The Indian film and entertainment industry has shown a shift from conventional TV and big screen to Over-the-top media platforms. These platforms provide ease of access to stream anytime anywhere over the internet. With this study the researcher explored the remarkable evolution of these OTT platforms in India. To critically examine the study, the reasons of popularization of these platforms in Indian audiences were explored. As these platforms also have to face the criticism for showing inappropriate content, the researcher put insight into the regulatory changes made by the Government. The study implied that the evolution of OTT platforms started in 2008 with the launch of BIGFlix. A huge rise in consumer base had shown due to increased internet and smartphone base after 2015. The quality and creative content, youth-oriented population and lockdown due to COVID were the main reason of popularization of OTT platforms. The Government suggested self-classifying of the content and three-Tier mechanism to handle the grievances associated with these media platforms. The researcher adopted exploratory research design to have insights into the study. The secondary data from various news articles, blogs, reports, quality research papers were analyzed.
African Literature with its vast spectrum ranges from oral literature to literature written in colonial languages and interestingly reveals many powerful political and cultural structures that operate to keep segregations intact. Culture as a complex social apparatus dices the norms and regulations and is a stratified concept with hues that light up the disillusionment and dissent. Multiculturalism indeed has appreciated the difference in cultures but has also made avenues accessible to analyze it from queer perspectives. Chinua Achebe, to reorganize the lost confidence of Africans, represents the cultural roots of Igbos in his work Things Fall Apart. Achebe also refers here, how the universal principles vitiate the destructive potentials of this dignified Igbos who “had a philosophy of great depth and value…above all, they had dignity”. In this effective representation of justice and dignity the value of body under the term ‘women’ gets significantly lower. If Achebe is known as the Patriarch of African Literature, then his biasness towards representation of women, in terms of reproduction and fetish beauty is clearly visible. Else than Ndulue, hardly any man in the Igbo culture treats women in equal terms. They, both physically and verbally abuse women. Other than comparing the women with Earth (as earth means soil which can fertilize like a women’s womb) and motherhood, women are treated as no individuals with desires, dreams and future except than marrying someone and serving as a wife/maid. The story revolves around the protagonist Okonkwo and his efforts to keep up his self-pride as that “masculine man”. Presentation of women (particularly Okonkwo’s “wives”) in Achebe’s novel remains that ‘hue’ which gets veiled by this ‘masculine’ tale of Okonkwo’s dignity. Therefore, in my paper I would explore the oppressive treatment and subdued identity of women in Achebe’s presentation of Igbo culture.
Der Volkermord in der Kolonie Deutsch-Sudwestafrika stellt bislang gultiges kulturelles Wissen uber die deutsche und die namibische Vergangenheit in Frage – was vor allem in den aktuellen Debatten um Kolonialdenkmaler und Strasennamen in beiden Landern zum Ausdruck kommt. Eingerahmt durch die erste deutsche Entschuldigung 2004 und die Klage der betroffenen Gruppen 2017 untersucht diese Arbeit die Produktion des Volkermordes im deutschen und namibischen kulturellen Gedachtnis durch journalistische Berichterstattung. Dabei soll beantwortet werden, anhand welcher diskursiven Regeln Journalismus den Volkermord in der verwobenen Erinnerungskultur beider Lander konstruiert. Mit einer kategoriengeleiteten qualitativen Inhaltsanalyse werden 142 Artikel in deutschen und namibischen Zeitungen analysiert. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass Journalismus dieses Thema weiterhin oft als historisches oder exotisches Interessensthema konstruiert. Dabei werden haufig koloniale Wissenshorizonte und Vorstellungen transportiert, selbst enn Kolonialismus fast ausnahmslos kritisch betrachtet wird. Die eigene Identitat wird dabei durch Kontrast zum abnormalen Volkermord gestarkt und so das Ereignis von der kollektiven Selbstkonstruktion ausgeklammert. Gleichzeitig wird eine transnationale Verstrickung des Diskurses in der prominenten Sprecherschaft von deutschsprachigen Wissenschaftler*innen sichtbar, die den Erinnerungsdiskurs masgeblich pragen.
The following paper provides a critical review of research on convenience food. It also highlights the significance of convenience food in the dimensions of time saving and time shifting and its growing importance felt due to the recent changes witnessed in domestic labor and family life. A total of 14 different classification of convenience food is presented in the paper and out of 14 categories four categories of convenience food are widely used. These are eat as it, ready to use, ready to cook and ready to heat. The paper concludes by making a comprehensive study for understanding the consumption of convenience food in terms of everyday social practices, emphasizing on its habitual and routine character.
The Arab-German cooperation in film began after World War I in 1919/1920 when the first Egyptians came to learn the then brand new art in Germany, and has been continuing with different Arab partners ever since. Yet there is neither a public nor a professional awareness of this history. When Arab and German film professionals meet at international co-production platforms today, they practically get together as strangers. Despite its richness, the common history does not serve as a point of reference. It is not written. This paper, therefore, attempts to shed light on this forgotten period of cooperation. It looks at how and why such a collaboration was initiated. Moreover, it describes its different formats and also why the Egyptian-German encounter eventually came to an end.
