bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Readership Research
Authors: Schulz Rüdiger
Published: September 2017

Readership research employs empirical methods to investigate print media usage, focusing mainly on → magazines and →  Newspapers that appear periodically. Of primary importance in this context are readership analyses that ascertain findings on print‐media coverage (reach or cumulative audience) and readership structure (composition of readership to describe print‐media target groups). These methods are supplemented by reception analyses, which investigate reading habits in a more general sense.
Realism in Film and Photography
Authors: Van Leeuwen Theo
Published: September 2017

From its very beginnings, photography was understood and experienced in terms of its capacity for realism. “It is not merely the likeness which is precious … but the sense of nearness involved in the thing … the fact of the very shadow of the person lying there fixed forever,” wrote Elizabeth Barrett in 1843 (quoted in Sontag 1977, 183). Soon it would be used to record events and document many aspects of the world, not just in people's family albums, but also in science, medical training, police work, military reconnaissance, and many other spheres of activity. Yet photography also developed into an art form, with highly allegorical
tableaux vivants
that “combined the sensuous beauty of the fine print with the moral beauty of the fine image” (Mike Weaver, quoted in Wells 2000, 262). In the twentieth century, both these aspects of photography would continue to develop: documentary photography and → photojournalism with masters such as Erich Salomon, Henri Cartier‐Bresson, and Robert Frank; and photography as a form of modern art with, for instance, the formal, quasi‐abstract landscapes of Edward Weston and the nudes of Bill Brandt.
Reasoned Action, Theory of
Authors: Fishbein Martin
Published: September 2017

The theory of reasoned action (TRA) is a general theory of behavior that was first introduced in 1967 by Martin Fishbein, and was extended by Fishbein and Icek Ajzen (e.g., Fishbein & Ajzen 1975; Ajzen & Fishbein 1980). Developed largely in response to the repeated failure of traditional → attitude measures to predict specific behaviors, the theory began with the premise that the simplest and most efficient way to predict a given behavior was to ask a person whether he or she was or was not going to perform that behavior. Thus, according to the theory, performance or non‐performance of a given behavior is primarily determined by the strength of a person's intention to perform (or to not perform) that behavior, where intention is defined as the subjective likelihood that one will perform (or try to perform) the behavior in question (→ Attitude‐Behavior Consistency; Planned Behavior, Theory of).
Reciprocal Effects
Authors: Kepplinger Hans Mathias
Published: September 2017

Originally, the term “reciprocal effects” was used by Kurt Lang and Gladys Engel Lang (1953) to describe the behavior of people in front of TV cameras. Here it is used in a broader sense. It denotes all the effects of the mass media on actual and potential subjects of media coverage (→ Media Effects; Media Effects: Direct and Indirect Effects). Included are the effects of media coverage that mentions subjects personally or explicitly deals with individuals and topics closely related to them. Subjects are distinguished from bystanders who are not directly or indirectly addressed by media coverage. With respect to the time when reciprocal effects occur, anticipatory, immediate, and corrective reactions are distinguished.
Anticipatory reactions
intend to avoid or seek to bring about media coverage.
Immediate reactions
are instantaneous consequences of interactions between media people (reporters, camera men, etc.) and the protagonists of media reports.
Corrective reactions
are produced by existing news coverage. When we look at reciprocal effects, there is no given distinction between cause and effect, because every element can be seen as both cause and effect. For example, a report might be seen as an effect of a subject's prior behavior while also being the cause of his subsequent emotions. Thus, the traditionally linear model of media effects becomes a
feedback
model of media relations: the personality or behavior of subjects stimulates media reports that, in turn, directly influence the cognitions, appraisals, emotions, and behavior of subjects (→ Linear and Nonlinear Models of Causal Analysis).
Regression Analysis
Authors: Rubin Alan M.
Published: September 2017

The essence of scientific research is explaining and predicting relationships among variables. Two or more variables co‐vary and are related if their values systematically correspond to each other. In other words, as one value increases or decreases, the other value consistently or systematically increases or decreases (→ Correlation Analysis). For example, researchers might observe the amount of Internet use increases from younger to older adolescence, leading them to expect a relationship between Internet use and age of adolescents.
Relational Dialectics
Authors: Baxter Leslie A.
Published: September 2017

Relational dialectics is an interpretive theory of meaning‐making in familial and non‐kin relationships (→ Meaning). Formally articulated in 1996 by Leslie Baxter and Barbara Montgomery, the theory is grounded in the philosophy of dialogism articulated by Russian language philosopher → Mikhail Bakhtin (→ Dialogic Perspectives). It relies primarily on qualitative methods with a goal of rendering a rich understanding of the meaning‐making process (→ Qualitative Methodology). Unlike many interpretive theories, however, relational dialectics theory (RDT) challenges interpretivism's focus on consensual, unified meanings, emphasizing instead the fragmented and contested nature of meaning‐making. Further, RDT moves from subjective sense‐making of individuals to focus on → Discourse. The theory can be summarized in
three core propositions
.
Relational Schemas
Authors: Koerner Ascan F.
Published: September 2017

