News frames represent the way an issue is processed and presented by the media. As such, news frames have great influence over public opinion and could therefore be useful in controlling a country’s image abroad. This study builds upon existing literature and theories in an attempt to bring scholarship closer to an understanding of what frames are most likely to be effective for use in public diplomacy by identifying what frames and frame types currently influence audiences internationally. Specifically, The study examines what structures are commonly used to frame international issues, what frame content may not be accepted by a foreign audience and the extent to which elites control the local framing competition. This thesis uses both a framing discourse analysis and a content analysis to evaluate news stories from American, Chinese and Vietnamese outlets as well as American elites. The results found that while elites appear to control the general direction of framing in a country, American journalists are willing to suggest other frames as long as they enhance the drama of the narrative. However, this storytelling imperative is not likely to cross a line into questioning the legitimacy of the media’s home country, indicating that such challenging messages should be avoided in public diplomacy. Frequency of frame structure (conflict, responsibility and consequence) use was also identified, and a positive correlation found between privately owned media and use of consequence frame types. Given the less antagonistic nature of these frame structures, they may be extremely effective in public diplomacy communications - as long as the right consequence is emphasised. It is hoped that these findings will aid scholars and practitioners of public diplomacy in identifying effective ways to communicate messages across countries, and that it will strengthen the argument for the role of ‘listening’ in public diplomacy.

As an emotional appeal to reach the target audience, humor is a creative tool that uses laughter and entertainment to disarm the cynical viewer to deliver the advertising pitch. In this manner, a funny advertisement would capture audience attention and would have a greater chance of increasing the recall of the brand and the general marketing message. The presence of humor in advertisements spices up the content; thus, making it more interesting and amusing. However, due to the influence of culture to both individual and collective tastes in humor, the universality of humor may not apply to advertising, particularly to international advertising campaigns, at all times. Cultural differences challenge local and international campaigns to understand what the audience would understand, appreciate and buy in the long run. Adapting the Berger’s humor categories (1993), this thesis identified the prevalent humor categories in American and Filipino advertisements from January 2001 to March 2008 through content analysis. Although some categories are similarly prevalent in both samples, they are used portrayed in different ways. The various uses of these humor techniques are noticeable based on subtlety, physicality, intentions, nature and implied and latent definitions. Also, some humor techniques were combined with others to send the marketing message across effectively. This required the understanding of the overall picture and interaction of audio and visual elements in the advertisement. Therefore, this revealed that even both American and Filipino humor are characterized by their obvious, physical and sometimes vulgar expressions, there are still some differences between the two. American humor has a blunt, straightforward nature, whereas Filipino humor is subtle, conservative and visually goofy. Inferential statistics, on the other hand, revealed that only a few humor categories (four in the audio element, 1 in the visual element), showed the significant difference between American and Filipino advertisements. To further see the meaning beneath the similarities and differences between the funny American and Filipino advertisements, this thesis provided a textual analysis of the prevalent humor categories that appeared in the content analysis. The humor categories both reflect and challenge the cultural values of both countries. What is present in the society could be seen in the humor content of the advertisements, which may be a validation of the mirroring function of advertising. However, poking fun at the cultural value system in the United States and the Philippines gives them a taste of freedom and a feeling of relief from rules and constraints.

This project seeks to explore the subject of nation and nationalism in the context of rhetoric and the philosophy of communication. By exploring ancient tropes of nation through rhetorical figures such as Isocrates in Ancient Greece and Cicero in the Roman Republic; through Kant, the Enlightenment and modernity; and, through postmodern interpretations, I attempt to reconceptualize the nation as a communicative construct while pointing to what may lie ahead for the future. By applying Anderson's (2006) concept of "imagined communities" as an interpretative framework, the nation appears to be a more fluid, contingent space for communication that is grounded in ancient and Enlightenment ideals, but is perhaps reconfiguring in the face of postmodern complexity as advanced by scholars such as Appadurai (1996) and Smith (1979, 1983, 1995, 1998, 2008, 2010). The transition from antiquity and modernity to postmodernity is characterized by what I call a theory of "dialogic nationalism," which has roots in Martin Buber's understanding of dialogue (1988, 1996, 2002) and his writings on nationalism (2005). Dialogic nationalism may serve as an alternative hermeneutic for the nation within the postmodern moment. The experience of international students in the United States and the complex issue of immigration around the world are also explored as practical applications for dialogic nationalism. / McAnulty College and Graduate School of Liberal Arts; / Communication and Rhetorical Studies / PhD; / Dissertation;

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Toronto, 2004. / Adviser: Ruth Childs.

