It's known that advanced technologies with their own artificial intelligence (AI) are gaining a bigger part in our daily lives. This AI can be found in phones, in smart homes, and in cars. Furthermore, it can be found in anthropomorphic robots seen in healthcare and in the entertainment industry as two of many examples. These advanced robots have also taken their steps into our friendships, and our romantic and/or sexual lives, in which humans develop parasocial relationships to the robot, creating human-robot relationships. The media has taken a great interest in those relationships, which I’ll call “technosexual relationships”, in which a human is romantically and/or sexually involved with an artificial individual. Oftentimes the artificial individual takes the shape of a so called “sex doll/robot”, which makes the phenomenon of technosexual relationships somewhat controversial to many. Media representations of those relationships are of growing interest, as there’s public curiosity regarding the subject. By also observing how the artificial individual has been framed throughout its history in myths and popular culture in the form of tv-series and films, it becomes obvious that the idea of the artificial individual as a partner and/or lover is viewed as something negative and sometimes even dangerous, a view that has proven difficult to let go off.  In this thesis, by asking three research questions and doing a media content analysis, I’m looking to answer how technosexuality “is being allowed” to exist in and by filmed media - focusing on five previously filmed interviews with technosexual persons and their artificial partner(s). The questions, inspired by Stuart Hall’s representation theory, are as follows: (1) How does the technosexual person speak about themselves?, (2)  How does the media frame the technosexual person and the relationship during the interview?, (3) Does the conversation change from being about artificial sexuality as an individual phenomenon, to whether society's view on relationships and sexuality are going through a reformation?  Results indicate that the technosexual person speaks of themselves as someone who simply prefers a partner that’s predictable and safe, and they usually speak of how they are happier now, in being together with their artificial partner. Furthermore, we can see that the media, to a certain extent, is allowing for the technosexual person and their artificial partner to tell their own story, but that some media producers are trying to manipulate the story being told by editing the story into angled contexts. Finally, we can see that technosexuality is an individual phenomenon that, much by the help of globalized media representation, has begun disrupting and challenges what earlier has been known as “the normal” human sexuality, splitting society into groups of “for” or “against” artificial relationships and their possible part in our understanding of what relationships and sexuality can be.

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The media impact how people perform their gender, and play an important role in the reproduction of gender binary. Media representations of gender can be described as hegemonic in the sense that, because of their complexity, they contribute to the reproduction of gender norms by otherwise agentic audiences. Media literacy education offers useful strategies for helping audiences question media representations of gender, allowing them to trouble the hegemonic system that keeps inequalities in place. This dissertation answers the question: How do high school students respond to the instruction in a media literacy program informed by gender studies and scholarship on media representations? To answer this question, I used ethnographic methods and the case study approach. My main findings are: (1) Classes that involve analysis of media representations of gender have an agenda-setting effect on students, helping them notice problematic media messages and connect them to social problems and inequalities. (2) Media and gender classes can encourage students to engage in social action, even without the teacher’s prompting. (3) Media and gender classes are not part of a standard curriculum, and teachers choose to include them because they are passionate about gender inequalities. This is why these teachers might lean towards the protectionist approach. (4) Students might embrace teachers’ message about the value of gender equality and diversity, but keep their implicit biases unchecked. Teachers should think of ways to address these biases in the classroom. (5) In order to help students acquire a balanced set of media literacy skills, it is important to work on all competencies of the AACRA model of media literacy education: Access, Analyze, Create, Reflect, and Act. / Media & Communication

