Journalism, Poverty, and the Marketing of Misery: News From Chile's “Largest Ghetto"

__Abstract__ Research on the news coverage of poverty has largely overlooked the agency of the actors involved. This study addressed this gap by combining ethnographic fieldwork in a poor neighborhood with an analysis of television news about the neighborhood and interviews with the journalists who produced this news. The analysis shows a relationship between journalists and poor people significantly more complex than the relationship described in previous research: Journalists and poor people marketed the neighborhood's misery collaboratively. They shaped news in ways that could be stigmatizing, but that served their converging interests. By acknowledging that structure and agency presuppose each other, this paper contributes to a more nuanced understanding of journalism, as well as to efforts to address poverty's symbolic injustice

Critical multiculturalism and deliberative democracy: Opening spaces for more inclusive communication

The discredit of multiculturalism in contemporary discussions about cultural diversity and democracy is problematic since allegations of multiculturalism’s failure and undemocratic consequences are used to justify a (re)turn to assimilation throughout Western societies. Rejecting assimilationism as either desirable or inevitable, this article challenges the alleged incompatibility between multiculturalism and democracy. It makes the case for a (re)conceptualisation of both multiculturalism and democracy in ways that can provide the foundations for inclusive communication. To this end, the article endorse

Cultural Diversity in the News Media: A Democratic or a Commercial Need?

This paper distinguishes between laissez-faire and interventionist models used to justify and implement cultural diversity initiatives in the news media. The laissez-faire model is characteristic of U.S journalism. However, due to the convergence of media systems and the widespread adoption of diversity management, the laissez-fair model may also become the prevalent model throughout other Western democracies, in Europe and elsewhere. The paper argues that the problem with the laissez-fair approach to cultural diversity in the media is that it relies on commercial instea

(In/exclusion) Humor and diversity in Finnish public radio: ‘If all immigrants were as funny as you guys, nobody would have any problems’

Similar to the rest of Europe, multicultural programming in Finland has become risky for public broadcasting. Programs aimed at encouraging social inclusion may not attract sufficiently large audiences and may be attacked by ever louder anti-immigration voices. This article focuses on what seems to be an exception in this respect: Ali and Husu. Hosted by immigrants from Iran and Somalia ? a stand-up comedian and a politician ? this popular talk show aired on Finnish public radio between 2013 and 2016. Through interviews with the producers and the analysis of a selection of episodes, we examine Ali and Husu?s daring and unapologetic ethnic/racial humor as well as its combination of funny and serious talk. Our findings underscore specific ways in which multicultural programming can use humor strategically to engage relatively large and diverse audiences in discussions meant to humanize immigrants and challenge social prejudices, while minimizing right-wing criticism and unintended readings.Peer reviewe

Dirigentas de campamento y actividad mediática: Más allá de internet

__RESUMEN__ El debate en torno al carácter activo de las audiencias contemporáneas tiende a centrarse en las nuevas tecnologías de comunicación y en las posibilidades de producción de contenido que ellas ofrecen. Este artículo propone, en cambio, atender al carácter político de ciertas actividades mediáticas y a factores no-tecnológicos. Específicamente, identificamos la llamada cultura promocional como un impulso importante para influir —y no directamente producir— los contenidos en los medios. Ilustramos este enfoque a través de un caso de estudio sobre la relación entre dirigentas de campamentos y los medios de comunicación en Chile. Estas mujeres interactúan con los medios tradicionales, no digitales, motivadas por la necesidad de reivindicar su imagen y promocionar sus demandas. Argumentamos que el estudio de las actividades de las audiencias en una sociedad neoliberal como la chilena debe considerar que las estrategias promocionales no son el privilegio de ciertos grupos sociales, sino que están presentes de un modo cada vez más generalizado en la sociedad. __ABSTRACT__ Discussions about the active character of contemporary audiences tend to be centered on new communication technologies and on the possibilities of content production offered by these technologies. This article, in contrast, proposes that we pay attention to the political character of certain media activities and to non-technological factors that influence the changing relation between audiences and media. Specifically, we focus on promotional culture as an important drive for activities aimed at influencing—and not directly producing—media content. This approach is illustrated through a case study about the relationship between female slum community leaders and the media in Chile. These women interact largely with traditional rather than digital media, motivated by the need to challenge the image of them proposed by those media, and promote their demands. We argue that the study of audience participation in a neoliberal society like Chile must recognize promotional strategies as not exclusive of certain social groups, but as increasingly widespread throughout society