Schemas are defined as large‐scale cognitive structures representing general knowledge, often also described as subjective theories, about some object or concept (Smith 1998). Their main functions include aiding in the interpretation of external stimuli, directing attention to specific types of external information, and guiding the retrieval and judgment of information from memory. That is, schemas play a central role in information processing and how persons understand and act in their social worlds. It follows that relational schemas organize knowledge of relationships in long‐term memory and play an important role in the cognitive processes that precede, accompany, and follow interpersonal communication (→ Schemas, Knowledge Structures, and Social Interaction).
Relationship Development
Authors: Rubin Rebecca B.
Published: September 2017

Since the dawn of interpersonal communication research in the early 1970s, communication researchers have been interested in relationship development processes. Theories focused on how strangers develop more personal and intimate alliances with others over time, couples work to maintain relationships, and partners cope when they fall apart or disintegrate. Extensions and applications of these basic theories into work, family, cross‐cultural, and mediated arenas followed.
Rhetoric, Argument, and Persuasion
Authors: Eemeren Frans H. van
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 case the standpoint is negative) refuting the proposition expressed in the standpoint (van Eemeren et al. 1996). 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 in East Asia: Korea
Authors: Park WooSoo
Published: September 2017

The history of Korean rhetoric is the history of translation of and communication with its neighboring foreign cultures. From its early period of the Three Kingdoms to the later Yi dynasty, Korea sought its own ways of expression under the influence of Chinese culture. More recently, from the beginning of the twentieth century to its independence from Japanese colonial rule in 1945, the influence of Japanese culture was predominant (→ Rhetoric in East Asia: China and Japan). Since then, Korea has been strongly affected culturally by America (→ Rhetoric in North America: United States).
Rhetoric in East Asia: Korea
Authors: Park WooSoo
Published: September 2017

The history of Korean rhetoric is the history of translation of and communication with its neighboring foreign cultures. From its early period of the Three Kingdoms (313–932 CE) to the later Yi dynasty (1392–1910 CE), Korea sought its own ways of expression under the influence of Chinese culture. More recently, from the beginning of the twentieth century to its independence from Japanese colonial rule in 1945, the influence of Japanese culture was predominant (→ Rhetoric in East Asia: China and Japan). Since then, Korea has been strongly affected culturally by America (→ Rhetoric in North America: United States).
Rhetoric and Ethics
Authors: Arnett Ronald C.
Published: September 2017

The field of communication has historical roots in the interplay of human speech and ethics (→ Communication as a Field and Discipline). Our journals record scholarly investigation of communication ethics beginning in 1934 with Pellegrini'sQuarterly Journal of Speechessay, “Public speaking and social obligations.” The founding scholarly work on speech and ethics is Aristotle'sNicomachean ethics. Aristotle's public descriptive account of Homer's narrative responsiveness to Athenian virtues in action establishes the enduring heart of communication ethics –responsiveness, commencing with responsive‐ness to the Athenian polis.
Rhetoric, European Renaissance
Authors: Green Lawrence D.
Published: September 2017

The goal of rhetoric during the Renaissance was themasteryof spoken or written language to affect aparticularaudience in anintendedand predictable manner.Masteryentailed an understanding of language in its relation to human psychology, the use of formal procedures for turning theory into practice, and the education of others in both theory and practice. The focus onparticularaudiences, rather than a universal audience, recognized that listeners or readers could be differentiated and grouped according to their interests in a given topic or problem. Not everyintentioncould be realized with every audience, and students were trained to judge whether it was reasonable to expect a particular audience to respond as intended to a particular use of language.
Rhetoric and Gender
Authors: Foss Karen A.
Published: September 2017

Rhetoric is the art and study of human symbol use. As a discipline, rhetoric began in ancient Greece as a practical art of persuasion, applied principally to political, legal, and judicial contexts (→ Rhetoric, Greek). Gender refers to the cultural constructs of masculinity and femininity imposed upon biological sex by any particular culture – what it means to be
masculine
or
feminine
. The relationship between rhetoric and gender has played out in four different and progressively complex perspectives in the discipline of rhetorical studies.
Rhetoric and Gender
Authors: Foss Karen A.
Published: September 2017

Rhetoric is the art and study of human symbol use. As a discipline, rhetoric began in ancient Greece as a practical art of persuasion, applied principally to political, legal, and judicial contexts (→ Rhetoric, Greek). Gender is the assignment of meaning to bodies (Foss, S. K. et al. 2013), a socially constructed system that determines what is masculine and feminine in a culture. The relationship between rhetoric and gender has played out in four different and progressively complex perspectives in the discipline of rhetorical studies.
Rhetoric, Greek
Authors: Pernot Laurent
Published: September 2017