Yes / Purpose Purpose To extend the ESRC funded UK Seminar Series, Challenging Gendered Media (Mis)Representations of Women Professionals and Leaders; highlight research into the gendered media constructions of women managers and leaders and outline effective methods and methodologies into diverse media. Design/methodology/approach Design/methodology/approach Gendered analysis of television, autobiographies (of Sheryl Sandberg, Karren Brady, Hillary Clinton and Julia Gillard), broadcast news media and media press through critical discourse analysis, thematic analysis, metaphor, computer-aided text analysis software following the format of the Gender Media Monitoring Project (2015) and [critical] ecological framework for advancing social change. Findings Findings Papers surface the gendered nature of media constructions of women managers and leaders and offer methods and methodologies for others to follow to interrogate gendered media. Further the papers discuss: how women’s leadership is glamourized, fetishized, and sexualized; the embodiment of leadership for women; how popular culture can subvert the dominant gaze; how women use agency and how powerful gendered norms shape perceptions, discourses and norms and how these are resisted, repudiated and re-presented. Practical implications Practical implications The papers focus upon how the media constructs women managers and leaders and offers implications of how media influences and is influenced by practice. There are recommendations provided as to how the media could itself be organised differently to reflect diverse audiences and what can be done to challenge gendered media. Originality/value Originality/value: Invited Special Issue comprising inaugural collection of research through which we get to ‘see’ women and leaders and the gendered media gaze and to learn from research into popular culture through analysis of television, autobiographies and media press.

While the inclusion of gay and lesbian individuals in the media is not a recent phenomenon, the increased representation of families headed by gay and lesbian couples is somewhat new. Research has shown that mediatized representations of gay and lesbian individuals and couples more often than not adhere to stereotypes and perpetuate ideas that the constructors of these representations want their audiences to consume. Research has also focused on audiences’ reception and processing of the messages that these representations may carry. This study, instead, focuses on the construction of representations of gay and lesbian couples and their families, bringing to the forefront the importance of discursive practices that are used to construct visual, linguistic, and aural elements of the media consumed by audiences. Looking specifically at advertisements (both for and against) concerning California’s Proposition 8, a ballot measure proposing to ban same-sex marriages, this study shows how elements of the composition of the advertisements coalesce and mutually enhance each other to create particular understandings of gay and lesbian families. Using Critical Discourse Analysis and Social Semiotics, this study uncovers the underlying ideologies that inform the discursive and semiotic choices that have been made. Together, the music, the visuals, and the language are formed into a coherent whole, the advertisement. This thesis argues that how gay and lesbian people are represented is equally as important as the overt messages that are being disseminated to the audiences. By studying the discursive practices utilized by these advertisements, we are able to see that ideologies of idealistic family life and heterosexual relationships influence both advertisements in their characterisation of gay and lesbian couples and their respective families. / Graduate / 0626 / 0628 / df.tabangcura@gmail.com

The portrayal of Muslims in British mainstream media, particularly newspapers, is a subject of significant academic interest. Previous studies find that British newspapers frequently represent Muslims as a distinct and homogenous group, associating them with terrorist groups and framing them as a cultural threat. Orientalist representations have been observed, depicting Muslims as inherently problematic. Nevertheless, Muslims' own self-representation remains understudied and underexamined. This research analyses the discourse of the Muslim News, the oldest, most enduring English-language newspaper catering to Muslims in the United Kingdom. Using Corpus Analysis and Critical Discourse Analysis, this thesis explores the similarities and differences in the discourses of the Muslim News and British mainstream newspapers from 1998 to 2009. The findings reveal that, while reproducing some narratives observed in mainstream press, the Muslim News (the MN) is introducing new representations that 'pitch' alternative stories about Muslims in the media. While sustaining certain representations, such as the collectivisation of Muslims, the MN challenges mainstream discourse. It highlights Islamophobic attacks that Muslims are subject to, including their negative portrayal in mainstream press, and suggests that these hegemonic representations are part of a 'Muslim penalty'. Furthermore, the MN counters mainstream news by taking Muslims outside the frames of representation that associate them with terrorism, conflict and violence. Sports coverage consistently emerges in the MN as an important space to re-negotiate and reframe mainstream media discourses on Muslims. Sports stories maintain newsworthiness while enabling the MN to diverge from the negative coverage of Muslims in mainstream press and celebrate Muslim champions. Comparing such representations in a newspaper by and for Muslims to those produced by mainstream press further exposes contemporary Orientalist discourses and should be a subject of further study.

