{"title":"‘Block talk’ on Twitter: Material affordances and communicative norms","authors":"Steffen Krämer, Isabell Otto","doi":"10.1177/01634437231202164","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/01634437231202164","url":null,"abstract":"This article explores the phenomenon of block talk among Germanspeaking Twitter users, based on a subsample of 1700 tweets from a larger corpus of 380,000 block-related tweets collected between February and December 2021. Block talk refers to users publicly mentioning and conversing about the disconnective practice of blocking, which sometimes stimulates a debate about the legitimate use of blocking while at other times providing an outgroup marker for collective positioning. Through the example of block talk we demonstrate that the platform’s curatorial infrastructure for drawing boundaries between public and private is continuously negotiated, and that this negotiation transforms the meaning of some of the default communicative affordances of the platform but also creates its own routines of making public. On the one hand, we show how users adapt conversational devices such as hashtags, screenshots, and @-mentions in the context of block talk. On the other hand, we present examples of Twitter users’ normative reflections about blocking and discuss them as processes of metapragmatic enregisterment. In the final discussion, we propose to integrate processes of routinized adaptation as well as reflexive enregisterment into a joint process of ‘communicative infrastructuring’.","PeriodicalId":18417,"journal":{"name":"Media, Culture & Society","volume":"12 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-10-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135350620","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Interracial romances and colorblindness in Shondaland’s <i>Bridgerton</i>","authors":"Stephanie L. Hanus","doi":"10.1177/01634437231198440","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/01634437231198440","url":null,"abstract":"Previous literature has considered Shondaland and portrayals of interracial romances for depicting post-racial and post-feminist utopias. Given mass media’s ability to create/reproduce ideologies, Shondaland’s most popular and most recent installment, Bridgerton, offers an opportunity for assessing narratives related to race and gender. The current study considers these narratives in Bridgerton, as well as the role of colorblind casting techniques for constructing those narratives. The current study uses a critical race theory approach, incorporating Black feminist thought and intersectionality. Season one of Bridgerton reveals three themes as they relate to race and gender, (1) romance, love, and who is worthy of love, (2) the body and historical context, and (3) dark corrupting light. Specifically, Black women are depicted in various positions of power that minimize racism and yet are simultaneously depicted in positions of oppression that serve to naturalize oppression of Black women, offering support for Bonilla-Silva’s colorblind racism in media.","PeriodicalId":18417,"journal":{"name":"Media, Culture & Society","volume":"18 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-09-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"136280347","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Fake news on social media: Understanding teens’ (Dis)engagement with news","authors":"Florence Namasinga Selnes","doi":"10.1177/01634437231198447","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/01634437231198447","url":null,"abstract":"This article takes a qualitative approach to examine the role of fake news in shaping adolescent’s participation in news. Instead of experimental approaches that are common with similar research, the current study expands our understanding of teenagers’ engagement with news on social media using focus groups, interviews in addition to reviewing research reports by the Norwegian Media Authority. The study found that fake news is positively related to teens’ engagement with news. Contrary to reports that younger audiences have weak ties with news brands, this study shows that teens in Norway are led back to mainstream media to corroborate and fact-check news. This negates my initial assumption that fake news was bad because teens’ perspectives show fake news as positively triggering discussions around news encountered on social media. Teens engage with fake news for verification, which drives them off social media toward conventional media. This is good for news and for journalism","PeriodicalId":18417,"journal":{"name":"Media, Culture & Society","volume":"84 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-09-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"136152299","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Flying the skies to wire the seas: Subsea cables, remote work, and the social fabric of a media industry","authors":"Iago Bojczuk, Nicole Starosielski, Anne Pasek","doi":"10.1177/01634437231198423","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/01634437231198423","url":null,"abstract":"Since the commercial aviation boom in the 1960s and 70s, the subsea cable industry has relied on global air travel for network development, infrastructure maintenance, and market penetration. However, COVID-19 disruptions forced a shift to remote work, challenging traditional travel practices and presenting an opportunity for carbon emission reduction. This study investigates the industry’s response to the “new normal” and its implications for mobility and sustainability. We employ a media industries approach and conduct open-ended interviews with industry leaders to examine the potential balance between remote work benefits and essential in-person aspects, questioning whether the industry should return to pre-pandemic travel levels or embrace remote work’s ecological and financial benefits. Our findings indicate that remote work suitability varies depending on project stage, involved personnel, and the existing social fabric. To facilitate travel-related carbon footprint monitoring for cable consortiums, we developed a calculator to determine the industry’s emissions when adopting remote work. Our interdisciplinary study also emphasizes mobility’s intricate role in subsea cable systems and broader media infrastructure studies. By scrutinizing corporate cultures, communication practices, and transportation infrastructures, we enhance the scholarly comprehension of the social fabric underpinning global digital networks and investigate potential shifts toward a more sustainable media industry.","PeriodicalId":18417,"journal":{"name":"Media, Culture & Society","volume":"8 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-09-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135061147","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"On the Wire: Analysing the evolution of BBC Local Radio, music radio and public service broadcasting","authors":"James Ingham","doi":"10.1177/01634437231199636","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/01634437231199636","url":null,"abstract":"This