This is a conference report of a two-day working conference held in April of 2000 with leading media education and public health researchers charged with the task of charting future directions for research in media education. The goal of the conference was to identify approaches that should be undertaken to measure the impact of media literacy interventions aimed at health threats to youth, to stimulate descriptive evidence about the growth and nature of media literacy education in the United States and around the world, and to begin to more fully appreciate the complex, interdisciplinary connections between the fields of media studies, education and public health that research about the practice of media literacy demands and inspires. Conference sponsors: Johnson & Johnson; Center for Substance Abuse Prevention; (HHS Secretary's Initiative on Youth Substance Abuse Prevention); National Cancer Institute; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; American Academy of Pediatrics; Alliance for a Media Literate America; Journalism Resources Institute. The full text of this document can be downloaded or sent to others, and photos of the conference can be viewed on the conference site ( http://www.mediastudies.rutgers.edu/mh_conference/index.html).

The connection of genre to social processes is considered through the lens of printed almanacs issued in North America in the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries by the diaspora Croatians. The role of genre in sustaining cultural interactions in that community through communication of memories and meanings of identity is interpreted through multidimensional nature of almanac literacy. The almanacs were analyzed as verbal forms, objects that circulate texts, and texts that produce meaning. This analysis has shown how culture is mediated through the almanac genre's structural elements and the symbolic associations derived from its historical roles. Because genres are not only texts but sets of social, political, and economic interactions among the individuals and groups with which they are associated, the ways in which the almanac trade was organized reflects patterns of socialization of communities and individuals, and their ability to mobilize economic, social, and cultural resources in their production. The corpus of 425 almanacs is analyzed using the methods of textual criticism, book history, and cultural analysis, showing how texts can become an informal writing space in which communities outside the dominant culture could interact, and a written arena for oral production. Diaspora almanacs convey a sense of the marginal spaces in which they were produced, distributed, and used. This is noted in particular in the ambiguous position that the printed almanac held in relation to genres of oral communication. Reliance on visual interfaces in structuring information (pictograms, layout, typography, and the use of image) made these materials accessible to individuals at different levels of reading competence. The analysis has shown that such rhetorical simulation of orality is not functional, but serves to forge identity according to the rules of oral memory adapted for the visual interfaces of print medium. Listing and ordering to lay out information schematically, exemplifies how descriptive styles in presenting information are converted into evaluative narratives which convey ideological arguments. Apart from identifying the characteristics of ordering and transmission of social memory in print medium, this study also points to the connection of literacy and power in shaping the culture of the diaspora Croatians.

This thesis examines Albert Camus's 1937 lecture 'La nouvelle culture méditerraneeime', using a multi-contextualist version of the intellectual-historical approach to textual interpretation developed by Quentin Skinner. Whereas Skinner rejects text-centred and crude socio-historical approaches and focuses on the argumentative context of previous texts on the same subject, I argue that different parts of the text need to be placed in different contexts - argumentative, biographical and socio-historical - for its significance to be properly understood. I also supplement Skinner's approach with the complementary approaches of J.G.A. Pocock and Reinhard Koselleck, which focus on discourses and concepts respectively. Discussing humanist and postcolonial approaches to Camus's lecture, I show that both are ultimately unsatisfactory, whether at the textual or the contextual level. The humanist contextualization of the lecture in terms of French discourses on the Mediterranean fails to take adequate account of the colonial context, and the postcolonial contextualization of the lecture in terms of French discourses on Algeria fails to take adequate account of both the lecture's political context and Camus's position on the colonial issue. Camus's attitudes are compared and contrasted with those of Gabriel Audisio, his greatest influence in the lecture, and those of Maurras and Henri Massis, his polemical targets. The lecture is shown to intervene in three overlapping debates: on the Mediterranean, culture and the East/West question. Although Camus does not address colonialism in the lecture itselL his other activities at the time demonstrate his commitment to native Algerian civil rights. I show that at the biographical level, the attitudes he expresses in the lecture were influenced by both his family background and by other thinkers, especially Jean Grenier, Nietzsche and possibly Balcunin. These attitudes had a profound impact in turn on his later thinking, notably in L 'J-lomme révolté and during the Algerian war.