The aim of this study was to seek knowledge about how the media audience interprets media representations of immigrants as well as the construction of ”us” and ”them” that is created from the media report. We implemented two focus group interviews, one containing only ethnical Swedes and one holding a variety of people with different ethnical backgrounds. The focus groups got to read nine news articles from different Swedish news papers selected by us, based upon previous research. These articles got to serve as the basis of the discussion.To supplement the focus groups, which got to represent the media audience, we also interviewed two different persons we choose to call informants, whom are both immigrants and are or have been politically active and often appear in local media.The interviews were our empirical material which was used for analysis. The method we used was qualitative analysis of meaning and was based upon a hermeneutic starting point, meaning that all humans are interpreting beings. As a theoretical base we used a social constructivistic perspective, with central theories such as stereotyping and representations. The result showed that the media audience sees through the distorted media representations of immigrants. There was an obvious awareness among the participants but at the same time they admitted being affected by the stereotypes and incorrect representations of immigrants. Reluctant racial prejudice could be discerned in the shape of implicit racism in spite of the awareness that was proved. All the participants agreed on the fact that Muslims are the people who are seen as collective representatives of all immigrants. The reason for this bias they all thought originated from the extreme representation of Muslims in the media, that is, there are more often fundamentalists who are allowed to be seen and to make statements in the media than ordinary people. There were also dissimilarities in the interpretation of the media representations between the Swedish group and the group from mixed ethnic backgrounds.

<p>The aim of this study was to seek knowledge about how the media audience interprets media representations of immigrants as well as the construction of ”us” and ”them” that is created from the media report.</p><p>We implemented two focus group interviews, one containing only ethnical Swedes and one holding a variety of people with different ethnical backgrounds. The focus groups got to read nine news articles from different Swedish news papers selected by us, based upon previous research. These articles got to serve as the basis of the discussion.To supplement the focus groups, which got to represent the media audience, we also interviewed two different persons we choose to call informants, whom are both immigrants and are or have been politically active and often appear in local media.The interviews were our empirical material which was used for analysis. The method we used was qualitative analysis of meaning and was based upon a hermeneutic starting point, meaning that all humans are interpreting beings. As a theoretical base we used a social constructivistic perspective, with central theories such as stereotyping and representations.</p><p>The result showed that the media audience sees through the distorted media representations of immigrants. There was an obvious awareness among the participants but at the same time they admitted being affected by the stereotypes and incorrect representations of immigrants. Reluctant racial prejudice could be discerned in the shape of implicit racism in spite of the awareness that was proved. All the participants agreed on the fact that Muslims are the people who are seen as collective representatives of all immigrants. The reason for this bias they all thought originated from the extreme representation of Muslims in the media, that is, there are more often fundamentalists who are allowed to be seen and to make statements in the media than ordinary people. There were also dissimilarities in the interpretation of the media representations between the Swedish group and the group from mixed ethnic backgrounds.</p>

