors: Streeck Jürgen
Published: September 2017

The communicative roles of gestures during talk in interaction are partly a function of their placement within unfolding turns and action sequences. Gestures occur both as free‐standing unit‐acts and as components of multimodal turns.
Group Communication
Authors: Frey Lawrence R.
Published: September 2017

The study of group communication focuses on (1) the nature and effects of symbol usage in relatively small collectivities (a minimum of three people) on individual, relational, and collective processes and outcomes, as well as (2) how groups and group processes themselves are products of such symbolic activity. The study of how groups employ communication and how that communication is affected by and affects phenomena is called asymbolic‐management focus; the study of how the significant symbol of “group” and group processes result from communication is called asymbolic‐constitutive focus(Frey & Sunwolf 2004). Both perspectives view a group as a significant site of communication; indeed, Poole (1998) argued that because a group is the minimum unit of analysis for the confluence of influence associated with both individuals and social contexts, the group should bethefundamental unit of communication research.
Group Decision‐Making, Functional Theory of
Authors: Gouran Dennis S.
Published: September 2017

The functional theory of group decision‐making, while relatively recent as a formal theory, has origins dating well back into twentieth century (Gouran et al. 1993). One significant origin is the adaptation of American philosopher John Dewey's
method of reflective thinking
for use in the teaching of group discussion by speech teachers (Dewey 1997, 1st pub. 1910; → Speech Communication, History of). In Dewey's characterization, the method consists of five steps: (1) a felt difficulty; (2) its location and definition; (3) suggestion of possible solution; (4) development by reasoning of the bearings of the suggestion; and (5) further observation and experiment leading to its acceptance or rejection; that is, the conclusion of belief or disbelief. Early on, teachers interested in communication in groups converted these steps into a standard agenda for conducting decision‐making and problem‐solving discussions (see, e.g., Ewbank & Auer 1941). The presumption was that following these steps and cultivating the corresponding habits of mind would lead to better decisions (→ Group Communication; Group Communication and Problem‐Solving).
Government Communication
Authors: Canel María José , Sanders Karen
Published: September 2017

“Government communication” in this entry refers to the aims, role, and practice of communication implemented by
executive
politicians and officials of public institutions in the service of a political rationale, and that are themselves constituted on the basis of the people's indirect or direct consent, and are charged to enact the people's will. This executive communication is contrasted with the deliberative communication legislatures use to decide public policy through determining the law, and with the judiciary, whose function is to make judgments in relation to disputes about the application of the law (→ Strategic Communication).
Health Campaigns, Communication in
Authors: Noar Seth M.
Published: September 2017

Health communication campaigns have long been a tool used to influence the health of the public in countries around the world. Campaigns are an organized set of communication activities to produce health effects or outcomes in a relatively large number of individuals, typically within a specified period of time (Rogers & Storey 1987). The history of campaigns in the United States provides a window into how the general health communication campaign literature has progressed, and is now presented along with some important caveats.
Health Communication
Authors: Viswanath K.
Published: September 2017

Health communication is the study and application of the generation, creation, and dissemination of health‐related information, health‐related interactions among individual social actors and institutions, and their effects on different publics including individuals, community groups, and institutions.
Hostile Media Phenomenon
Authors: Gunther Albert C.
Published: September 2017

The hostile media effect refers to a perceptual bias in which partisans – people highly involved with an issue or interest group – tend to see media coverage of that issue or group as unfairly slanted against their own position (→ Involvement with Media Content; Bias in the News; Balance). Thus, for example, groups on opposite sides of a controversial issue, such as supporters and opponents of abortion, will each judge news stories on the abortion issue to be biased in favor of the rival point of view.
H
ovland,
C
arl
I
.
Authors: Schenk Michael
Published: September 2017

One of the founding figures of communication science, Yale psychologist Carl Iver Hovland (1912–1961) was born in Chicago to Scandinavian parents. His mother, Augusta Anderson Hovland, had emigrated from Sweden, while his father, Ole C. Hovland, a child of immigrants from Norway who had settled in Minnesota, had left the family farm to become an electrical engineer and inventor in Chicago. Both parents were said to be deeply religious.
Iconography
Authors: Müller Marion G.
Published: September 2017