Includes bibliographical references. / The widespread adoption of mobile communication by South African teenagers is playing an increasing role in their formation of identities and construction of knowledge. This dissertation uses feminist critical discourse analysis as an explanatory framework in order to investigate what types of discourses around HIV/AIDS emerge from queries submitted to the mobile application H360°, which is an educational portal on MXit, South Africa’s most popular messaging platform. These queries are analysed in order to identify how gender and other power relationships inform young people’s discourse on MXit. This approach gives insights into how South African teenagers construct discourses about HIV/AIDS knowledge within an environment where unequal power relationships reflect gender, race and class divisions. In the face of such dynamics, attempts to halt the spread of the disease have so far proven ineffective.

This thesis analyses South African news media discourses on piracy to consider whether corporate interests or those of civil society are served by stories about copyright infringement and piracy awareness campaigns. This thesis employs critical discourse analysis to show that hegemonic interests are ultimately served by news coverage, made up of selected newspaper articles and radio broadcast over a ten year period, that frames a range of commercial and non-commercial copying activities as criminal acts. Two dominant frames are identified: piracy as an economic issue and piracy as a crime. The thesis shows how the harms of copyright infringement are conflated by ideologies of the 'pirate' as a violent criminal and 'piracy' as an activity against commerce. The thesis finds a fracturing boundary between the orders of discourse of corporate and civil interests and those of news media. Entertainment media, as one block, garners a way to construct and sustain alliances with news and information media (such as newspapers and news and talk radio), taking on an ideological form. When this type of consent is won, and thus elite interests served, the ability to ensure a richly sourced and diverse public domain and public sphere is compromised.

Includes abstract. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves [212]-226). / This thesis examines the ways in which certain contemporary fiction cinema posits its narratives as real. Looking at a broad overview of realist movements through the history of cinema, it draws out the codes and conventions which filmmakers have employed and suggests that realist cinema is typically characterised by its focus on creating a sense of presence and immediacy. It describes how a strand of selfreflexivity can be traced throughout the history of realist cinema and asserts that this tendency has become increasingly predominant in a more sceptical postmodern climate. The study focuses on the interplay between the cinematography and the setting (to create a sense of locatedness and contextual specificity) in Matthieu Kassovitz's La Haine (1995), on Lars Von Trier's quest for a "naked" film stripped of its cosmetic trappings, and his pursuit of the "genuine" moment within that (in The Idiots, 1998), on Mike Leigh's use of improvisation and byplay to encourage a sense of authenticity in performance in Secrets and Lies (1996), and on Richard Linklater's reworking of the romance genre for a postmodern audience in Before Sunrise (1995) and Before Sunset (2004).

Digital and electronic learning portfolios (e-portfolios) are playing a growing role in supporting admission to tertiary study and employment by visual creatives. Despite the growing importance of digital portfolios, we know very little about how professionals or students use theirs. This thesis contributes to knowledge by describing how South African high school students curated varied e-portfolio styles while developing disciplinary personas as visual artists. The study documents the technological and material inequalities between these students at two schools in Cape Town. By contrast to many celebratory accounts of contemporary new media literacies, it provides cautionary case studies of how young people’s privileged or marginalized circumstances shape their digital portfolios as well. A four-year longitudinal action research project (2009-2013) enabled the recording and analysis of students’ development as visual artists via e-portfolios at an independent (2009-2012) and a government school (2012-2013). Each school represented one of the two types of secondary schooling recognised by the South African government. All student e-portfolios were analysed along with producers’ dissimilar contexts. Teachers often promoted highbrow cultural norms entrenched by white, English medium schooling. The predominance of such norms could disadvantage socially marginalized youths and those developing repertoires in creative industry, crafts or fan art. Furthermore, major technological inequalities caused further exclusion. Differences in connectivity and infrastructure between the two research sites and individuals’ home environments were apparent. While the project supported the development of new literacies, the intervention nonetheless inadvertently reproduced the symbolic advantages of privileged youths. Important distinctions existed between participants’ use of media technologies. Resourceintensive communications proved gatekeepers to under-resourced students and stopped them fully articulating their abilities in their e-portfolios. Non-connected students had the most limited exposure to developing a digital hexis while remediating artworks, presenting personas and benefiting from online affinity spaces. By contrast, well-connected students created comprehensive showcases curating links to their productions in varied affinity groups. Male teens from affluent homes were better positioned to negotiate their classroom identities, as well as their entrepreneurial and other personas. Cultural capital acquired in their homes, such as media production skills, needed to resonate with the broader ethos of the school in its class and cultural dimensions. By contrast, certain creative industry, fan art and craft productions seemed precluded by assimilationist assumptions. At the same time, young women grappled with the risks and benefits of online visibility. An important side effect of validating media produced outside school is that privileged teens may amplify their symbolic advantages by easily adding distinctive personas. Under-resourced students must contend with the dual challenges of media ecologies as gatekeepers and an exclusionary cultural environment. Black teens from working class homes were faced with many hidden infrastructural and cultural challenges that contributed to their individual achievements falling short of similarly motivated peers. Equitable digital portfolio education must address both infrastructural inequality and decolonisation.