Le football, en tant que spectacle total, n’existe que par la présence fidèle et constamment réitérée de publics. Cette présence assidue et confirmée joue un rôle déterminant et fait de ce sport un phénomène social universel, fortement médiatisé. L’objectif de ce travail ne réside pas dans l’analyse et la portée du football en tant que tel, mais sur les spectateurs qui, par leur présence et leur prégnance, le singularisent ; plus précisément, nous insistons sur la représentation médiatique de ces publics. Du fait d’une sur-médiatisation, la question qui se pose concerne la place qu’ils occupent ainsi que le jeu qui se développe entre les acteurs du football et les médias, la manière dont ceux-ci représentent ceux-là. Il s’agit de mettre en œuvre une nouvelle lecture, une nouvelle façon de penser les publics de football en particulier et le spectacle sportif en général, notamment dans le cadre du concept de représentations médiatiques. Cette recherche diachronique s’inscrit dans un temps long, de 1946 à 2010 et l’objectif consiste à retracer l’évolution des représentations médiatiques des publics et du football. Cette approche historique permet d’aborder le football dans son ensemble, les publics en particulier, ainsi que la place d’un média sportif singulier : L’Équipe. Ce journal, institution du monde sportif français joue, durant cette période, un rôle important, à la fois dans la médiatisation du sport et dans sa construction et son évolution. A travers la question des représentations des publics de football, ce sont les évolutions et les transformations du monde du football que nous analysons. / Football, as total spectacle, exists only by the faithful and constantly repeated presence of the public. This diligent and confirmed presence plays an important role and makes the sport a universal social phenomenon, highly publicized. The objective of this work doesn’t lie in the analysis and the scope of football himself, but on the public which, by his presence and resonance, makes it special; we focus on media’s representation of these groups. Due to on-media, the question that arises is the place of such public as well as the game that develops between those involved in football and the media, how they represent each other. It is implementing a new reading, a new way of thinking about public especially football’s and sports’ in general, particularly in the context of the concept of media representations. This diachronic research is based on a long time period, from 1946 to 2010 and the objective is to trace back the evolution of media representations of public and football. This historical approach allows to tackle the football as a whole, public in particular, and instead of (also) a singular sports media: L'Équipe. This newspaper, a French institution on all the world’s sports, plays, during this period, an important role, both in the media coverage of the sport and its construction and development. Through the issue of public representations of football, it is developments and changes in the world of football that we are analyzing.

Submitted by Renata Lopes (renatasil82@gmail.com) on 2015-12-09T17:47:22Z No. of bitstreams: 1 palomarodriguesdestrocouto.pdf: 1219692 bytes, checksum: b12a1698195c7db378d4a80680aa9281 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Adriana Oliveira (adriana.oliveira@ufjf.edu.br) on 2015-12-10T14:02:24Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 palomarodriguesdestrocouto.pdf: 1219692 bytes, checksum: b12a1698195c7db378d4a80680aa9281 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2015-12-10T14:02:24Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 palomarodriguesdestrocouto.pdf: 1219692 bytes, checksum: b12a1698195c7db378d4a80680aa9281 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-02-12 / FAPEMIG - Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de Minas Gerais / A dissertação analisa as identidades da mulher representadas na série Game of Thrones através de três personagens de destaque da primeira temporada: Cersei Lannister, Catelyn Stark e Daenerys Targaryen. As relações entre gênero e identidades estão frequentemente no centro das discussões comunicacionais, devido ao crescimento do papel da mulher na sociedade. Os meios de comunicação e seus produtos são fundamentais para a propagação de valores e fornecimento de subsídios para que o indivíduo construa sua identidade, estabeleça diferenças com o outro, se identifique e se projete. Observa-se como se deram as transformações passadas pelas maneiras de se contar uma história – percorrendo um caminho que vai da narrativa oral à transmídia; disso, percebe-se que a narrativa seriada sempre possuiu, em seu cerne, questões atreladas à sociedade em que está inserida. Em consequência, a série Game of Thrones se constitui, em nossa análise, uma grande metáfora da sociedade atual, palco de um amplo Jogo de Rainhas. / This dissertation analyzes women’s identities that represented on the TV series Game of Thrones through tree characters that are highlighted on the first season: Cersei Lannister, Catelyn Stark and Daenerys Targaryen. The relations between gender and identities are frequent in the communication discussions’ focus, because of the growth of the role of woman in society. The mass media and its products are fundamental to the diffusion of values and to give support to the individual so that he/she can build his/her identity, establish difference with the order, identify himself/herself and make projection. We look at the way of storytelling transformations – through a way that goes from oral narrative to transmedia; so, we can see that serial narrative always has, in its core, questions linked to the society it is inserted into. Therefore, Game of Thrones TV series is, in our analyze, a big actual society‘s metaphor, stage of a broad Game of Queens.