Mediatization of Politics During U.S. Presidential Election 2008

The thesis of this paper applies to the mediatization of politics process during American presidential campaign of 2008. It is entrenched in the theory of political communication. Because of the primary assumptions in the analysis below, political communication is considered mainly from perspective of the models of relations between the mass media and politics, which are treated as systems. It is justified because those relations influence the abovementioned systems and play the biggest role in affecting mass society and culture. In this thesis, the public is considered as having less influence on entire process of political communication. In order to clarify the subject of the research, the division into structural and functional mediatization was created. Structural mediatization, which is the main subject of the analysis, occurs when structures of the media and political systems come into dependence and subordination relation. Parts of the media system dominate over the analogical elements in the political system, internalizing media logic. Individual elements of the political world comply to the media logic and the media orders. Subjects of the political system implement political marketing methods to use the dominant role of the media in the process. Functional mediatization can be defined as a transfer of systemic relations at the smallest possible level – specific case in micro scale,when the medium controls a political actor. Here, the mediatization takes its most radical form. The medium on every stage of constructin

The present tense of mediatization studies

This paper presents the theoretical and methodological analysis of mediatization understood as (1) the process of social transformation effected by media changes, and interrelated with other social processes, (2) and as the area of studies. Mediatization seems to be one of the most stable, capacious, and significant concept in last twenty years. Its influence on sociology, media and communication studies, and cultural studies, is substantial and followed by strong critique. Hence, the main goal of this paper is an up-to-date analysis of mediatization from theoretical and methodological perspectives. In three consecutive parts I analyse the historical phases, dominant theoretical and research perspectives, and methodological perceptions of mediatization. In this inquiry I argue that: (1) historical and spatial mediatization studies need to be developed in more complex way; (2) from dominant mediatization perspectives the institutional approach is one of the most theoretically and methodologically elaborated, (3) mediatization is in pre-paradigm phase in terms of scientific evolution, (4) critical mediatization studies should emerge, since mediatization analyses tend to neglect the economy as an important part of transformation processes.

Polish Privacy Media Discourse: Privacy as Imposed Policies

In this article we look at the Polish media discourse on privacy. In the analysis, we draw on theoretical approaches that understand privacy as having four dimensions: Relational, participatory, contextual, and technological. Moreover, we seek whether a specific norm of data-related privacy could be defined/redefined within the discourse. Considering the post-communist past that shapes a specific approach to surveillance and the general polarisation of polish media discourse, one would expect the key role of privacy issues in the public sphere. Thus, applying a critical discourse studies analysis, the aim was to capture the character of the so far under-researched privacy in Polish media discourse. We study what types of institutional agents are mentioned as creating privacy policies and what dimensions of privacy they tackle. Moreover, we also try to capture whether the institutional position offers a specific normative understanding of privacy and whether this norm is citizen/user-oriented. The results of the study indicate that: both the media discourse and the normative content of privacy policies are dominated by legal aspects concerned with the issues resulting from EU regulations (i.e., General Data Protection Regulation); privacy policies are institutionally dispersed and monopolised by journalists and experts instead of state officials or politicians; and there is only limited evidence of a discursive frame of a citizen-oriented norm of how to protect data-related privacy

Badanie kultury wizualnej w sieci – metodologia i teoria

The field of analysis presented in this article is the rustic/vintage popular culture and its mediated visual representations. The article undertakes issues of difficulties connected with an analysis of popular cultures visual aspects in the new media. The main idea presented in this text is an attempt to separate the analysis of virtual space from quantitative models which disturb the observation of popular cultures and are no longer able to capture the dynamics of mediatized communication.Polem analizy przedstawionej w  tekście jest kultura rustic/vintage oraz jej zapośredniczone wizualne reprezentacje. Artykuł podejmuje kwestie problemów związanych z  badaniem wizualności kultur popularnych w  przestrzeni nowych mediów. Głównym postulatem prezentowanym w  teście jest próba oderwania analiz przestrzeni wirtualnej od ilościowych modeli, które zaburzają obserwację kultur popularnych i  nie są w  stanie uchwycić dynamiki zapośredniczonej komunikacji

Agenda-setting versus Freedom of Speech

The most important issue of this paper is contained mostly, though vaguely, in the title. What is agenda-setting and how it is related with freedom of speech domain? In further part I will try to present those, theoretically distant problems. I will also try to present how political and business organizations can affect on daily agenda, so in fact how thy can create access to free speech. There are some situations in mass media world, when those practices can be considered as internal or external censorship. In this paper I specific cases, all selected from American political and media systems. I think that US system is full of contradictions, from law confl icts (state vs federal law, First Amendment), owners of mass media competition (corporations, FCC) and finally state controlled media on the contrary to free speech (censorship)

The image of Upper Silesia and the Silesians in the context of economic growth and diligence as opposed to the political attitudes of the Poles

The field of analysis presented in the article are the findings of an analysis of cognitive image of Silesia and Silesian in context of two categories. First is the economic development of the region, and second one is the diligence of Silesians. Answers given by respondents was depicted in prism of their political attitudes and ideological beliefs. It allowed to point out specific patterns signifying about strong image position of Silesia and its inhabitants autonomously of political and ideological approaches of communication recipients