The word “rhetoric” comes from the Greek
rhêtorikê
, which means “the art of speech,” “the art of speaking”: the etymology shows the role played by the ancient Greeks in the field which constitutes the subject of this article. The art of speaking exists in many civilizations, but Greek antiquity has given it a distinctive, rigorous, and rich theoretical underpinning.
Rhetoric, Greek
Authors: Pernot Laurent
Published: September 2017

The word “rhetoric” comes from the Greekrhêtorikê, which means “the art of speech,” “the art of speaking”: the etymology shows the role played by the ancient Greeks in the field which constitutes the subject of this article. The art of speaking exists in many civilizations, but Greek antiquity has given it a distinctive, rigorous, and rich theoretical underpinning.
Rhetoric and Logic
Authors: Hansen Hans V.
Published: September 2017

Logic and rhetoric are such broad subjects that in order to profit from their comparison we must make at least one division in each field. Logic in the narrow sense is mainly concerned with the consequence relation (“following from”), and a well‐documented tradition exists from Aristotle's
Prior analytics
to the present that explores this question. In a wider sense, logic includes the study and statement of the principles of good reasoning and may be seen as taking as its central problem the question of what makes for a good argument or a good inference. Developments of logic in the wide sense can be found as long ago as Aristotle's
Topics
and more recently in twentieth‐century informal logic.
Rhetoric and Media Studies
Authors: Childers Jay P.
Published: September 2017

Few would deny media's increasingly central role in the everyday lives of most individuals, particularly in first and second world countries. And increasingly, few would deny media's rhetorical influence in how people come to understand themselves and those around them. News media shape the way individuals see their communities as well as those on the other side of the planet (→ news). Television sitcoms offer representations of individual characters that frame how one sees others of differing national, ethnic, or economic backgrounds (→ Situation Comedies). Movies offer narratives filled with violence and crime, which often leads people to overestimate the occurrence of such acts in real life (→ Cultivation Effects). Media play a central role in shaping the way many people perceive themselves and the world around them (→ Media Effects; Media and Perceptions of Reality).
Rhetoric, Medieval
Authors: Bennett Beth S.
Published: September 2017

As an area of investigation, “medieval rhetoric” refers to the discipline taught as rhetoric in the liberal arts curriculum of western Europe, as well as to how that art was adapted to communication practices for secular and ecclesiastical purposes, between the fifth and the fifteenth centuries. Study of medieval rhetoric includes examining the continuance of the classical rhetorical tradition, as it was transmitted from the ancient societies of Greece and Rome (→ Rhetoric, Greek; Rhetoric, Roman), along with the development of rhetorical education and pedagogical practices in composition that fostered the emergence of distinctive medieval discursive genres, which persisted even into the Renaissance (→ Rhetoric, European Renaissance). In its scope, medieval rhetoric is necessarily complex and only truly began to be studied on its own terms in the twentieth century, as medieval Latin texts were discovered and made accessible for close examination by scholars investigating the history of rhetoric.
Rhetoric and Narrativity
Authors: Gring‐Pemble Lisa
Published: September 2017

For centuries, rhetoricians, communication scholars, and practitioners have recognized narrative's rich descriptive and persuasive appeal. Numerous essays, books, and monographs address the nature and functions of narrative in disciplines as varied as rhetoric and communication, biology and anthropology, psychology and sociology, political science and public policy, and theology and philosophy.
Rhetoric, Nonverbal
Authors: Knapp Mark L.
Published: September 2017

The word “nonverbal” is used to describe the many ways human beings communicate without overtly using words. Typically, this encompasses body movements (gestures, facial expressions, eye behavior, touching); body positioning (posture, distance from and alignment to others); and vocal behavior (rate, pitch, intensity). Sometimes physical (appearance) and environmental (architecture, design) features are also included.
Rhetoric, Nonverbal
Authors: Knapp Mark L. , Svetieva Elena
Published: September 2017

The word “nonverbal” is used to describe the many ways human beings communicate without overtly using words. Typically, this encompasses body movements (gestures, facial expressions, eye behavior, touching); body positioning (posture, distance from and alignment to others); and vocal behavior (rate, pitch, intensity). Sometimes physical (appearance) and environmental (architecture, design) features are also included.
Rhetoric in North America: Mexico
Authors: Vidal Gerardo Ramírez
Published: September 2017