Iconography is both a method and an approach to studying the content and meanings of visuals (→ Visual Representation). In its colloquial use, the term “iconography” describes the motif of a particular picture or a specific group of artworks. A general distinction can be made between religious, mainly Christian iconography and secular or political iconography. In the context of visual research “iconography” is used to describe a qualitative method of visual content analysis (→ Content Analysis, Qualitative).
Information
Authors: Krippendorff Klaus
Published: September 2017

Common linguistic habits render information as an attribute of messages or data, or as the purpose of human communication – as if information were an objective entity that could be carried from one place to another, purchased, or owned. This conception is seriously misleading. Gregory Bateson (1972, 381) defined information as “any difference which makes a difference in some later event.” Acknowledging that differences do not reside in nature, but are the product of distinctions, leads to the following definition: information is the difference that drawing distinctions in one domain makes in another.
Information Literacy
Authors: Livingstone Sonia , Van Couvering Elizabeth
Published: September 2017

New information and communication technologies (ICTs) pose significant challenges for their users. They require the rapid development and continual updating of diverse skills, competences, and knowledge, from the most familiar to the brand new, and from the most basic to the highly sophisticated. In academic research, these skills and knowledge requirements are increasingly brought together under the rubric of information literacy. By using the term “literacy,” the skills needed to operate ICTs are related to the ability to read and write, although the concept is still being developed (→ Human–Computer Interaction).
Intercultural Communication Training
Authors: Brislin Richard W.
Published: September 2017

Major social changes of the twentieth century include international air travel, global business expansion, increased migration across national boundaries, and recognition of the civil rights of various minority groups. This means that individuals will frequently come into contact with people from other nations and from other cultural groups within a large and diverse nation such as the United States or Canada. When people consciously prepare for such contact, they may benefit from intercultural communication training programs.
Intergroup Communication and Discursive Psychology
Authors: Potter Jonathan
Published: September 2017

Relationships and communication between social groups of all kinds is an increasingly pressing topic in a globalized world in which there are conflicts of resources, religions, and ideologies. Discursive psychology's distinct contribution is to try to understand this topic through studying how discourse works in the practical settings in which intergroup issues become live (→ Discursive Psychology). These might include major public events such as a parliamentary debate on migration and asylum, institutional interaction such as where the police interview a suspect who has been accused of racist violence, and everyday talk, such as conversations about politics and nationality over a family meal.
Interpersonal Communication
Authors: Berger Charles R.
Published: September 2017

Interpersonal communication concerns the study of social interaction between people. Interpersonal communication theory and research seek to understand how individuals use verbal discourse and nonverbal actions, as well as written discourse, to achieve a variety of instrumental and communication goals such as informing, persuading, and providing emotional support to others. Although interpersonal communication has been traditionally viewed as a process that occurs between people encountering each other face to face, increasingly social interaction is being accomplished through the use of such communication technologies as computers and mobile phones, thus adding a new dimension to this area of communication inquiry.
Iran: Media System
Authors: Michaelsen Marcus
Published: September 2017

The Islamic Republic of Iran (population approx. 73 million; adult literacy rate 84 percent) was established as a result of Iran's revolution in 1979. The political system blends republican elements (i.e., regular parliamentary and presidential elections) with the idea of the “government of the Islamic jurist” (
velayat‐e faqih
), developed during the 1960s and 1970s by Ayatollah Khomeini, the leader of the revolution and the founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran. Most political power thus lies in the hands of a Shiite cleric, the “Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution” (
rahbar‐e moazam‐e enqelab‐e eslami
).
Impoliteness
Authors: Bousfield Derek
Published: September 2017

Although socially, morally and even legally proscribed in many cultures, impoliteness is virtually ubiquitous in human (linguistic) interaction, pervading almost all forms of spoken and written communication, albeit in different forms and with different structures and, sometimes, occurring for different purposes (→ Interpersonal Communication → Language and Social Interaction). Concepts coming under the academic scrutiny of researchers interested in impoliteness include: linguistically communicated aggression, verbal violence, cursing, flaming, trolling, and taboo language usage to name but a few, as well as an absence of anticipated or necessary politeness, for example, not thanking one for a gift or an invitation.
Journalism: Group Dynamics
Authors: Reinemann Carsten
Published: September 2017

Several factors shape journalists' everyday news decisions, their general concepts of what is newsworthy (→ News Factors; News Values), and their understanding of quality (→ Quality of the News), as well as long‐term changes in reporting. One of the most important factors is the close interaction and frequent communication among journalists, or
co‐orientation
. Co‐orientation comprises several kinds of dynamic processes within journalism. In the era of 24‐hour news channels, the Internet, and shortening production cycles (→ News Cycles), the dynamic processes within journalism are not only occurring faster but are also becoming more important.
Journalism, History of
Authors: Nerone John
Published: September 2017

