An elusive European public sphere: the role of shared journalistic cultures

No description supplie

Content Matters: The Media and Cultural Industries In Ireland\u27s National Information Strategy

When, in the spring of 1996, the Irish government appointed an official Information Society Steering Committee (ISSC) with a brief to develop a national \u27information society strategy and action plan\u27 it was following a significant international policy trend. In so doing, Ireland became the latest member of the OECD to launch a policy and research initiative focused on the economic and social implications of new information and communication technologies (ICTs). This latest wave of official policy and research interes

Economic Inequalities and Mediated Communication

One of the most significant economic developments over the past decades has been the rise in income and wealth inequality. After decades of benign neglect, the issues of economic and social inequalities have reentered the stage of mainstream political attention in the Western heartland over the past couple of years. This is due, in part, to the high public profile of publications by Thomas Piketty and Tony Atkinson. In line with the growing significance of deepening economic inequalities, this Special Section engages with two broad, if overlapping, questions: (1) How do new forms of economic inequality, power, and privilege relate to relevant theories and conceptualizations of the media and institutions of public communication, whether in the fields of communication studies or political economy? (2) What role do the new forms of economic inequality play today in the typical narratives of mediated communication, and how is such inequality framed and discussed

New Irish in the News

THIS ARTICLE PRESENTS selected findings from the ‘Media for Diversity and Migrant Integration’ project (hereafter MEDIVA), a European Union funded project involving six Member States (Ireland, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, and the UK), which aimed to assess the capacity of media to reflect the increasing ethnocultural diversity of European societies. The specific focus of the project was on Third Country Nationals (TNCs) or persons without European Union citizenship. In this article we present the project’s content findings for Ireland, focusing specifically on representations of TNCs in a range of national print and broadcast outlets

From AAA to Junk: Credit rating agencies as news sources in the Irish print-media during the economic crisis, 2008–2013

From AAA to Junk: Credit rating agencies as news sources in the Irish print-media during the economic crisis, 2008–201

Molecular Motor Proteins and Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a neurodegenerative disorder affecting motor neurons in the brain, brainstem and spinal cord, which is characterized by motor dysfunction, muscle dystrophy and progressive paralysis. Both inherited and sporadic forms of ALS share common pathological features, however, the initial trigger of neurodegeneration remains unknown. Motor neurons are uniquely targeted by ubiquitously expressed proteins in ALS but the reason for this selectively vulnerability is unclear. However motor neurons have unique characteristics such as very long axons, large cell bodies and high energetic metabolism, therefore placing high demands on cellular transport processes. Defects in cellular trafficking are now widely reported in ALS, including dysfunction to the molecular motors dynein and kinesin. Abnormalities to dynein in particular are linked to ALS, and defects in dynein-mediated axonal transport processes have been reported as one of the earliest pathologies in transgenic SOD1 mice. Furthermore, dynein is very highly expressed in neurons and neurons are particularly sensitive to dynein dysfunction. Hence, unravelling cellular transport processes mediated by molecular motor proteins may help shed light on motor neuron loss in ALS

Beyond the "Information Society": selected atoms and bits of a national strategy in Ireland

This paper seeks to explore a number of key issues related to the direction and components of a coherent information sector strategy and more targeted national innovation networks in the Irish context, with a particular focus on the media and other "content" services. In part, the paper is a critical response to the report of the Irish government\u27s Information Society Steering Committee, Information Society Ireland: Strategy for Action, published in March 1997. This official report set out a strategic vision of the implications of new information and communication technologies (lCT) in Ireland and it also placed a great stress on the role of the media and other "content" services in terms of future job and wealth creation. The paper begins by exploring some of the problems associated with the "information society" idea and it goes on to outline the key elements of an alternative model which is found to be more practical for economic and policy research purposes. Section IV of the paper applies this model to provide an initial overview of the main components of the information economy in Ireland and its strategic policy implications. Section describes features of the key media and related "content" industries in the Irish context. In response to the ISSC report, the following section sets out some proposals for a more adequate strategy for this important "content" sub-sector of the national information economy. The final section of the paper sets out some conclusions and discusses the role of economic and social research related to the specific national context of new ICT adoption, production, diffusion and use