Rhetorical practice and teaching existed in ancient native cultures in Mexico, mainly in the Aztec and Mayan civilizations (Beristáin & Ramírez Vidal 2005). Western rhetorical tradition was introduced into Mexico with the European conquest and Catholic evangelization: the triumph of the occidental civilization in the “new world” was due to the success of European rhetoric. During the sixteenth century, evangelization was founded on this rhetoric: the use of sermons was necessary to convert the inhabitants of the new world. In 1553 the Royal and Pontifical University of Mexico was erected; rhetoric was a mandatory course in the teaching program. The professors and the friars theorized on rhetoric and wrote many works about it (Osorio Romero 1980), such as the
Rhetorica Christiana
of the Franciscan missionary Fray Diego Valadés, published in Italy in 1579. In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries there was an increase in teaching, practice, and theory of rhetoric, mainly because the Society of Jesus encouraged rhetorical studies in colonial Mexico. Rhetoric spread to other fields like poetry, as is shown in the work of Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz (Bizzell & Herzberg 2001, 780–787). The rhetorical development during the period of colonial domination has not been investigated comprehensively until now.
Rhetoric and Orality‐Literacy Theorems
Authors: Gronbeck Bruce E.
Published: September 2017

Insofar as rhetorical practice travels through systems of symbolicity, so‐called channels or modes of communication are the discursive spaces within which rhetoric operates. And insofar as rhetorical practice should culminate in some sort of adjustment or change in audients', readers', or viewers' knowledges, feelings, self‐identities, and/or behaviors, the ways in which those dimensions of individuals are accessed physiologically are central to rhetorical effectivity. Those two axioms comprise the grounds for rhetoricians' interest in the orality‐literacy theorems.
Rhetoric and Poetics
Authors: Walker Jeffrey
Published: September 2017

Any understanding of the relation between rhetoric and poetics will depend on how each category is conceived. The term “rhetoric” can mean “rhetorical discourse”; or the suasory practices observable in any given piece or kind of → Discourse; or the
art
or
theory
of rhetorical performance. Further, “rhetorical discourse” may be defined narrowly or broadly – for example, as any discourse that intends or causes persuasion. “Persuasion” too may be defined narrowly, as the inducement of belief and the promotion of action; or broadly, as the production of any effect in an audience's psyche (→ Persuasion; Rhetoric, Argument, and Persuasion). Likewise, “poetics” can mean the
art
or
theory
of poetic discourse, while “poetic discourse” may mean anything from poetry to “literature” very generally conceived. Thus, any discussion of rhetoric and poetics is working with labile terms.
Rhetoric, Postmodern
Authors: Aylesworth Gary E.
Published: September 2017

Postmodern rhetoric is a set of discursive and critical practices that diverge from → Persuasion by means of
ethos
,
pathos
, and
logos
(→ Rhetoric, Greek). Where classical rhetoric addresses a known and identifiable → audience, postmodern rhetoric puts into question the identities of the speaker, the audience, and the messages that pass between them, interrupting and displacing senders, receivers, and messages by realigning the networks through which they pass (→ Postmodernism and Communication).
Rhetoric in South Asia
Authors: Chakraborty Amitava
Published: September 2017

South Asia usually refers to the geo‐cultural area traditionally known as the Indian subcontinent and consists of contemporary Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Tibet, and the Maldives. The region has a rich tradition of conceptualization of the arts of argumentation, oration, and literary embellishment, marked by a flair for categorizing even the subtlest features.
Rhetoric and Visuality
Authors: Finnegan Cara A. , Irwin Katie L.
Published: September 2017

If visuality is understood broadly as the practices, performances, and configurations of the appearances, then the relationship between rhetoric and visuality is as old as the art of rhetoric itself. The ancients tied rhetoric to the world ofmimesis, or the appearances, rather than to the realm of philosophical truth; this relationship often unfairly relegated both rhetoric and the visual to subordinate status in the Platonic regime of knowledge. Yet in the ancient tradition the visual is constitutive of rhetoric in a number of ways (→ Rhetoric, Greek). Aristotle's notion ofphantasiareferences the ability of rhetoric to create → images in the mind and cultivate affective grounds for judgment (Hawhee 2011; → Pathos and Rhetoric → Rhetoric, Epideictic). Latin rhetorical theory and practice similarly framed sight as a powerful influence on persuasion (Lamp 2013; → Rhetoric, Roman).
Rhetoric in Western Europe: Britain
Authors: O'Rourke Sean Patrick
Published: September 2017

The tradition of rhetorical theory and practice in Britain is longstanding and vibrant. In the Middle Ages, Britain produced important contributions to rhetorical theory. The Venerable Bede (c. 672/73–735), for instance, provided a treatment of the stylistic aspects of discourse in his
De schematibus et tropis
, and Alcuin (c. 735–804), the British‐born tutor of and advisor to Charlemagne, left us his
Disputatio de rhetorica et de virtutibus
, a dialogue in which emperor and teacher explore the theoretical underpinnings of civic discourse in the Ciceronian tradition (→ Rhetoric, Medieval). While the practice of public address was quite limited during the period, British rhetorics explored the persuasive elements of verse, and monastic libraries in the British Isles preserved manuscripts of some of the key rhetorical texts of late antiquity.
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.
Rumor
Authors: Froissart Pascal
Published: September 2017

