Bibliography: leaves 453-490. / 490 leaves ; 30 cm. / Title page, contents and abstract only. The complete thesis in print form is available from the University Library. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Adelaide, 1990

Thesis (M.A.)--Miami University, Dept. of Communication, 2007. / Title from first page of PDF document. Includes bibliographical references (p. 69-71).

No description available.

This study seeks to evaluate how aspects of religion, culture, political context, education and class, amongst others, impact on the manner with which Zimbabwe’s Bulawayo residents make sense of media messages which explore issues of homosexuality, as encountered in the soap opera Generations. This is against the backdrop of Zimbabwean legislation, such as the Sexual Deviancy Act, which criminalises homosexuality and the state victimisation of gays and lesbians in this country. The inclusion of homosexual liberties was rejected by all political parties and both public and private media in the recent drafting of a new rule of law. The legislation, including gay rights exclusion in the new constitution, and state action has perpetuated an impression that Zimbabwe is a deeply homophobic society. As a starting point the study examines the claims of the media imperialism thesis which supposes an all-consuming power of western media and next examines Straubhaar’s thesis of ‘cultural proximity’ which argues that there is often a preference for regional media, which is proximate to viewers’ local culture, language and identity. The study explores the prominence of South Africa as a regional media player and that proximate identities with some cultures in that country have played a role in drawing some Bulawayo viewers to South African television, as they feel slighted by Zimbabwean media. Utilising qualitative research methods, the study explores whether or not the representation of gay images on this South African soap opera provides viewers with opportunities for ‘symbolic distancing’. The concept highlights that when people have insight into lifestyles that are different from their own, they use that as a resource to critically analyse their own lives and cultural understandings. The study evaluates if Bulawayo viewers’ sentiments towards homosexuality has been challenged and changed through their interface with the soap opera, Generations.

Within the context of debates concerning the reception and interpretation of media texts by television audiences, this qualitative reception study explores how a sample of Bulawayo students negotiate meanings from Zimbabwe's first health communication soap opera, Studio 263. The study thus examines the reasons behind the popularity of this programme with this target audience. The findings of the study reveal that meaning making is a complex process that is dependent on a variety of factors which include, among others, the socio-cultural context of media consumption, gender, economic disposition and age. It particularly maintains that gender and lived realities influence the interpretation and negotiation of meanings in this particular study. / Adobe Acrobat Pro 11.0.0 Paper Capture Plug-in

Latin American telenovelas have been exported to more than a hundred countries across the globe. While they are popular in their country of production because their messages resonate with their audience’s everyday experiences, their popularity amongst global audiences with whom they share neither a social nor a cultural history is unexplained. Kenya has been importing and airing Latin American telenovelas since the early 1990s, and telenovelas have permeated many aspects of Kenyan daily life, when compared to other foreign globally-distributed media products that are aired on Kenyan television. As global media products, telenovelas remain open to criticisms from the media imperialism thesis. This research adopts an ethnographic approach to the study of audiences, and looks at the reception of a Mexican telenovela, Cuando Seas Mia, by a group of young Kenyan women in Nairobi. It reflects upon the media imperialism thesis from an African perspective by investigating the meanings that these women make from Cuando Seas Mia, and how these shape their changing local identities and cultures. The young women in this study, most of whom have moved to the city from the rural areas, are influenced by traditional, patriarchal Kenyan society and by the modern, Western influences of an urban environment. They experience a tension between their evolving rural and urban roles and identities and are drawn to telenovelas because their exploration of rural-urban themes holds a relevance to their own lives. They negotiate their contemporary African youth identities, gender roles and heterosexual relationships in relation to representations in the telenovela, questioning and destabilising African and Western definitions. These women select aspects from their traditional, African cultures and from their modern, Western experiences (and consumption of global media) and reconstruct them into a transitional youth identity which suits their day to day lives as young women living in an urban African environment.

See front file / Communication Science / MA (COMMUNICATION)

No description available.

The German Free State of Saxony has a high density of independent local and regional television broadcasters. From the antenna communities at the time of the GDR, private TV broadcasters developed after the reunification. In the period of the social transformations in the 1990s, these local TV stations documented the profound changes of the everyday life of the individual, of the local communities and the historical transformations in society and economy during the early years after the German reunion. These recordings are a substantial part of the cultural heritage of Saxony and of the highest interest for social, cultural and media research. Due to how the original material was produced on consumer videotapes, today the recordings are threatened by decay. In the next few years the recordings will be lost, if not acted quickly. Some state and private institutions are currently developing concepts for the preservation of the audiovisual heritage in Saxony In this paper, we discuss how these media objects should be scientifically investigated, in the sense of media and sociocultural dimensions, questions and categories. Based on our experiences and investigations, we present a technical concept which shows how to digitalize, index, describe and categorize copious amounts of videotapes for the preservation, archiving and public access of this important part of the cultural heritage of Germany.

The master’s thesis provides research into the role of contemporary TV in the socialization process of Russian teenagers. The paper analyzes editorial policy and content of contemporary Russian youth-oriented television and presents a framework for the “rehabilitation” of youth TV. Based on a sociological study (a questionnaire survey of high school students in Yekaterinburg), the author highlights TV patterns and preferences prevalent among youth audience and proposes a project of a TV program with the participation of YouTube bloggers. / Магистерская диссертация посвящена исследованию роли современного телевидения в процессе социализации российских подростков. В работе осуществлен анализ редакционной политики и контента современного молодежного российского телевидения; разработана концепция «реабилитации» молодежного телевидения. На основе проведенного социологического исследования (анкетирование учащихся средних школ г. Екатеринбурга) раскрыты особенности и предпочтения подростковой аудитории в просмотре телевизионных программ и разработан авторский проект телепередачи с участием YouTube блогеров.