The history of journalism, inclusively defined, encompasses the history of news and news media, including, among other things, the history of print, broadcast, and computer technology; of news work, news routines, and news workers; and of news organizations, including newspapers and other media outlets as well as wire services and feature syndicates. Defined more narrowly, the history of journalism refers to the emergence of a set of values and explanations that discipline, regulate, and justify news practices (→ Journalism). Journalisms are socially constructed (→ Constructivism), and appear in different guises at different times in different national cultures in reference to different media. The history of journalism examines their construction in national and international settings, as well as anticipating their future prospects.
Journalism Cultures
Authors: Hanitzsch Thomas , Mellado Claudia
Published: September 2017

Journalism culture can generally be defined as “a particular set of ideas and practices by which journalists legitimate their role in society and render their work meaningful” (Hanitzsch 2007, 369). Such an understanding allows seeing journalism as a cultural phenomenon that is permanently being reconstituted and reaffirmed through a number of culturally negotiated professional values and conventions that operate mostly behind the backs of the individual journalists.
Korean Cultural Influence
Authors: Lee Kwang‐Suk
Published: September 2017

South Korea has emerged as a center of pop culture throughout Asia: its scope of cultural influence encompasses Eurasia (e.g., Uzbekistan, Mongolia, and Russia), East Asia (e.g., China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, and Japan), Southeast Asia (e.g., Cambodia, Vietnam, the Philippines, Indonesia, and Malaysia), and even extends beyond Asia. Korea's cultural products – notably, its blockbuster movies, television programs, → fashion, and → popular music – have become favorites among Asians and even among Latin Americans. The so‐called “Korean wave” (or
Halryu
, a term first coined by Chinese reporters in 1999) refers to the growing appeal of Korean → 
Popular Culture
in other Asian countries (Koh et al. 2005), while the Korean government's rhetoric of the “digital Korean wave” is an attempt to ride the wave of Korea's cultural influence by simultaneously promoting Korea's high‐tech electronic companies such as Samsung Electronics (→ Samsung Corporation).
Observational Learning
Authors: Bandura Albert
Published: September 2017

Observational learning is concerned with the acquisition of attitudes, values, and styles of thinking and behaving through observation of the examples provided by others (→ Attitudes, Values, and Beliefs, Media Effects on). Psychological theories have traditionally emphasized learning from direct experience. Natural endowment provides humans with enabling biological systems but few inborn skills. These must be developed over long periods and altered to fit changing conditions over the life course. If knowledge and skills had to be shaped laboriously by trial‐and‐error experiences without the benefit of modeled guidance, human development would be greatly retarded, not to mention exceedingly tedious and hazardous.
Online Media
Authors: Schweiger Wolfgang
Published: September 2017

The term “online media” refers primarily to technical communication media where digital content is transmitted from any kind of server to distant receivers via the → Internet (TCP [transmission control protocol]/IP [Internet protocol]) or other digital networks, for example, mobile services, and presented on a computer or a comparable terminal device (notebook, PDA [personal digital assistant], or mobile phone). Not all kinds of digital media are online media: multimedia CDs, DVDs, DVD players, mp3 players, or media applications on standalone computers are referred to as “offline media,” as content is stored at the place where it is presented. In opposition to broadcasting media (→ Radio; Television), where analog or digital content is broadly transmitted (via terrestrial or satellite broadcasting or broadband cable; → Cable Television; Satellite Television) to all receptive devices, in online media a client computer requests specific content from a server that, in turn, directly – that is, from point to point – delivers the content. According to this technical definition, online media facilitate a broad variety of different forms of computer‐mediated communication (→ Internet, Technology of). They can be described along several dimensions dealing with (1) basic aspects of communication structure, (2) aspects of exposure and user interaction, and (3) theoretical and institutional aspects of mass media.
Organizational Assimilation
Authors: Miller Vernon D.
Published: September 2017

Organizational assimilation refers to the process by which individuals move from “outsider” to full membership in an organization. Fredric Jablin (1982, 1987, 2001) developed a framework to consider the influence of communication on the social construction of role expectations and their enactments that considers the stages of vocational socialization, organizational entry, metamorphosis, and organizational exit.
Organizational Communication
Authors: Miller Katherine I.
Published: September 2017