This study examined the representation of China’s human rights and sustainability record in the mainstream South African media. It also explored the factors that influence both South African and Chinese journalists and its potential effects on their coverage of China’s sustainable development and human rights impact. Through its “Going Out” policy, China has re-established a close affiliation with African countries.. South Africa is significant to this growing China-Africa relationship, as a fellow member of the BRICS group of emerging nations. Through its soft power strategy, whether as a “charm offensive” (Kurlantzick, 2008), or “charm defensive” (Shi, 2013), China has expanded its media reach in Africa through platforms such as Xinhua, China Central Television (CCTV) and People’s Daily to provide counter stereotypical images of being “a mysterious, exotic and unknowable force” (Wasserman, 2012). Dominant media discourses have represented China as lacking concern for good governance, transparency, freedom of the press, worker’s rights, human rights, and environmental protection in its relationship with Africa (Sautman & Hairong, 2009; French, 2014). China has been criticised for exporting its environmental destruction and human rights violations to the African continent. These negative perceptions among global media and key roleplayers could harm China’s strategies to harness its soft power on the African continent. This study explored to what extent these perceptions are manifested in media coverage, and what factors influenced this coverage. Through a qualitative framing analysis, this study examined how China’s sustainable development and human rights record is depicted in South African media. The framing analysis explored three individually-owned South African media publications: the weekly investigative paper Mail & Guardian, the Cape Times daily and the online news site News 24, to determine South African media representation of China. The study found five dominant frames in South African media’s coverage of China’s sustainable development record. China as key perpetrator in poaching; China vs the USA as a superpower; China’s role in the struggle against climate change; China as a source of green technologies, renewable energy and green investment; and China as a polluted country itself. Regarding South African media’s coverage of China’s human rights record, three dominant themes have emerged: Cheap Chinese products replacing job opportunities in Africa, China’s general poor record of human rights and cheap Chinese labour in African countries. Additionally five dominant frames were found in Chinese media coverage of China’s sustainable development: China’s climate leadership, China-US collaboration, repercussion for environmental violations, China’s green technology and innovation, pollution in China, and Chinese environmental aid. Regarding human rights, only three dominant frames were found: Chinese jobs empower African communities, improved labour conditions and official human rights engagements. The second part of this study examined how China’s media image might influence Chinese and South African journalists’ coverage of China’s sustainable development and human rights impact. Apart from China’s environmental and human rights reputation, which other influences on journalists have been significant to their coverage of China? Using Reese’s (2001; 2016) hierarchy of influences model as a guideline, this study explored the individual, routine, organisational, extra-media and ideological influences on Chinese and South African journalists covering China’s human rights and sustainable development reputation. Using semi-structured interviews, 20 journalists from Chinese and South African publications were interviewed. The interview questions built on Reese’s (2001; 2016) sociology of the media approach. The aim was to compare the different layers of how journalists in China and South Africa are influenced when covering China’s human rights and sustainable development record. Results show that South African journalists were strongly influenced by their perceptions of China’s environmental and human rights impact, which are generally pessimistic. They find Chinese government and sources to be inaccessible and distrust them. South African journalists also believe that media diplomacy will not lead to soft power success in Africa, in particular compared to efforts such as health diplomacy. Chinese journalists were strongly influenced by the Chinese state’s media ownership. Despite censorship, Chinese journalists find working for Chinese publications, Xinhua in particular, honourable. They find their role in improving China’s soft power in Africa through media diplomacy to be crucial, and particularly through challenging current western representations of China.