The process of youth development is positively encouraged with the aid of Internet. The present study was an attempt to find the relationship between the purpose of using Internet, attitudes towards Internet, and age with the 5Cs (connection, competence, character, caring, confidence) of Positive Youth Development (PYD). Furthermore, the mediation effect of Internet use gratification was studied throughout the research. Religion and the level of participants' education were also considered as moderators in the PLS model. A quantitative survey method was used to collect data from a total of 440 undergraduate and post-graduate students (142 male and 298 female), from University Putra Malaysia using stratified random sampling. The findings of the study revealed that the relationship between age and all dimensions of positive youth development (except for character) is statistically meaningful. There is no impact between attitudes towards Internet and 5Cs except for character. There is not any significant relationship between the purpose of using Internet and the 5Cs, except for connection. However, the relationship between purpose of using Internet and gratification of using Internet is significant. Significant relationship is also found between gratification of using Internet and all dimensions of PYD except for connection. There is no moderator effect for under-graduate and post-graduate, however, there is moderator effect between Muslim and non-Muslim groups. Implications of the study are also discussed.
What is common between corporate brands and political brands? Can political entities achieve branding on the lines of corporate brands? The current paper develops a conceptual framework of branding in the political market environment of India. The paper outlines the conditions under which political players develop branding attributes such as credibility, personality, associations akin to a corporate brand to achieve branding. It discusses various dimensions of the political market during and beyond elections and also describes how user engagement on social media alters the perception of a political brand. The discussion draws from the social media strategies deployed by the Indian political parties and leaders to win over the voters, the customers of a political market during elections and even gets down to identifying the characteristics of social media posts that seem to impact electoral outcomes. It describes how the political leaders and parties calibrate their social media posts to the response generated by the social media users on social network sites (SNS). The study is aimed at chalking out a conceptual framework of political branding, identifying the key elements of political branding, describing the branding strategies deployed by the political actors, demonstrating the impact of user engagement on political branding and identifying the characteristics of social media posts that contribute to brand perception of political actors. In crux, the study draws from corporate branding theories, political marketing frameworks and behavioral sciences in its attempt to provide a comprehensive definition of political branding and shed light on the political marketing strategies that may have contributed to the branding of political entities.
The study conceptualized sustainable customer relationship management (susCRM) based on several theories of customer relationship management (CRM) and primary data from 150 customers and 60 employees of 30 restaurants through personal observation and in-depth interviews. The study's findings show that sustainable customer relationship management (susCRM) regenerates customers’ needs, wants, and demands, making an individual customer loyal to a restaurant.
The literature on journalism education often describes it from a US perspective. This is the consequence of the hegemony that the United States media acquired in the world, especially after the 1990s. Until then journalism organized in different manners across the world. In continental Europe, for instance, journalistic organizations had close ties with party politics.
The recent paper “Everyday life as a refugee in a rural setting – what determines a sense of belonging and what role can the local community play in generating it?” published in Journal of Rural Studies explores into refugees placed in small towns in Denmark; their everyday life, what factors are important for whether they plan to stay and what role the local communities in the towns can play in this. The survey is based on 43 interviews in 2016/2017 with refugees and local volunteers in seven small towns. The refugees are mainly from Syria but also Eritreans, Iraqis and Somalis are part. The paper shows that the new everyday life and feelings of belonging is challenged by structural factors such as lack of cheap rental housing and transport options in the new rural settings and the fact that the refugees are often originally from cities and would have preferred to be settled in one. The refugees have very busy everyday lives commuting to language lessons and jobs most often far from the small town affording little free time to spend in the town. Some towns seem ’better at integration’ and fostering local social relations than others. The development of local social relations depends on whether there are other migrants in the town as well as active local people helping refugee newcomers. Local volunteers can play an important role in helping refugees to navigate in their new everyday life, ‘linking’ them to the public sector as well as to the rest of the local community but they cannot do everything especially addressing structural factors like lack of cheap rental housing is a strugglet.
Community media has been the voice of the voiceless in our society, providing a platform for those that have dreams and hope of uplifting their lives through the community media medium, by not only working in these platforms but also by being a voice for change in society and providing that change to those that require assistance. However, the challenges, the medium has constantly encountered like the financial constraints and the shortages of equipment, that has caused a hindrance in growing the community medium. The study aims to determine whether community media plays a participatory role in enabling an active civil society, using a case study of Izwi’lethemba FM. 10 questionnaires were administered to residences of Parkside and Duncan Village area using purposive and convenience sampling method. Key findings concerning the participatory function of local radios in society. Majority of respondents indicated that the community media still needs to involve more youth development programmes and community engagement.
This study seeks to evaluate the use of various media platforms for learning and teaching during the time of COVID-19: At a case study of Walter Sisulu University.The study seeks to critically evaluate the role played by selected online platforms in universities and the impact it had on students. Some of the topics discussed in this research include the background of Walter Sisulu University as far as e-learning is concerned and the advantages and disadvantages of e-learning. Researcher deployed qualitative methods and non-probability sampling. This study’s aim is to uncover how COVID-19 has impacted the ways in which students in higher education learning during a time of crisis.
