Are shoppers aware of Organic Certification logos?

The article explores consumer awareness and perception of different certification schemes and corresponding logos in the UK, based on a survey with more than 400 consumers in three supermarkets and one organic shop. The work is part of the Certcost project*, funded by the European Seventh Framework Programme

Foreign Literatures in National Media

This article examines key developments and cross-national variations in the coverage of foreign literatures in U.S., Dutch, French, and German elite newspapers between 1955 and 2005. Such coverage is indicative of the interest in foreign literatures among literary mediators and readers and the degree and direction of “globalization from within.” Using content analysis, the degree, direction, and diversity of the international orientation of literary journalism are charted for each country. The results indicate that the degree of international orientation is inversely related to the centrality of a country's literary production. Results show a clear internationalization of literary coverage in the French newspapers, which coincides with the declining dominance of French literature in the late twentieth century literary world-system. German and Dutch papers' literary coverage already showed a high level of internationalization in 1955 and remained fairly constant, with foreign literature taking up around half of the total coverage devoted to literature. The NY Times, by contrast, devoted roughly one quarter of its coverage to foreign literature throughout the research period. Although the global diversity of coverage in all four countries has increased, international coverage is largely confined to a select group of “core” countries and to countries belonging to the same language area or region, and domestic literature remains important

De institutionele logica van de journalistiek: onderzoek naar het journalistieke veld in het spoor van Bourdieu

This article considers several key concepts from Bourdieu’s theory of the cultural field and their significance for the study of journalism, including the tension between ‘heteronomy’ and ‘autonomy’, and the struggle between ‘established’ and ‘newcomers’. It is argued that the field approach can bridge the gap between macro-level analyses that view journalism as the product of wider societal, economic and political structures and microanalyses that tend to focus on individual news organizations and journalists without paying much attention to the wider institutional setting in which journalistic actors operate. In addition, it is argued that the field approach provides a useful framework for international comparative research into the workings of journalis

Fashion reporting in cross-national perspective 1955-2005

This article aims to portray long-term developments and cross-national differences in the editorial prominence, artistic focus and international orientation of the coverage given to designer fashion by a central, intermediary agency within national, cultural fields: the journalism of art and culture in what are called quality or elite newspapers. Based on content analysis, the article explores how the volume and content of fashion coverage in these papers has evolved since 1955 and how this accords with their arts and culture coverage in general. Theoretically, the research draws on the sociological literature on processes and structures of cultural classification and cultural globalization and on communication research into the production of news. The research covers three countries - France, Germany and The Netherlands - and four reference years: 1955, 1975, 1995 and 2005. Fashion has often been included among the cultural forms that have gained in artistic legitimacy in the late twentieth century, but the present analysis indicates that the 'aesthetic mobility' of fashion in elite newspapers has been modest compared to that of other cultural forms. Journalistic attention to fashion is found to vary considerably among countries and across time, in accordance with the size, institutional development and international position of the designer fashion sector in each country and the globalization of the designer fashion industry. The longstanding (inter)national importance of the French high fashion world is clearly reflected in the relatively high amount of coverage given to (French) designer fashion in the French press. Until the 1990s, French newspapers primarily reported on French based fashion designers and events, but afterwards their fashion coverage became far more international in focus, in l

UK consumer reactions to organic certification logos

Purpose - This paper considers the question of whether UK consumers recognise and trust organic certification logos and whether the presence of these logos on a product increases consumer willingness to pay for that product. Methodology/approach - To ascertain the reaction of UK consumers to organic certification logos commonly used in the UK, this study makes use of three methods: focus groups, a consumer survey and a willingness to pay experiment (choice experiment). Findings - These three approaches reveal that UK consumers associate certain benefits with organic foods but are generally unaware of how the industry is regulated. With regards to trust of the logo, the standards they think underlie the logo and the inspection system that they think is associated with the logo, UK consumers rate the Soil Association and Organic Farmers and Growers logos more highly than the EU logo or products labelled with just the word “organic”. They appear willing to pay a premium for the additional assurance that these two logos provide, suggesting that where they are recognised, certification logos are valued. Originality – To the authors’ knowledge, no previous studies exist on whether UK consumers recognise and trust different organic certification logos. These findings show that where such logos are recognised they can help to give some assurance to the UK consumer and this is reflected in a willingness to pay a premium for foods labelled with the Soil Association and Organic Farmers and Growers certification logos as opposed to no logo or the (less well known) EU logo

Sonographic cervical volumetry in higher order multiple gestation

Objective:The aim of this study of multifetal pregnancies was the comparison of three-dimensional (3D) volumetry of the cervix, conventional sonographic cervical length measurement and clinical assessment. Methods 10 mothers were investigated in an observational study between 5/1999 and 9/2000. A total of 34 consecutive 2D-and 3D-transabdominal ultrasound measurements were performed. Results: Volumetry of the cervix was possible in all 34 exams. 2D-cervical length assessment could not be obtained in 6% because the presenting fetal part obstructed the sonographic plane. Both methods allowed equal judgement of the configuration of the cervix. A significant correlation was found between mean 2D-cervical length (28.7 mm, 7.7 SD) and mean cervical volume (30.0 cm(3), 16.0 SD). Parity, subjective preterm labor or need of tocolytics showed no correlation with any biometrical parameter studied. Conclusion: Volumetry was superior for the assessment of cervical biometry and conformation in women when the transabdominal 2D-plane was obstructed. When cervical length was obtainable by a conventional scan, the technically more complex 3D-imaging did not provide further information. Copyright (C) 2001 S. Karger AG, Basel

Trends in Cultural Journalism

Various studies report that cultural journalism increasingly focuses on service and entertainment instead of serious arts coverage. The press prioritizes popular culture over traditional high arts to growing extent. However, this shift in journalistic attention doesn’t necessarily signify a straightforward decline in aesthetic standards, as popular cultural forms like film have developed along the lines of high art principles in the past decades. This article charts trends in American, Dutch, French, and German film journalism between 1955 and 2005. It demonstrates that coverage is typified by a serious aesthetic approach from the 1970s onwards. The principles of art are seen to steer journalists’ attention to an important degree: the review remains the predominant journalistic genre, and newspapers devote more attention to films by prestigious directors than strictly commercial moviemakers. As such, film’s prominence in the press doesn’t seem to indicate a decline in serious cultural journalism but rather a revaluation of a popular cultural form