Text elements on the mobile smartphone interface make a significant contribution to the user’s interaction experience. In combination with other visual design features, these words curate the path of the mobile user on a journey through the information to satisfy a specific task. This study analyses the elements that influence the interpretation process and optimum presentation of information on mobile media. I argue that effective digital writing contributes to reducing the cognitive load experienced by the mobile user. The central discussion focuses on the writing of text for this medium, which I suggest forges an entirely unique narrative. The optimum writing approach is based on the multi-dimensional characteristics of hypertext, which allow the writer to facilitate the journey without the user losing control of the interpretation process. This study examines the relationship between the writer, the reader and the text, with a unique perspective on the mobile media writer, who is tasked with achieving balance between the functionality and humanity of digital interaction. To explore influences on the development of the relevant writing techniques, I present insights into the distinctive characteristics of the mobile smartphone device, with specific focus on the screen and keyboard. I also discuss the unique characteristics of the mobile user and show how the visual design of the interface is integral to the writing of text for this medium. Furthermore, this study explores the role, skills, and processes of the current and future digital writer, within the backdrop of incessant technological advancement and revolutionary changes in human-computer behaviour.

Includes bibliographical references. / This work analyses the depiction of coloured women on trial for murder in South Africa’s Western Cape tabloids, the Daily Voice and Son. It argues that these depictions preserve conservative race, class, and gender norms. The coverage of the murder trials of Najwa Petersen, Ellen Pakkies, Zulfa Jacobs, and Chantel Booysen constructs a notion of illegitimate femininity that is rooted in apartheid and colonial discourse on coloured femininity. The ideologies present in this coverage indicate how themes of sexuality; motherhood; victimhood and trauma; class and community; and religion expel the threat female offenders pose to traditional performances of identity. This work is motivated by the shortage of local research on the depiction of female offenders. While international research have developed useful typologies for how female offenders are represented, and have shown how these depictions are sites for the communication of gender expectations, an acknowledgement of the diversity of women’s experiences necessitates a focus on how local discourses of race, class, and gender further influence these representations. Moreover, this work is motivated by the opportunity to offer an indication of how tabloid content works ideologically. By focusing on the depiction of women on trial for murder, this work offers a snapshot of the discourses on race, gender, and class that circulate in the publics created by these titles. The construction of deviant femininity, and its intersection with 'colouredness’ and a working-class identity, is the means through which the status quo is communicated. This work relies on a Foucauldian frame to privilege the power of discourse to construct identity, and the work of Judith Butler to consider how identity is produced and performed under constraint. In line with this focus on language, and due to a specific consideration of the Cape Flats vernacular, this work employs critical discourse analysis to analyse a purposive sample of the coverage of Petersen, Pakkies, Jacobs, and Booysen’s murder trials. Interviews conducted with journalists who have authored these tabloid accounts, and focus groups with tabloid readers who hail from the Cape Flats supplement this analysis. The results of this triangulation indicate the complex interaction between discourses in subduing the threat female offenders pose to normative identities. It also indicates the potential for tabloid newspapers to cement hegemonic and essentialised notions of racialised gender identities, despite South Africa’s post-apartheid context. Tabloids’ recognition of marginalised subjects does not automatically signify democratic transformation, partly because such subjects are represented by corporate monopolies who rely on cultural translators to communicate fixed ways of being. If media are to transform, they need to break from the apartheid era's subjugating and pathologising discourses. This work demonstrates that an interrogation of race, class, and gender politics is crucial for analysing South African tabloids’ contribution to public discourse.