The concept of rumor covers a wide range of realities: false or unverified → news, of course, but also any journalistic errors or disinformation maneuvers when publicly revealed, any prejudices and stereotypes made into narratives, some → propaganda pieces if ambiguous enough, some hoaxes their authors do not kill, some realistic contemporary legends, and even some examples of viral marketing. The reason for this conceptual maelstrom is that, although the reality of rumor is old and well documented, new and problematical conceptualizations of rumor have emerged.
Rural Development
Authors: McAnany Emile G.
Published: September 2017

Rural development was the almost exclusive focus of the early development of communication endeavors in the 1950s. The focus was on economic outcomes and, to a great extent, the emphasis was placed on agriculture, with some attention to how the mass media (radio and print at first, then television from the 1960s) could improve the lives of rural populations in literacy, education, health, and community development. The early projects of communication for rural development, sponsored by such multilateral aid agencies as → UNESCO and bilateral programs like Point Four in the US, were influenced by academic writings on development like → Daniel Lerner's → modernization theory, → Wilbur Schramm's policy strategy, and → Everett Rogers's diffusion paradigm (→ Diffusion of Information and Innovation). The focus on rural development, however, began to shift in the 1970s when specific areas like education, telecommunications, agriculture, health, and nutrition took attention away from rural development more broadly (→ Health Communication; Health Campaigns, Communication in). In recent years, less project attention has been devoted to agriculture and education and more has gone to health and telecommunications as issues in rural development. In the early years of the new century, rural development has re‐emerged in the form of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals, centered on the reduction of global poverty, which is often more concentrated in rural areas. Development communication has again been identified as a potential factor in the accomplishment of these goals.
Samsung Corporation
Authors: Lee Kwang‐Suk
Published: September 2017

Samsung Corporation of South Korea has emerged as a new global economic player, currently employing over 66,000 people in some 50 countries worldwide. In 2007 Samsung Electronics, the fastest growing subsidiary of the Samsung Group, had 25 production bases worldwide and 59 branches in 46 countries, in North and South America, Europe, the Middle East and Africa, southeast and central Asia, and China. The multinational corporation, originating from one of the Newly Industrialized Countries (NICs), was ranked 21st among the world's top global brands. Samsung has been grown as a leader in cell phones, home‐theater systems, flat‐panel TVs, computer screens, and flash memory (Rose 2005). In these consumer electronics categories, the mega‐corporation ranked in the top three in the global market.
Satellite Communication, Global
Authors: Hudson Heather E.
Published: September 2017

The possibility of communicating over thousands of miles using a transmitter in space was proposed by Arthur C. Clarke in a 1945 article in
Wireless World
, in which he described a system of “extraterrestrial relays” or repeaters in space. Clarke calculated that an object put into orbit 22,300 miles (36,000 km) above the earth would revolve around the planet in 24 hours, the time it takes the earth to rotate on its axis. Thus, the repeater would appear motionless or “geostationary” from the earth. He noted that three such repeaters located 120 degrees apart above the equator would cover the entire globe.
Satellite Communication, Regulation of
Authors: Shin Dong Hee
Published: September 2017

In recent years, satellite communication has been drastically changed by regulatory reform and technological advancement. The regulatory environment and technological advances have influenced satellite communications both structurally and content‐wise. Competition in network and services development has led to advances in satellite technologies. Technological improvements in telecommunication systems have brought about lower cost digital services. Meanwhile, satellite communications facilitate the → free flow of information while creating a national sovereignty conflict over global communication (→ Satellite Television).
Schemas
Authors: Unz Dagmar C.
Published: September 2017

Our mental architecture is shaped in a way that helps us to deal with our complex environment. Since much of our everyday behavior and many of our experiences are repetitive and routine, our knowledge of regular aspects of the world can be organized in a highly structured way. One important theory about the organization of information in long‐term memory is “schema theory” (→ Information Processing).
Schemas and Media Effects
Authors: Matthes Jörg
Published: September 2017

According to schema theory, the encoding and processing of information depends on learned, relatively stable cognitive structures in long‐term memory, so called → schemas (Information Processing). These cognitive structures include knowledge about concepts, persons, events, and the self. When individuals encounter a stimulus, they search their minds for the appropriate schema to match the stimulus. The selected schema then structures the way the stimulus is interpreted. Because individuals use their prior knowledge to process and to understand the stimuli, schema theory is an example of top‐down or concept‐driven processing.
Scopic Regime
Authors: Jay Martin
Published: September 2017