"Manjkajoči členi" v komunikacijskih študijah: sistemsko učenje in pozabljanje v "informacijski družbi"

This paper is orientated towards a contextual reading of the MacBride Report. This suggests that the Report can be fruitfully read as "socially situated" (shaped by its essentially political rather than scholarly role) and it also implies attention to the many changes in the framework, structures and flows of international communication since 1980. The paper notes selective aspects of the concerns and orientations which informed the MacBride Report, particularly those addressing structural features of unequal resources and power in a post-colonial world which, in turn operate to shape communication inequalities. It finds such issues have been somewhat neglected or inadequately addressed, both in the communication studies field and in international policy discourses in more recent times. The paper describes certain recent developments in neighbouring fields which closely resonate witha spects of the earlier report - in particular, the growth or revival of interest in the concept of "imperialism." Whilst imperialism has become something of a neglected (if not quite taboo) term in communication studies inrecent times, it is now addressed more openly in other influential domains. This paper argues that re-engagement with this concept is now overdue and potentially fruitful for both the contemporary "academic" communications studies field and for the agenda of "policy" research issues.Članek je usmerjen na kontekstualno branje MacBridovega poročila. To pomeni, da je mogoče poročilo plodno brati kot "družbeno situirano" (izoblikovano s svojo politično in ne akademsko vlogo), in hkrati usmerja pozornost na vrsto sprememb v okviru, strukturah in tokovih mednarodnega komuniciranja po letu 1980. Članek upošteva izbrane zanimanja in usmeritve, ki so oblikovali poročilo MacBridove komisije, zlasti tiste, ki zadevajo strukturne poteze neenakih resursov in moči v postkolonialnem svetu in ki vplivajo na ekonomske neenakosti. Ugotavlja, da so bile te vsebine do neke mere prezrte in neustrezno obravnavane tako v raziskovanju komuniciranja kot sodobnih razpravah o mednarodni politiki. Članek obravnava novejše spremembe na področjih, ki so tesno povezana z vidiki poročila - zlasti z oživljenim interesom za pojem imperializma. Medtem ko je imperializem postal zanemarjen (če ne prepovedan) izraz v komunikacijskih študijah, je postal bolj odkrito obravnavan na drugih vplivnih področjih. Članek dokazuje, da je vnovična zaposlitev s tem pojmom danes potrebna in potencialno plodna tako v sodobnih "akademskih" komunikacijskih študijah kot v agendi raziskovalnih vprašanj na področju politike

Training

MEDIVA project. Media For Diversity and Migrant Integration: Consolidating Knowledge & Assessing Media Practices across the EUThis report presents findings and key recommendations in respect of current diversity training practices (or lack thereof) in newsmaking organisations in the following European Member States: Greece, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, the UK. In general, and allowing for notable exceptions (e.g. The Netherlands), this report finds minimal evidence of diversity training across the abovementioned Member States. Attitudes towards diversity training vary considerably. While on one hand journalists are broadly in favour of ongoing professional "education" in a variety of forms, many are hostile to the very notion of training, regarding it as an unnecessary intrusion on their own professional "know how", garnered through lengthy experience "on-the-job". Those in favour of diversity training remain cautious about its potential impact, with some suggesting that such initiatives are unlikely to succeed without increased diversification of the media workforce (though most are also critical of employment quotas).The MEDIVA project (2011-2013) is co-funded by the European Commission, DG HOME, European Integration Fund for Third Country Nationals, Community Actions 2009.(Grant Agreement no: HOME/2009/EIFX/CA/1814). Coordinator: Prof. Anna Triandafyllidou, Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies, European University Institute