The role of external broadcasting in a closed political system

This article investigates the role and impact of external broadcasting (radio and television) on a closed political system, through the example of the two post-war German states: the West German Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) and the East German German Democratic Republic (GDR). The aim is to debunk myths about the influence of external broadcasting on the events that led to German reunification in 1990. The study follows a historical approach and discusses what role external media played during the years of a divided Germany. The findings are based on several historical sources, research reports from the 1950s and 1960s and over 100 biographical interviews with former residents of the German Democratic Republic (GDR). The article analyses the impact of external broadcasting on citizens and the political elite in times of crisis as well as during everyday life

Modeling Contact and Mobility Based Social Response to the Spreading of Infectious Diseases

We present here a set of prototypical mechanisms aimed at modeling the social adaptation and response triggered in the population by the knowledge of the spreading of an infectious disease. We define models that couples the spreading of information and behavioral changes with the spreading of the infectious disease by considering the local and non-local prevalence-based information available to individuals in the population. The behavioral changes are modeled both as the onset of effective social distancing and contact reduction as well as changes in the mobility patterns of individuals. The defined models exhibit a rich phase space with multiple epidemic peaks and threshold behavior. In addition, we show that in specific cases the change of mobility pattern may counterintuitively enhance the disease spreading. The class of models presented here can be used in the case of data-driven computational approaches to analyze scenarios of social adaptation and behavioral chang

Risk communication and the social amplification of risk

Risk communication is a novel concept in the scientific pursuit to understand and analyze risk related decisions and behavior in modem society. But the new term has only changed the focus of attention from a static description of what risk means for different communities to a dynamic analysis on how these communities exchange information about risk and adjust their behavior.The concept of social amplification of risk provides a framework for the analysis of communication as well as other social activities and constitutes a dynamic model which facilitates the systematic interpretation of empirical data and attempts to integrate the existing perspectives into a higher-order terminological model. The concept will certainly not encompass all perspectives,and it will not be capable of unifying different scientific camps

Fluff, frivolity and the fabulous Samantha Jones: Representations of public relations in entertainment

Public relations (or ‘PR’) plays a significant role in the modern media landscape, with its size and influence having grown significantly over the last 30 years. It functions primarily to manage information, image, and stakeholder relationships, however PR is a discreet occupation that largely operates out of the public eye and is often considered most successful when it is ‘invisible’. In this chapter, using Sex and The City as a case study, we argue fictional entertainment provides critical insight into public relations as a profession and as a practice. We explore how such representations reflect and refract audience understandings about PR, and how this in turn impacts the role and reputation of public relations in our society