Because investigations of organizational communication involve the intersection of two complex concepts – organization and communication – the discipline of organizational communication involves a number of diverse topical interests. Most scholars would agree that “organizations” are social collectives, embedded in a larger environment, in which activities are coordinated to achieve individual and collective goals. The study of organizational communication, then, is the consideration of “how the context of the organization influences communication processes and how the symbolic nature of communication differentiates it from other forms of organizational behavior” (Miller 2006, 1).
Organizational Metaphors
Authors: Krone Kathleen J.
Published: September 2017

Metaphors have played an important role in shaping the study of organizations and organizational communication since the 1980s. Various principles of metaphor have been used to conceptualize the abstract and complex domains of organizations and organizational communication; to imagine new constructs, theoretical insights, and perspectives; to analyze and understand organizational culture; and to facilitate organizational change (Lakoff 1993).
Participative Processes in Organizations
Authors: Harrison Teresa M.
Published: September 2017

A core concept in organizational communication, participative processes refer to a wide range of efforts aimed at initiating or enhancing the involvement of employees in decision‐making activities to which they would otherwise not have access by virtue of their positioning within an organizational hierarchy (→ Organizational Communication). Participative processes are generally discussed in opposition to or as a way to ameliorate problems associated with the routine functioning of bureaucratic hierarchy, that is, traditional top‐down organizational structures (→ Bureaucracy and Communication; Organizational Structure). Top‐down hierarchies allocate tasks, responsibility, and authority across positions in an organization in ways that control and coordinate organizational processes (→ Control and Authority in Organizations), but that may also inhibit flows of information and expertise, alienate employees, and, in so doing, diminish the organization's abilities to solve problems.
Participatory Communication
Authors: Servaes Jan
Published: September 2017

Participatory communication stresses the importance of cultural identity of local communities and of democratization and participation at all levels – international, national, local, and individual. However, the point of departure must be the community. It is at the community level that the problems of living conditions are discussed, and interactions with other communities are elicited (Servaes 1999; 2003). It points to a strategy, not merely inclusive of, but largely emanating from, the traditional “receivers” (→ Models of Communication). Paulo Freire (1983, 76) refers to this as the right of all people to individually and collectively speak their word: “This is not the privilege of some few men, but the right of every (wo)man. Consequently, no one can say a true word alone – nor can he say it for another, in a prescriptive act which robs others of their words” (→ Freedom of Communication).
Peace Journalism
Authors: Roberts Nancy L.
Published: September 2017

Peace journalism is an attempt at persuasive communication, usually by a social movement, to advocate in favor of ending war and violence. Journalism that advocates reforms such as social justice, the abolition of slavery, woman suffrage, and, most centrally, international peace has flourished in the United States, partly because of the press freedom the First Amendment of the US Constitution affords (→ Freedom of the Press, Concept of). Perhaps not surprisingly, most of the research to date on peace journalism has focused on US subjects and concerns (Roberts 1991, 1995).
People‐Meter
Authors: Webster James G.
Published: September 2017

A people‐meter is an electronic device that records when media are being used and who is using them. It is the preferred method of audience ratings companies that provide “third‐party” estimates of audience size and composition to various clients (→ Audience Research; Rating Methods), and the principle means of national television audience measurement around the world. People‐meters are constantly being enhanced and adapted to capture other forms of media use.
Persuasion
Authors: J. O'Keefe Daniel
Published: September 2017

Persuasion is a communicative function that can be pursued in many different settings, ranging from face‐to‐face interaction to mass communication. Mass media persuasion takes three primary overt forms: commercial advertising (of consumer products and services), pro‐social advertising, and political advertising. On each of these subjects, there is extensive empirical research and theorizing (→ Strategic Communication).
Photojournalism
Authors: Newton Julianne H.
Published: September 2017

Photojournalism means reporting visually. Yet this simple definition belies the complexity of a professional media practice whose mission remains constant, while the means of fulfilling that mission and the degree to which one believes it can be fulfilled shift along with technology, culture, and perception.
Planned Behavior, Theory of
Authors: Cappella Joseph N.
Published: September 2017