The French film theorist Christian Metz coined the term “scopic regime” in
The imaginary signifier
(1982, 1st pub.1975) to distinguish the cinema from the theatre: “what defines the specifically cinematic
scopic regime
is not so much the distance kept … as the absence of the object seen” (1982, 61). Because of the cinematic apparatus's construction of an imaginary object, its scopic regime is unhinged from its “real” referent (→ Cinema). Representation is independent of what is represented, at least as a present stimulus, both spatially and temporally (→ Visual Representation).
Semiotics
Authors: Bruhn Jensen Klaus
Published: September 2017

Semiotics is an interdisciplinary field that studies “the life of signs within society” (Saussure 1959, 16). While “signs” most commonly refer to the elements of language and other symbolic communication, it also may denote any means of knowing about or representing an aspect of reality (→ Sign; Sign Systems). Accordingly, semiotics has developed as an affiliate of such traditional disciplines as philosophy and psychology. In the social sciences and humanities, including communication research, semiotics became an influential approach particularly from the 1960s.
Sensationalism
Authors: Vettehen Paul Hendriks
Published: September 2017

Sensationalism may be defined as a theoretical concept that encompasses those features of journalistic products that are capable of attracting the attention of the audience. Since the early days of newspapers, complaints about sensationalism have recurrently emerged in public discussions about the quality of journalistic products. In a nutshell, these complaints pictured sensationalist news as a journalistic device being designed merely to attract the attention of large audiences at the expense of informing them properly about socially significant events. In its defense, it has been argued that sensationalist news is an appropriate response to the evolutionarily developed human habit of attending to information that increases the chances of survival and reproduction (→ Evolutionary Theory).
Sex and Pornography Online
Authors: Frau‐Meigs Divina
Published: September 2017

Pornography online, sometimes called “cybersex,” has been assimilated to the discourse on sexuality as a mode of liberation for humankind through the exploration of sexual and political alternatives (Hunt 1993). The question is whether cybersex offers new constructions of pornographic exchanges.
Sex Role Stereotypes in the Media
Authors: Hart Joy L.
Published: September 2017

Sex role stereotypes represent women and men in highly generalized, often unrealistic, ways. Such media → stereotypes are important because representation plays a key role in shaping what becomes social reality (→ Information Processing: Stereotypes; Media and Perceptions of Reality). Mediated messages influence knowledge as well as what is deemed significant and interesting (Brooks & Hébert 2006).
Sexual Violence in the Media
Authors: Kitzinger Jenny
Published: September 2017

The representation of sexual violence has been subject to critical inquiry in two main ways. One strand of research explores whether scenes of sexual violence (in films, computer games, and pornography magazines) might trigger sexual aggression. This sort of research is often pursued under the umbrella of psychology and criminology (→ Violence as Media Content, Effects of). A second strand, more often pursued by communication scholars, focuses more on how the media frame sexual violence as an issue. The aim of this body of work is to explore how the media present the causes of, and solutions to, sexual violence, and examine how this might help to shape public and policy responses. This approach also includes an interest in the everyday representations of sexuality that infuse popular culture and how these might reinforce gender inequalities or romanticize sexual aggression (Ramasubramanian & Oliver 2006).
Sexual Violence in the Media
Authors: Kitzinger Jenny
Published: September 2017

The media are often identified as key players in both the promotion of, and efforts to combat, sexual violence (Council of Europe Convention 2011). The representation of sexual violence has been subject to critical inquiry in two main ways. One strand of research explores whether scenes of sexual violence (in films, computer games, and pornography magazines) might trigger sexual aggression. This sort of research is often pursued under the umbrella of psychology and criminology (→ Violence as Media Content, Effects of). A second strand, more often pursued by communication scholars, focuses on how the media frame sexual violence as an issue – exploring how the media present the causes of, and solutions to, such violence, and examining how this might help to shape public and policy responses. This approach also includes an interest in the everyday representations of sexuality that infuse popular culture and how these might reinforce inequalities or romanticize sexual aggression (Ramasubramanian & Oliver 2006).
Sign
Authors: Steinman Clay
Published: September 2017

The sign, in terms first articulated by Ferdinand de Saussure (1857–1913), the Swiss linguist, has come to serve as the basic unit of approaches to communication that focus on meaning‐making relations rather than on the effectiveness of senders' communication of intended messages to designated receivers (→ Linguistics; Meaning). Semiotic approaches have been taken up by general communication studies, → cultural studies, post‐1960s literary studies, and other fields. For Saussure and for those who analyze culture in his wake, communication involves not messages but signs, material forms that when articulated and then encountered engender meanings bounded by cultural schemata (→ Culture: Definitions and Concepts). The study of signs, then, is at its core social. What socially shared conventions determine how signs are made? What conventions determine their readings?
Singapore: Media System
Authors: Wong Kokkeong
Published: September 2017