This paper examines print media coverage of xenophobicrelated behaviours and its possibility to incite xenophobic violence in South Africa considering the fact that the press has had accusations of publishing unbalanced and inconsistent stories about xenophobic-related violence. The method adopted was textual analysis of the selected South African newspapers’ headlines. Thus, this paper has made use of headlines from the Daily Dispatch, The Citizen, Sunday Times, Business Daily, and Independent Online news (IOL), between the period of May 2008 to August 2018. Interestingly, most of the selected newspapers in this paper have published vastly during this period, and they have been accused of misrepresentation, biasness, unbalanced reportage mostly on xenophobic-related violence. The findings of this paper revealed that these headlines are capable to putting readers on the edge and thus incite xenophobic violence across the country. In an attempt to discourage xenophobic behaviours, this paper has therefore recommended peace journalism and Ubuntu journalism as alternative models for reporting xenophobic violence and conflict.
The importance of journalism’s role in society is beyond debate. Particularly in so-called fragile states, the social responsibility of media and journalism cannot be denied. Journalism education must account for the high level of skills required by journalists, and the ‘mediation’ function of journalists in fragile states should be conceptualised. Responding to dynamic developments in the Afghan media landscape and the resulting need for high-quality journalism education, this article proposes a reform model for journalism education on a tertiary level in Afghanistan. Based on research as well as a needs and feasibility assessment following the participatory action research (PAR) approach, target models and an implementation plan for educational reform were developed. This provides a potential blueprint for reforms in journalism education in fragile states, which considers social and cultural values and interests in the local context while drawing on the perspective of the outsider. This article presents the results of a project entitled “Professionalisation of Journalism Education on a Tertiary Level in Afghanistan”, which resulted in a manual.
The advent of digitisation which has ushered in the new and social media is providing opportunities for all to redefine and form their identities. Hence, across countries and cultures, new digital cultures are evolving, shading off repressive tendencies and giving voice to the voiceless. It is against this backdrop that this study “adoption, motivation and patterns of social media use among women in Nigeria” set out to assess the level at which women in Nigeria are digital compliant particularly in the use of social media, what motivates their presence in social media and the patterns of social media usage among them. Anchored on the Uses and Gratification as well as the Diffusion of Innovation Theories, the paper surveyed 384 females drawn from the six geo political zones of Nigeria including the Federal Capital Territory Abuja. Data collected and analysed through descriptive and inferential statistics revealed an adoption and use of social media by females of all categories but especially the younger females. The study also showed that, in terms of motivation and patterns of use, younger females’ preference for social media lies in their need for popularity and self-identity, while the older females basically use social media for business and self-improvement. The paper in general concludes that, Nigerian women use of social media is not beneficial in terms of self and economic development
The emergence of next generation users has reshaped the use and impact of internet in our society. Now users can access internet from multiple devices (Smartphone, PC/Laptops, Tab/Pad etc.) and multiple locations. This phenomenon among teenagers has increased as they engage with media devices at both home and schools. Pew Internet and American Life Project reported in 2015 that 71% teenagers use multiple social media sites and 92% are daily internet users. Teenagers can create social media account at the age of 13 to socialize, and to access information and news. Thus, social media plays an effective role in online news consumption that has reshaped the usage and production of news media. One of the major challenges for social networks appeared after 2016 US presidential elections was “Fake News”, and it associates with elections, terrorism and natural disasters. Apprehensions about the factual and potential social impact of fake news lead to this study about news practices and experiences in Pakistani teenagers. This study focuses on how teenagers identify fake news on social networks and their news practices and experiences on social media. Teenagers are unable to spot fake news as they are less likely to check the source of information that raised a major concern about their ability to deal with fake news. This study confirms that teenagers are less likely to check source of news, as they are also not capable of identifying fake news. Teenagers consider internet and social media as their major source of information. These findings highlight the importance and significance of digital media literacy education at school level to combat new media challenges. Results further demonstrate that social media and news consumption has been neglected in media literacy education in Pakistan. This study provides policy implications to government for the introduction of digital media literacy at schools and college level.
The article examines how nuclear risk was perceived by German and Japanese journalists covering the Fukushima Disaster. Drawing from the theoretical framework of Beck’s World Risk Society, the journalists’ personal risk perceptions are reconstructed from narrative interviews, adding an important variable to the understanding of journalistic communication on risk and disaster. The results indicate that German correspondents in Japan were highly concerned about their personal safety while Japanese journalists hardly showed any anxiety with regard to the nuclear disaster. The varying perceptions also widely applied to the journalists’ professional experience of the disaster, although further influences like organizational culture came into play as well. The article concludes that historically shaped discourses are an important macro factor for media reporting on risk and disaster.
This is a book review of The Truth Matters: A Citizen’s Guide to Separating Facts from Lies and Stopping Fake News in Its Tracks by Bruce Bartlett.