The theory of planned behavior (TPB) is one of a class of related theories of behavior change. The theory was developed by Icek Ajzen (1985, 1991) as an extension of the theory of reasoned action (TRA; Fishbein & Ajzen 1975; → Reasoned Action, Theory of), itself a model of behavior change. The TRA originated as a solution to the problem of attitude–behavior correspondence (→ Attitude–Behavior Consistency). In brief, the problem is the commonly observed fact that people can have attitudes toward a behavior that are favorable or unfavorable but not act on those attitudes in a consistent way.
Pluralistic Ignorance
Authors: Daschmann Gregor
Published: September 2017

There are several definitions of pluralistic ignorance – in the fields of psychology, sociology, and communications the term is not used uniformly. But despite the differences in details, they all share a focus on the same phenomenon: the inaccuracy with which most people perceive or judge → public opinion or at least the distribution of opinions in social groups (→ Social Perception).
Popular Culture and the News Media
Authors: Bybee Carl R.
Published: September 2017

While there may be some debate over whether Russia's or Canada's version of “Naked News” came first, for many social observers the beginning of serious news delivered by naked women or women in the act of stripping indicates a crisis in the practice of journalism. To say that the boundary between → Journalism and entertainment has been breached, if not swept away, is for many not a debate at all. It is a simple observation of the dramatic transformations in the practice of journalism that have taken place in the so‐called “modern” western industrial democracies (→ Infotainment; Quality of the News).
Power in Intergroup Settings
Authors: Ng Sik Hung
Published: September 2017

Exercising power over others is a common human experience. Children override the better judgment of their parents, displaying temper tantrums or simply nagging them to exhaustion. Parents in turn control their children using reason mixed with bribes and brute force, or the threat of it. In seemingly equal relationships such as that between spouses, people nonetheless influence or cajole their peers to have their own way. The exercise of power relies partly on strategic communication, and even seemingly powerless individuals may triumph over the more powerful. Just as individuals exercise power over others, they also have the experience of being overpowered by others.
Pragmatism
Authors: Simonson Peter
Published: September 2017

Pragmatism is an international philosophical movement that coalesced in the two decades before World War I, and has reverberated widely since. From the beginning, it featured communication, sometimes as an explicit concept, and more generally by emphasizing interaction, community, and communicable consequences as key components of knowledge, meaning, politics, ethics, aesthetics, and selfhood.
Precision Journalism
Authors: Doig Stephen K.
Published: September 2017

Precision journalism is the use of social and behavioral science → research methods to gather and analyze data, bringing a level of rigor to journalistic work beyond anecdotal evidence. Although it can be practiced without computers, precision journalism is usually a subset of “computer‐assisted reporting
,”
the catch‐all term for anything from using the Internet for gathering information to creating interactive data graphics online. Another common term is “database journalism,” which focuses on gathering and analyzing large collections of government data.
Prejudiced and Discriminatory Communication
Authors: Ruscher Janet B. , Wallace Devin L.
Published: September 2017

Prejudiced and discriminatory communication is studied in a wide range of social science disciplines, including communication, sociology, anthropology, and social psychology. Some forms, such as hate speech, are explicit, and they are recognized easily by an audience as reflecting prejudiced viewpoints. Other forms are more implicit: neither the speaker nor the audience may be aware that the speaker holds prejudiced views, even though independent evidence demonstrates that such views indeed are held. The conditions under which prejudiced views are expressed, as well as the forms that these communications take, are the subject of this entry (→ Social Stereotyping and Communication; stereotypes).
Presence
Authors: Hartmann Tilo
Published: September 2017

Presence, in its broadest sense, is a media user's state that is characterized by the illusion of nonmediation. If present, media users are temporarily unaware of the mediated origin of their experience. Their thoughts, feelings, and behavior tend to react to the media content as if the portrayed scenery, persons, or objects were real, because the general artificiality of media imitation produced by human‐made technology is not recognized (International Society for Presence Research 2001; → Media Equation Theory).
Press Conference
Authors: Allen Craig
Published: September 2017

Newsmakers arrange apress conferenceto announce news to groups of reporters. The meetings vary in size, setting, and subject. Some detail plans and decisions. Others promise surprise revelations. A common feature distinguishes all press conferences: the opportunity for reporters to question a newsmaker.
Priming Theory
Authors: Iyengar Shanto
Published: September 2017

The priming effect refers to media‐induced changes in voters' reliance on particular issues as criteria for evaluating government officials. The more prominent any given issue in the news, the greater the impact of voters' opinions about that issue on their evaluations of government. The priming effect creates volatility in public opinion, especially during election campaigns (→ Public Opinion, Media Effects on; Election Campaign Communication). As casual observers of the political scene, ordinary citizens only notice events and issues that are in the news; those not covered by the media might as well not exist. What is noticed becomes the principal basis for the public's beliefs about the state of the country. Thus, the relative prominence of issues in the news is the major determinant of the public's perceptions of the problems facing the nation (see, e.g., Iyengar and Kinder 1987).
Prints
Authors: Pon Lisa
Published: September 2017