Singapore, an island nation at the southern tip of mainland Southeast Asia, has a population of about 3.6 million made up of 77 percent Chinese, 14 percent Malays, 7 percent Indians, and 2 percent classified as others. The non‐citizen population makes up another 1.2 million. A former British colony, the republic adopts the Westminster parliamentary system, and the government has been controlled by the People's Action Party (PAP) since 1959. The three corporations that provide for the various media in the country are largely owned by the government's investment arm, Temasek.
Situation Comedies
Authors: Taflinger Richard F.
Published: September 2017

The situation comedy, or sitcom, has been a staple of entertainment media for decades. More than 900 have been on the air since 1947. Starting on → Radio, it quickly became popular with audiences. With the advent of → Television in the late 1940s, sitcoms migrated to the small screen, and it is these sitcoms with which most people today around the world are familiar. Content and neo‐Aristotelian analyses of from 1 to 100 episodes each of approximately 800 situation comedies has led to the following understanding of situation comedies and how they work (Taflinger 1996).
Social Capital, Media Effects on
Authors: Shah Dhavan V.
Published: September 2017

The term “social capital” has become a popular way for academics, activists, politicians, and the public to describe how an individual's location in a structure of relationships, and the sense of trust and reciprocity that accompanies this social position, can provide the means for citizens to cooperate on problems requiring collective effort (Coleman 1990). It is defined as the resources of information, shared norms, and social relations embedded in communities that enable people to learn and to coordinate action. As such, social capital concerns contextual, relational, and individual factors that are not overtly political yet have implications for the health of civil society. Of particular relevance to communication research focused on civic and political participation is the considerable attention paid to the mass media's role in the production and destruction of social capital.
Social Comparison Theory
Authors: Mares Marie‐Louise
Published: September 2017

The central idea of social comparison theory is that individuals often assess how well they are doing by comparing themselves with others around them. When → Festinger (1954) originally developed the theory, he argued that individuals want an accurate assessment of their opinions and performance, and that in the absence of objective standards, they look to others (preferably those who are similar in a relevant dimension) for → Information about their relative standing. Individuals, he argued, seek to be right in their opinions, and have a unidirectional drive upward for their abilities.
Social Desirability
Authors: Mangold Roland
Published: September 2017

The social desirability bias is a major → response set that is possibly active when data are collected in empirical social studies with → interviews, psychometric tests, or questionnaires in particular. This tendency interferes with the “true values” of the subjects' traits or states that are to be assessed and puts a systematic bias onto the measured values (→ Scales; Measurement Theory; Validity). People react in a socially desirable way if they do not answer in a way or choose the alternative that best reflects the intensity or strength of the state or trait that is to be measured. Instead, subjects answer in a way that they assume to be expected by their peer group or the interviewer/experimenter or approved by the general public (→ Climate of Opinion; Public Opinion). For example, a person who sympathizes with a radical (right‐wing) political party and is asked in a questionnaire to state his or her beliefs concerning migration or foreign persons will probably give moderate answers despite holding a more radical view. By that, the person intends not to stand out from other subjects or to the experimenter as being deviant or radical.
Social Marketing
Authors: Edgar Timothy
Published: September 2017

Social marketing is a tool or framework that “relies on multiple scientific disciplines to create programs designed to influence human behavior on a large scale” (Smith 2006, 138). It traces its roots to an article written in the 1950s by the sociologist G. D. Wiebe, who “expressed concern that marketing was not being applied to such problems as ‘selling brotherhood like soap’” (Andreasen 2003, 294). The idea did not grow, however, until the 1960s and 1970s, when scholars such as Philip Kotler, Sidney Levy, Gerald Zaltman, and Alan Andreasen began to write about its core principles and gave it a name (Andreasen 2003).
Social Mobilization
Authors: Calabrese Andrew
Published: September 2017

Social mobilizations are concrete evidence of commitment and activism aimed at some form of social transformation, whether in the formal sense of changing laws or by influencing informal social norms. Mobilizations are episodic and shorter‐lived than movements, and are often key milestones in the history of movements, providing observable evidence of solidarity, progress, and public awareness built around a particular cause or set of related causes (→ Social Movements and Communication). Mobilizations may receive the conferral of legitimacy through the support of political institutions such as local and national governments, or intergovernmental organizations such as UN agencies. But mobilizations also may challenge and serve to undermine the moral authority and/or political legitimacy of such institutions. They can be understood as means to the ends sought by social movements, and although no single mobilization is sufficient evidence of the existence and scope of a social movement, no movement can be said to exist without one or more forms of observable mobilization.
Soft News
Authors: Ban Hyun
Published: September 2017

