Media pluralism and the overlapping instruments needed to achieve it

The authors review recent scholarly and policy initiatives in respect of media pluralism and argue that contradictions between policy objectives, in analytical approaches and deficiencies in some established methodologies mean that robust conclusions have been hard to secure. They argue that concerns about diminishing pluralism are likely to grow in consequence of changes in a dominant “legacy media” funding model as advertising revenues move online. Examining UK data, they argue that a contemporary focus of concern, growing concentration in privately owned media, is overshadowed by the striking dominance of the publicly owned BBC and suggest established analytical methodologies used to analyse market power may offer a valuable analogy in the definition and measurement of pluralism issues. They consider possible alternatives to regulation as means of enhancing pluralism and propose the use of subsidised entry

The relationship between addictive use of social media, narcissism, and self-esteem: findings from a large national survey

Social media has become an increasingly popular leisure activity over the last decade. Although most people’s social media use is non-problematic, a small number of users appear to engage in social media excessively and/or compulsively. The main objective of this study was to examine the associations between addictive use of social media, narcissism, and self esteem. A cross-sectional convenient sample of 23,532 Norwegians (Mage=35.8 years; range=16-88 years) completed an open web-based survey including the Bergen Social Media Addiction Scale (BSMAS), the Narcissistic Personality Inventory-16, and the Rosenberg Self Esteem Scale. Results demonstrated that lower age, being female, being single, being a student, lower education, lower income, lower self-esteem, and narcissism were associated with higher scores on the BSMAS, explaining a total of 17.5% of the variance. Although most effect sizes were relatively modest, the findings supported the notion of addictive social media use reflecting a need to feed the ego (i.e., narcissistic personality traits) and an attempt to inhibit a negative self-concept (i.e., basic cognitions). The results were also consistent with demographic predictions and associations taken from central theories concerning “addiction”, indicating that females may tend to develop more addictive use of activities involving social interaction than males. However, the cross-sectional study design makes inferences about directionality impossible

Offending, Shocking, Disturbing - A Free Press Right? The Annual Press Freedom Round Table Proceedings

There is a tremendous amount of media freedom problems in the world, and there is also a certain time travel backwards in many parts of the world. It is not only true in the new democracies, where we see a stubborn monopoly especially of television, which is not getting dissolved and it is even being cemented. We see the spreading pattern of administrative discrimination against the fragile independent print press, as it already exists in most of these new democracies which nevertheless favour the still existing state-owned press.There are brand new challenges to media freedom. One of them is the post-cartoon controversy in Europe. Is that pressure dissolving or is it enhancing under our watch, and what can be done about it?media freedom., press freedom, cartoon controversy, European media, democracies, democratic practices, Media Studies

Obituary for the newspaper? Tracking the tabloid

Discussing newspapers in the 21st century commonly entails a narrative of impending extinction arising from technological, demographic, and cultural change. This article reports on research into three Australian newspapers (two broadsheet, one tabloid) that is concerned, in the first instance, with the concept of ‘tabloidization’, and the proposition that identifiable tabloid properties, such as the simplification and spectacularization of news, are increasingly characteristic of contemporary newspapers. Adaptive changes to newspaper design, style, and content in the interests of survival and renewal are addressed through quantitative content analysis in tracking formal changes to newspapers, and qualitative research through interviews with journalists in exploring their everyday negotiation of the role and trajectory of newspapers. These questions of industrial context, textual form, occupational practice, professional ideology, and politico-cultural judgment are raised in seeking to understand the dynamics of the shifting forms and contested readings of contemporary newspapers through a critically reflexive analysis of tabloidization discourse and process. Keyword