Printing, strictly defined, is the process by which ink is transferred from a prepared matrix to another surface; prints are the material objects that bear the ink transferred by this process (→ Printing, History of). From the mid‐fifteenth century until the early nineteenth century in the west, a printing press powered by hand was most commonly used to effect the transfer. As a result, the surface receiving the ink, often a sheet of paper, was usually relatively small in scale in order to fit into the press. The matrix was routinely inked and printed repeatedly, producing hundreds or thousands of prints that were identical in content. Although, by the late sixteenth century, collectors were able to discern qualitative differences between prints made from a new or much used matrix, and were willing to pay substantially more for the former, print scholar William Ivins was correct to point out that the fundamental importance of printed images was their status as “exactly repeatable pictorial statements” (1953).
Privacy
Authors: Cate Fred H. , Barnett Brooke
Published: September 2017

“Privacy” is widely recognized as a legal right, but with a range of different meanings. These include restraints on intrusion into the home, confidentiality of correspondence, freedom to make certain fundamental decisions, control of personal data, anonymity, and many others. Countries differ as to the specific understandings of privacy their laws protect and whether those understandings apply equally against the government and private sector entities.
Privatization of the Media
Authors: Calabrese Andrew
Published: September 2017

The term “privatization” refers to the transfer of property and/or operations from state or public ownership and control into private hands. Among the principal reasons given to justify privatization is that private ownership and operation make a company perform more efficiently because its managers will be financially obligated to make the company accountable to shareholders. By contrast, government operations are often criticized for being inefficient, corrupt, and insufficiently responsive to the interests of the taxpayers who fund them. Advocates of privatization argue that the competitive environment of private industry fosters greater technological innovation, and that it pressures companies to introduce more stringent cost‐cutting measures.
Propaganda in World War II
Authors: Taylor Philip M.
Published: September 2017

World War II witnessed the greatest propaganda campaigns in history. Often referred to as the “Fourth Arm” after the army, navy, and air force, → propaganda was conducted by all belligerents and was essentially designed to sustain domestic civilian morale during a long war at home while undermining enemy civilian
and
military confidence in the ability to achieve victory. Although propaganda was becoming a characteristic of peacetime politics in the first half of the twentieth century, it was still seen largely as a weapon of war, especially in democracies.
Public
Authors: Jackob Nikolaus
Published: September 2017

Few concepts in the social sciences have attracted more attention and caused more confusion than the concept of the “public.” The dispute concerning the nature of the public is at least as old as Greek democracy. Since that time, one of the most divisive questions has been whether the public is characterized by an everyman, holding common opinions (doxa), or by an intellectual elite, endowed with deeper insight, knowledge, and wisdom (episteme). This controversy is the starting point for the following considerations. After a summary of different theoretical concepts, the relationship between the individual and the public is reviewed. The question of exposure to communication content is then addressed.
Public Opinion, Media Effects on
Authors: Lamp Erich , Kepplinger Hans Mathias
Published: September 2017

Because there are various concepts of → public opinion there are no general statements about the effects of mass media on it. Instead, the effects of mass media have to be related to specific concepts. Moreover, different study designs and methods have to be taken into consideration. According to the
quantitative concept
, public opinion is regarded as the distribution of individual opinions within a population and measured by representative opinion polls (→ Survey). According to this approach, the intensity and tone of media coverage directly influence public opinion. Most studies are based on a linear‐effect model (→ Linear and Nonlinear Models of Causal Analysis): the more often the media cover an issue, the more people believe it to be important (→ Agenda‐Setting Effects); and the more often the media present certain opinions, the more people adopt these opinions. The intensity and tone of media coverage are measured by quantitative content analysis (→ Content Analysis, Quantitative). In some studies, they are not measured but estimated; possible effects are concluded from media use (Robinson 1976). As well as the intensity and tone of media coverage, the framing of news stories can influence public opinion. Framing refers to the media's reporting of issues or events structured along certain perspectives, and to the audience's processing of that content according to predetermined schemas (→ schemas; Schemas and Media Effects). As demonstrated in several studies, people's interpretations and conclusions are mostly in line with media frames (→ Framing Effects).
Public Relations: Media Influence
Authors: Kleinnijenhuis Jan
Published: September 2017