The nature of news content has changed during the past decades due to the changes in media environment. As new media such as cable television, satellite television, and the Internet have appeared, the news media market has become more competitive than ever and news contents have tended to be more audience‐oriented and softer. The problem is that soft news is not only “weakening the foundation of democracy by diminishing the public's information about public affairs and its interest in politics” but also “has increased dramatically as a proportion of news coverage” (Patterson

, 2).
Sound Bites
Authors: Vos Tim P.
Published: September 2017

A sound bite is a portion of recorded human speech that is presented as part of a broadcast news report. Referred to by a variety of names, including actuality, sound clip, and sound‐on‐tape, the sound bite is characteristically the distillation of a person's message, usually in one or two well‐turned phrases or sentences. The overwhelming body of research on sound bites has focused on their brevity and subsequent effect on political discourse. Modest attempts are being made to expand the research agenda on sound bites to include issues of journalistic mediation and effects on learning information.
Source Protection
Authors: Fargo Anthony L.
Published: September 2017

Journalists sometimes get information from sources who, for various reasons, wish to keep their identities secret. The use of confidential sources raises a number of complex ethical and legal issues (→ Ethics in Journalism). To begin with, the idea of keeping information secret seems anathema to the basic purpose of journalism, which is to disseminate information to an audience. Also, some sources wish to remain confidential to hide their participation in questionable behavior, putting journalists in the awkward position of helping people escape social, political, or legal responsibility for their actions. If the identity of the source becomes a central question in a criminal investigation or civil trial, the journalist may have to choose between identifying the source and facing imprisonment or fines for refusing to do so. A journalist who voluntarily reveals a confidential source's identity can face serious professional and legal repercussions (→ Journalism: Legal Situation).
South Africa: Media System
Authors: Berger Guy
Published: September 2017

South Africa had an estimated population of 48 million people in 2007, with almost a third being under the age of 14. Eight in ten people were classified as African; among the rest, whites were the largest minority. Since 1994, there has been a constitutional democracy with an executive president elected by parliament, which recognizes 11 official languages (although these are still far from having equitable representation in the media). The former liberation movement, the African National Congress (ANC), is the ruling party, having won overwhelming electoral mandates since 1994. Under its policies, some 85 percent of homes had electricity by 2005, with more than 10 million households recorded in the
South Africa yearbook 2008/09
(Burger 2009), thereby enabling increased TV penetration. There is a growing black middle class. The government practices a “black economic empowerment” policy, which gives preference to formerly disadvantaged South Africans in terms of contracts and broadcast licensing.
Spain: Media System
Authors: Barrera Carlos
Published: September 2017

Spain had in 2008 a population of 45.9 million inhabitants and was ninth in world ranking in GDP. Just after Greece and Portugal, it became the third Mediterranean country in Europe to re‐establish a democratic system in the early 1970s. The new regime after the death of the dictator General Francisco Franco in 1975 brought about the restoration of the monarchy and the creation of a parliamentary system, along with a gradual devolution of power to the 17 regions, which turned Spain into a quasi‐federal state. The most important international recognition of the new Spanish democracy came from its admission as a new member of the European Union in 1986. From the media perspective, the transition to democracy had already begun with a new press law in 1966. The press, subjected until then to strong censorship, was granted broader margins of freedom, so that some newspapers and magazines were able to reflect varying degrees of criticism or reticence about the last governments of the dictatorship.
Special Effects
Authors: Cubitt Sean
Published: September 2017

Special effects are those techniques employed in moving image technologies to provide images other than those recorded by simply opening the camera's shutter and recording. In some cases the entire image may be produced using non‐camera techniques. Alternatively, events may be staged or images altered to produce special effects. Special effects (hereafter “effects”) may usefully be divided between (1) physical effects produced in front of the camera; (2) effects produced in the camera; (3) effects produced during printing; and (4) effects produced during editing. A fifth, relatively rare category of effects is produced at the point of reception (→ Film Production).
Speech Fluency and Speech Errors
Authors: Tusing Kyle James
Published: September 2017

Speech fluency refers to clear oral communication devoid of speech errors. A speaker who is able to deliver a message that features a continuous flow of information at an appropriate rate, unmarred by any of the multiple speech errors, is said to possess speech fluency, an area of communication mastery. Speech fluency is the product of mental skills, such as recall of procedural and declarative knowledge, and physical motor skills involving correct functioning and use of the vocal cords, tongue, mouth, and lips to produce speech (→ Message Production).
Spin Doctor
Authors: Esser Frank
Published: September 2017

The term “spin doctor” is an amalgam of “spin,” meaning the interpretation or slant placed on events (which is a sporting metaphor, referring to the spin a pool player puts on a cue ball), and “doctor,” derived from the figurative uses of the word to mean patch up, piece together, and falsify. The “doctor” part also derives from the employment of professionals rather than untrained amateurs to administer the spin.