Is the smartphone always a smart choice? Against the utilitarian view of the ‘connected migrant’

This article challenges the widespread view of mobile connectivity as a purely utilitarian resource that refugees use at their individual discretion to resolve problems and cover needs. It explains that while this approach fits into well-intended humanitarian efforts, it carries important empirical and political costs. Both sets of costs are examined. Cues from existing research and an exploratory study among Syrian refugees in the Netherlands reveal the empirical costs: They point to various ways in which mobile connectivity can be both a desired toolkit and an uncomfortable imposition. Although these are novel findings in relation to migration, they resonate with the broader literature on non-utilitarian as well as paradoxical uses of mobile phones. We interpret this gap–between the generalized conceptualizations of the ‘connected refugee’ and people’s experiences of ‘perpetual contact’ more generally–not just as empirically, but also as politically problematic. When refugees’ experiences with mobile phones are simplified, refugees themselves are o

Everyday practices and the (un)making of ‘Fortress Europe’.

The borders of Europe are erected and guarded through cultural practices as much as through border control and security technologies. Cultural Studies have been crucial in revealing how everyday, particularly media-oriented practices, make and unmake this ‘Fortress’. Yet, until now, the focus has been mostly on how migrants use or are represented through media discourses and technologies. This introduction essay argues that the signifier ‘Fortress Europe’—and its central premise of restraining mobility for some in order to enable freedom for others—also gains meaning in and through socio-cultural practices that we may not (as) immediately associate with the physical crossing of European borders. Particular practices that are discussed in this introduction and examined in the seven original articles of the special issue are: public opinion research, the public mobilization of emotions, negotiating identity in an ‘ancestral homeland’, the consumption of (sports) media, the production of a radio talk show and film archives, as well as the activist use of social media. Broadening scholarly attention to these kinds of sociocultural practices provides an important addition to understanding how power operates across social spheres and discursive orders. In addition, their identification also offers valuable opportunities to understand how and why some practices are particularly pertinent or effective in cementing or destabilizing Fortress Europe. This line of inquiry is visible throughout this special issue, despite the diversity of theoretical frameworks and empirical sites used in the contributing articles

MAFC: Multi-Agent Fog Computing Model for Healthcare Critical Tasks Management

Producción CientíficaIn healthcare applications, numerous sensors and devices produce massive amounts of data which are the focus of critical tasks. Their management at the edge of the network can be done by Fog computing implementation. However, Fog Nodes suffer from lake of resources That could limit the time needed for final outcome/analytics. Fog Nodes could perform just a small number of tasks. A difficult decision concerns which tasks will perform locally by Fog Nodes. Each node should select such tasks carefully based on the current contextual information, for example, tasks’ priority, resource load, and resource availability. We suggest in this paper a Multi-Agent Fog Computing model for healthcare critical tasks management. The main role of the multi-agent system is mapping between three decision tables to optimize scheduling the critical tasks by assigning tasks with their priority, load in the network, and network resource availability. The first step is to decide whether a critical task can be processed locally; otherwise, the second step involves the sophisticated selection of the most suitable neighbor Fog Node to allocate it. If no Fog Node is capable of processing the task throughout the network, it is then sent to the Cloud facing the highest latency. We test the proposed scheme thoroughly, demonstrating its applicability and optimality at the edge of the network using iFogSim simulator and UTeM clinic data