Earning public understanding and acceptance through reports in the press is one of the oldest means–ends schemes in public relations (PR). Firms, governments, NGOs, and interest groups alike use the media to convey their message to their publics. Hence, media influence is a two‐step process. Whether PR efforts lead to news items in the media depends on the relations of the company with the media and on the newsworthiness of the publicity efforts (→ Media Relations; News Factors; News Values). Once the media have published the news, PR media influence can be understood through theories about media effects (→ Media Effects; Exposure to Communication Content; Information Processing).
Power and Public Relations
Authors: Courtright Jeffrey L. , Smudde Peter M.
Published: September 2017

The concept of power is related to the process and institutions of → public relations (PR) in several dimensions. Yet power is a problematic concept in PR research and practice, as it is in communication quite generally (→ Power and Discourse). It carries with it semantic baggage – largely negative or even tragic – that can easily lead to misunderstandings. A commonsense view of the term often brings to mind typical ideas of control, domination, and influence but also, for example, rank, authority, responsibility, accountability, gender, race, social position, money, resources, or persuasiveness. Power covers more than any combination of these ideas. This entry describes the current lines of inquiry scholars have pursued regarding the role of power in PR and then explores extensions of, and alternatives, to these lines of research.
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, insofar as method is not a neutral tool in order to gain knowledge about researched subjects but is part of the social reality investigated.
Realism
Authors: Jensen Klaus Bruhn
Published: September 2017

A classic position in the history of ideas and theory of science, realism assumes that the world exists independently of human minds, and that it lends itself to intersubjective inquiry, even if humans – individually, collectively, and as a species – may be unable to understand reality in all its aspects (Nagel 1986). In recent theory of science, realism has regained influence in comparison with other major positions such as → critical rationalism and → constructivism. Pavitt (1999) suggested that realism is currently the dominant position in theory of science, and that it informs the practice of much current media and communication research. (In literary and other aesthetic theory, realism denotes fictional forms that represent reality in the categories of everyday experience [→ Fiction; Realism in Film and Photography; Reality and Media Reality].)
Reification
Authors: Hester‐Williams Kim D.
Published: September 2017

“Popular communication” can be characterized by the various ways in which the general public engages popular forms of communication including radio, → Television, film, → popular music, and print media such as magazines, newspapers, and popular literature, as well as new technologies such as the Internet, email, and mobile phones (→ Communication: Definitions and Concepts). In addition to their general utility, these cultural objects inform and entertain the general public and are directed toward mass audience reception. The conspicuous consumption of popular forms of communication reveals a complex set of interactions with these modes of communication (→ Popular Communication).
Relational Maintenance
Authors: Dainton Marianne
Published: September 2017

Relational maintenance refers to activities that occur in interpersonal relationships after the relationship is developed and before the relationship is terminated (Stafford 1994). Although the term implies a temporal stage of relationship life, communication scholars have more frequently focused on the processes that sustain a relationship. For example, Dindia & Canary (1993) identified four commondefinitions of relational maintenance: (1) the process of keeping a relationship in existence; (2) the process of keeping a relationship in a specified state or condition; (3) the process of keeping a relationship in satisfactory condition; and (4) the process of keeping a relationship in repair (→ Relationship Development).
Rhetoric and Class
Authors: Córdova Nathaniel I.
Published: September 2017

A basic sociological assumption is that human behavior is patterned, not random. Such patterns form social structures or stratifications that reflect the persistent and regularized social relations that the patterns facilitate. The social stratification made possible by these hierarchies affects life chances, resources at our disposal, and relations of inequality in the distribution of social resources and rewards. Hence, at its most basic, research on social class encompasses the study of how societies manifest hierarchies of prestige and power, and how these hierarchies in turn shape a social stratification system and the reception of goods according to the status assigned to positions in the system.
Rhetoric and Dialectic
Authors: Mack Peter
Published: September 2017

Rhetoric and dialectic are closely related theories of (and trainings in) → Persuasion. They have some distinct bodies of doctrine (e.g., the topics of invention and the enthymeme belong to dialectic; the theory of disposition and the figures of speech to rhetoric) but over time they have also overlapped and annexed each other's territory (→ Rhetoric and Philosophy). Theorists today attempt to incorporate the insights and teachings of both subjects into an overarching theory of persuasive communication. These attempts have some instructive historical antecedents which will be the main subject of this article.
Rhetoric in Eastern Europe
Authors: Marin Noemi
Published: September 2017