The social and environmental impacts of consumer electronics and information communications technologies (CE/ICTs) reflect dynamics of a globalized and interdependent world. During the early 21st century the global consumption of CE/ICTs expanded greatly while the infrastructure behind CE/ICTs, especially the extraction and disassembly phases, became more integrated. This dissertation examines how messages about the social and environmental impacts of CE/ICTs changed during this period and explores the discursive power of actors involved in environmental justice campaigns surrounding the disposal and disassembly of electronic waste (e-waste). The dissertation reports the results of a mixed methods investigation of twelve years of media coverage of e-waste through quantitative content analysis and qualitative document analysis. The analysis examined almost 800 articles from eleven media outlets between 2002 – 2013 and explored differences between legacy media coverage (e.g. The New York Times, USA Today) and coverage from digital news outlets focused on technology (e.g. Ars Technica, CNET, Gizmodo). When the story of e-waste began to gain traction in media outlets, the haze of commodity fetishism cleared for a brief moment and the social relations of exploitation behind the wonders of technology were included in media narratives. While the media coverage about e-waste initially examined environmental justice issues of pollution and labor exploitation, the coverage evolved into focusing on the technical and business solutions to managing the environmental problems and the growth of a private sector profiting from mineral reclamation through electronics recycling.

<p><strong>Background: </strong>The environment and the design of auditing regulation can vary significantly between countries, which can affect the form, content and quality of the audit report. The purpose of the International Standards on Auditing, ISA, is to facilitate the work for auditors on an international basis. Sweden today follows the RS 600 which is based on ISA 600, which contains standards for when an auditor use work performed by other auditor. In October 2007, came a revised and redrafted version of ISA 600 that will be enforced in Sweden in the audit of the financial year beginning on 1 January 2011. To what degree the new requirements will affect the group audit is clearly dependent on how the reporting, evaluation and instructions between the group auditor and other auditor has been carried out previously.</p><p><strong>Aim: </strong>The aim with this paper is to explain the reporting between the group auditor and other auditor in an international corporate group. The aim is also to study the factors that can influence the final outcome of this report and why they affect the outcome. Furthermore, the paper will discuss the report process changes that could take place between the group auditor and other auditor after the introduction of ISA 600.</p><p><strong>Definitions: </strong>This paper has a geographic delimitation to Sweden. The paper is delimited to only consider auditing of corporate groups whose parent is located in Sweden and subsidiaries are located abroad. This means that respondents are bounded to the group auditors.</p><p><strong>Completion and results: </strong>Factors affecting reporting between auditors in an international corporate group turned out primarily to be language and communication differences, differences in accounting standards and determination of the materiality level. The risks are considered minimized through documentation reviews and both internal- and external quality controls. An understanding of social and cultural differences is a key factor to be able to have successful cross cultural collaborations. Education, experience and practise are the solutions to understand this issue. This paper demonstrates that cross-cultural training is not given at the accounting firms, which are proposed to be a beneficial investment. The instructions and contact with other auditors are expected to be put earlier after the introduction of ISA 600, also that the report itself will be more detailed.</p>

Globalization now receives as much or more attention as any concept in the academic lexicon. While scholars and pundits struggle to grasp its complex and varied worldwide manifestations, few researchers have yet focused on the South Korean media and its relationships with state and civil society, situated as it is within a complex political economic terrain. The role of agencies and institutions, especially state involvement in the media sector and in culture more broadly, has been controversial for communication scholars. In the last two decades a dramatic upsurge of neoliberal thinking has glorified the virtues of unregulated markets, and so-called ¡°end-of-history¡± discourse has ideologically championed incessant deregulation and economic and cultural privatization. Many neoliberalist scholars have argued that human nature and the structure of modern political, economic and cultural activities are such that the more constrained is the state, the better will be the quality and competitiveness of the more autonomous realms of enterprise and civil society. By contrast, my aim is to provide a fuller understanding of the political economy of a national/regional, as well as global mediascape, and to offer a more nuanced analysis of the role of the state and civil society in global and local cultural transformations, by careful attention to the case study of South Korea. Specifically, I examine interventions by the state and civil society in transforming the scene of national and global mediascapes, focusing on their various policies, regulations, movements and other initiatives. While it would be absurd to deny the pressures on semi-periphery by powerful international organizations (e.g., the IMF or WTO), these global constraints and pressures do not wholly dictate policy outcomes, whether economic or cultural, and globalization is not an inevitable nor omnipotent force that utterly deprives societies of their ability to maneuver when they must decide on policy. Hence development or social changes are negotiated in a manner more complex than typically acknowledged by globalization scholars (from the left or right), and in ways that aim to open up closed and inefficient institutions and reflect local social conditions and its needs, and sometimes succeed in doing so.

