published_or_final_version / Journalism and Media Studies Centre / Master / Master of Philosophy

This thesis charts points of convergence between the fields of historical studies and film studies that generate a line of inquiry which questions how the development and dissemination of film and television have significantly shaped historical conscIOusness. Taking this line of inquiry as a starting point, this thesis identifies the ways in which film (and television) representations have informed American cultural memory of the Vietnam War. The thesis describes how the reporting of the war in newspapers and on television results in the production of a number of vivid and powerful 'nodal images'; these images enable their viewers to locate themselves in relation to the larger event and offer guidance regarding how other representations produced in response to the war might be understood. The thesis goes on to explore how these images play a significant. role in secondary film and television representations, including Hollywood feature films, whereby the initial connotations of the image are recirculated, reenacted and re-scripted. The thesis also indicates how other film representation of the war - such as the film records produced by the American military for tactical and strategic purposes and amateur film produced by American military personnel- are side-lined by the dominance of these nodal images. This study closes by proposing a taxonomy of the key features of these film (and television) representations and profiles the ways in which these features determi~e American cultural memory of the war and mediate historical experience more generally. The conclusion arrived at is that the historical consciousness engendered by these representations encourages the meaning of the Vietnam War to be located in relation to individual phenomenological experience and that the priVileging of this experience above all others marginalises the wider frames of reference - politics, history, economics and so on - which might make that experience meaningful.

No description available.

The Press in Transition adopts a comparative approach to transitional print institutions worldwide. It is based on some 150 interviews and archival research on four continents, over a decade of unprecedented global transformation and upheaval. The dissertation seeks to fill a serious gap in the existing literature on democratization and political transition. Theoretical chapters advance a comparative model of press functioning (Chapter 1) and a more tentative model of transitional media, with a strong focus on the mainstream press (Chapter 6). The bulk of the work consists of four case-studies, each drawn from a different geographical region (indeed, continent) and a markedly different "type" of liberalization or transition process. The case of Nicaragua (Chapter 2) stands out somewhat. It concentrates almost exclusively on a single newspaper, Barricada, the former official organ of the Sandinista Front. The newspaper's transformations in the 1990s are, however, set against the backdrop of Barricades history since 1979, intra-Sandinista politics during and after the revolutionary era, and the more general interplay of media and politics in Nicaragua. The remaining three case-studies (South Africa, Jordan, and Russia: Chaps. 3-5) combine system-level analysis with micro-level portraits of transitional institutions and individuals. The core of the theoretical analysis lies in a delineation of "mobilizing" and "professional" imperatives. The former I attach mainly to sponsors and managers of media institutions; the latter mainly - not exclusively or universally — to the editorial side of the operation. The interplay of these variables I see as integral to an understanding of events at the case-study newspapers. The opening theoretical chapter situates mobilizing and professional imperatives as both dependent and independent variables. I argue that they reflect and respond to variables like underdevelopment, authoritarianism, and pre-existing media culture. But they also serve as founts of important and interesting initiatives, whether professional, political, or commercial. Significantly, too, they regularly conflict. The dissertation struggles to avoid heroicizing, but it also tries to show that tensions and upheavals — both small-scale and radically transformative - tend to derive from the clash of mobilizing and professional priorities.

This thesis examined the content of sixteen Indiana newspapers, chosen at random, to calculate the topic classification of editorials. Because of concern for chained newspaper growth 'in America, this study attempted to draw conclusions as to the topics of editorials printed in both chained and unchained newspapers. Since "one-publisher" cities are also increasing, further aspects of this study, examined editorials in newspapers of varying circulation categories.Indiana has eighty-two daily newspapers - 30 chained, and 52 unchained. From the complete list, sixteen papers were randomly chosen - two chained and two unchained from each of the following four circulation categories: 1-10,000; 10-20,000; 20-50,000; and 50,000 up.Editorials from a ten-day sampling over two, two-month periods were examined and classified according to the defined topics of "local," "state," "national," and "international."The findings of the study showed that Indiana newspapers, whether chained or unchained, large or small, editorialized most heavily on national issues. However, comparatively, chained newspapers published more local and state editorials than did unchained papers. The unchained newspapers published approximately twice the number of national editorials as 'state and local editorials, combined. The newspapers with the largest circulations, also, published more local editorials than did small papers, but the small papers surpassed the large papers in printing state editorials. However, small papers did concentrate more heavily on national issues than large circulating dailies did. No classification of newspaper, consistently, printed many nternational editorials.The conclusions of the study show that chained newspapers and those with large circulations are doing a better job of localizing editorials than are the unchained newspapers anti small circulating dailies. However, this study was a quantitative account of editorial topics and it made no attempt to study the quality of the editorials.

No description available.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Tennessee Technological University, 2007. / Bibliography: leaves 75-80.

Thesis (B.A.Hons. 1969) from the Dept. of History, University of Adelaide.

Originally published as author's dissertation-- Universität Heidelberg, 1999. / Includes bibliographical references (p. [355]-378) and index.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Minnesota, 1930. / Vita. Published also without thesis note. Based on a study of the crime news in three Minneapolis newspapers during the years 1890, 1904-1905 and 1921. cf. p. xv. "Selected bibliography": p. 102-103.