Throughout central and eastern Europe (Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, Hungary, Romania, and Bulgaria), classical rhetorical studies pertain to a longstanding tradition of research on antiquity, while contemporary rhetoric scholarship focuses on democratic → Discourse and the political context in postcommunist times. A major challenge throughout the area is the diffused location of both classical and contemporary (postcommunist) rhetorical research. National academies of sciences along with classical philosophy and philology university programs host most classical and medieval rhetoric research. Scholarship on contemporary rhetorical discourse and political rhetoric can be located under postcommunist studies and philology. Since the fall of communism (1989), rhetorical practices of debate and democratic discourse are also part of postcommunist studies. Rhetoric as a general subject matter is embedded in humanities under programs such as classical studies, philology, linguistics, history, history of literature, ancient history, and classical philosophy. International democratic organizations sponsor new alliances with local, national, or international scope that acknowledge the role of debate and rhetoric for civic engagement, political awareness, and social change.
Rhetoric and Epistemology
Authors: Scott Robert L.
Published: September 2017

In 1967 the assertion that rhetoric is epistemic attracted immediate attention from rhetorical scholars. The assertion was taken to imply that rhetoric generated a sort of knowledge. The purpose of the claim was to establish a fresh justification for the study and practice of rhetoric. In short, it was an answer to a line of reason beginning with Plato, who argued that rhetoric was a form of deception, practiced only under questionable circumstances by suspect persons.
Rhetoric and Ethnography
Authors: Britt Elizabeth C.
Published: September 2017

“Rhetoric” and “ethnography” are slippery concepts, each describing a practice or methodology as well as a class of textual objects. And while “rhetoric” describes an identifiable field of study more than does “ethnography,” which is most often associated with cultural anthropology, each is an inter‐ and cross‐disciplinary enterprise whose character can vary depending on its disciplinary home. Both rhetoric and ethnography – in their multiple meanings – have been individually challenged by postmodernism (→ Postmodernism and Communication), particularly by the loss of faith in grand, totalizing theories and the assumption that language plays a role in the construction of reality. But these challenges have also brought theorists and practitioners of rhetoric and ethnography together to explore how postmodern understandings of each concept can inform the other (→ Ethnography of Communication).
Rhetoric and History
Authors: Turner Kathleen J.
Published: September 2017

The conjoining of the terms “rhetoric” and “history” suggests at least three related but distinct areas of study. One,
the history of rhetoric
, focuses on rhetorical theory and practice during particular periods of time; entries on various aspects of this area abound (e.g., → Rhetoric, Pre‐Socratic; Rhetoric, European Renaissance). Two others are the focus here:
rhetorical processes in history
and
the rhetoric of history
.
Rhetoric and Language
Authors: Ilie Cornelia
Published: September 2017

“Language is itself the collective art of expression, a summary of thousands upon thousands of individual intuitions” (Sapir 1921, 246). When exploring rhetoric in relation to language we usually have in mind the nature and functions of the communication systems used by humans in different times and in different parts of the world. Some of the first important theoreticians of language were in fact rhetoricians, as well as philosophers. A major point of departure in exploring rhetoric is the rhetorical role played by language as a conceptualizing and persuasive tool, as a means of communication and as a bearer of values (Dumarsais 1825; Fontanier 1968; Perelman & Olbrechts‐Tyteca 1969; Groupe µ 1976; Barthes 1988).
Rhetoric in North America: Canada
Authors: MacLennan Jennifer
Published: September 2017

Rhetorical study in Canada resists neat categorization, in part because it is a relatively recent phenomenon characterized by a rich diversity of perspectives and approaches, and by a comparatively fluid conception of what it means to engage in scholarly activity in rhetoric. As an academic specialization, rhetoric emerged in Canada only in the last two decades of the twentieth century (→ Communication as an Academic Field: USA and Canada; Speech Communication, History of). Prior to the 1980s, the subject was not offered in Canadian universities; there were no communication departments where rhetoric might have been taught, and university literature departments, firmly in the belletristic tradition, disdained the teaching both of nonliterary works and of composition. However, despite the lack of institutional visibility and sanction, small numbers of individual rhetoricians found homes in professional colleges and in departments such as curriculum studies and political science, and – more rarely – in literature departments.