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), doing business while keeping the environment and society in mind, has grown in importance to businesses. Companies, and especially multinationals, are communicating their CSR efforts in the hopes to get a positive commercial effect. The way in which audiences perceive these communications is crucial. There is a connection between culture and communication; communication and CSR; and CSR and culture. This thesis studies the influence of culture on the specific type of communication: CSR communication. Two culturally diverse countries, Sweden and Spain, are compared in this exploratory study. Using cross-national comparative surveys and in-depth interviews with people from both countries and placing this into context using cultural background, the relation between culture and CSR communication has been explored. The results support the assumption that the perception of CSR and CSR communication is different between the two groups of respondents. This suggests that the effectiveness of CSR communication can be increased by tailoring it to the specific audience. While the statements cannot be made for the entire ‘next generation of working professionals’, the exploratory study is valuable in making strong indications and suggestions for further research.

Informacinių technologijų, inovacijų ir besiformuojančių naujų socialinių struktūrų paskatinti globalizacijos procesai kasdien intensyvėja. Informacijos srautai tarsi sujungia pasaulį, ima formuotis bendri interasai tarp valstybių. Daugybė aktualių nacionalinių klausimų, vienoje ar kitoje šalyje, virsta globaliais. Šiandieninės problemos išsprūsta iš valstybinės galios ribų ir aplinkosaugos, saugumo, švietimo, skurdo klausimai tampa aktualūs visam pasauliui. Siekdamos užkirsti kelią ar surasti tam tikrų sprendimų, kaip intensyvėjančios globalios problemos galėtų būti suvaldytos, valstybės ima bendradarbiauti. Tokį bendradarbiavimą iliustruoja ne tik užsienio politikos plėtotė ar tarptautinių santykių vystymasis, bet ir tarptautinių organizacijų kūrimasis. Nors aukščiausios tarptautinės organizacijos valdymo institucijos numato organizacijos veiklos politiką, priima tam tikus tarptautinius standartus, o valstybės narės privalo nuolat jų laikytis, vis dėl to kiekviena šalis, priklausanti bet kuriai tarptautiniai organizacijai, gali siekti nacionalinių ir globalių interesų įgyvendinimo. Net ir maža politiškai bei ekonomiškai silpna valstybė gali apčiuopiamai prisidėti prie globalių problemų sprendimų. Tokia yra ir Lietuva. Priklausanti ne vienai tarptautiniai organizacijai, ši valstybė siekia ir nacionalinių ir globalių tikslų. Tokie tikslai įgyvendinami kruopščiai planuojant veiksmus, tiriant nuolat kintančią aplinką ir kuriant efektyvias komunikacines strategijas. Tarptautinių... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / Summary Induced by information technologies, innovations and developing new social structures- globalization process increase every day. Information flows connects the world, starts to develop new mutual interests between countries. Many relevant national questions in one or another country become global. Today those problems slip from national power and so environmental, security, education, poverty questions becomes important for everyone. Actually countries start to collaborate by trying to stop or find certain decisions, how growing global problems could be controlled. That kind of collaboration illustrates not only development of foreign countries or increase of international relations, but also formation of international organizations. Although the authority institutions of all the highest international organizations plans the work politics, accepts certain international standards and member countries have to follow them and still every country that belongs to any international organization, can pursue national and global interest accomplishment. Even small politically and economically week countries can greatly contribute to solutions of global problems. Actually Lithuania is also that kind of country. Member of international organizations, this country pursue national and global goals. These goals can be accomplished by accurately planning actions, researching constantly changing environment and creating effective communication strategies. By applying actions and... [to full text]

Thesis (M.A.)--Villanova University, 2009. / Communication Dept. Includes bibliographical references.