paper examines the significance of On the Wire, a BBC local radio programme, that provides a unique lens through which to examine changes in local radio, music radio in general and public service broadcasting. The paper provides a concise history and an account of the On the Wire, along with an explanation of its impact. The paper offers reasons for the programme’s enduring appeal, including its ability to change and adapt, its emphasis on the local in a global context and its innovative approach to audience participation. The paper concludes by positing that the history of On the Wire provides valuable insights for broadcasters in general, highlighting key aspects that radio programmes can learn from its approach. By showcasing the possibilities of what local radio, music radio and public service broadcasting can be, On the Wire sets a positive example for what radio can achieve.","PeriodicalId":18417,"journal":{"name":"Media, Culture & Society","volume":"21 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-09-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135740567","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"‘Up to you’: Self-help books, depression and the reconstruction of reading","authors":"Amber E Gwynne","doi":"10.1177/01634437231198431","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/01634437231198431","url":null,"abstract":"Like other consumers of ‘low-brow’ genres, self-help readers elicit polarized views in the literature. While little research to date has focused specifically on self-help readers with a history of mental illness, existing commentary reveals a particular tension: on the one hand, clinical researchers report positive outcomes for depressed readers engaged in bibliotherapy programs using self-help books, similar or superior to medication or talk therapy; on the other, scholars of media and culture express misgivings about the quality of self-help texts and highlight the negative potential of therapeutic discourse for individual readers and audiences more generally. By asking what actual readers do with self-help books, however, my research suggests an altogether more complex interaction between readers and the books they choose and use – especially as they navigate experiences of mental illness. Leveraging a reader-response heuristic in which I interviewed a cohort of Australian readers, this paper details some of the ways in which habitual consumers of self-help books describe their own interpretive activities, problematizing previous research that either emphasizes or downplays the significant expertise of vernacular audiences.","PeriodicalId":18417,"journal":{"name":"Media, Culture & Society","volume":"52 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-09-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135980357","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Why to regulate Netflix: the cross-national politics of the audiovisual media governance in the light of streaming platforms","authors":"Antonios Vlassis","doi":"10.1177/01634437231182565","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/01634437231182565","url":null,"abstract":"Today, at a time of major downturn in the audiovisual sector, several regions and countries are reconsidering the scope and reach of domestic or regional audiovisual media governance and are developing policy instruments in order to involve transnational Video on Demand (VOD) platforms, such as Netflix, Prime Video, Disney+, in the financing, distribution and visibility of local, national and regional audiovisual content. A key issue that emerges from this backdrop is to provide convincing answers about why public authorities are feeling the urge to develop new regulations towards global VOD streamers in a specific sequence and temporality and to focus on variables, which are expected to understand this cross-national policy momentum for regulating VOD services. In addition, even though transnational VOD services represent disruptive new actors, creating industrial, technological and institutional shock, this disruption does not lead to the same political issue cross-nationally and to the same kind of policy responses. Firstly, the article explores the key outlines that the academic literature highlights in order to understand the regulation of online platforms in the media sectors. Secondly, it provides a cross-national portrayal of policy initiatives towards the VOD streamers, focusing on the EU Member States, Australia, Canada, Mexico and South Africa. Thirdly, the article argues that political struggles over VOD platforms are expected to be framed and fought simultaneously by two crucial variables, dealing with state-society relationships and global interdependence.","PeriodicalId":18417,"journal":{"name":"Media, Culture & Society","volume":"50 3 1","pages":"1511 - 1521"},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2023-06-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"77323323","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Hashtag nationalism: a discursive and networked digital activism","authors":"Renyi He","doi":"10.1177/01634437231169917","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/01634437231169917","url":null,"abstract":"Shinzo Abe, Japan’s former and longest-serving prime minister was assassinated on 8 July 2022. As the world expressed sorrow of the human tragedy, nationalists in China were celebrating the disappearance of a hardline Chinese hawk with great enthusiasm. When a Chinese journalist sobbed for Abe’s death during a live report of the assassination, the surging anti-Japan sentiment exploded and soon developed into a hashtag-based nationalist protest attacking Abe and the journalist. Drawing from cyber nationalism and hashtag activism literature, the author coined a concept ‘hashtag nationalism’ to analyze this protest, the interactions between state-led nationalism and popular nationalism, and the role of digital media in the public-state relation. This article also generalized three affordances of hashtag – interconnectivity, intertextuality, and interdiscursivity – to approach the role of social media in digital activism from a relational perspective. Finally, the analysis revealed the discursive and networked nature of hashtag nationalism.","PeriodicalId":18417,"journal":{"name":"Media, Culture & Society","volume":"71 1","pages":"1471 - 1488"},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2023-06-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"88889587","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Japan’s retreat to the metaverse","authors":"Paul Roquet","doi":"10.1177/01634437231182001","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/01634437231182001","url":null,"abstract":"As in much of the world, interest in Japan surrounding the ‘metaverse’ quickly arose in response to Facebook’s embrace of the term and rebranding to Meta in October 2021. While Meta’s own vision focused on blending virtual spaces with existing office environments, prominent Japanese metaverse approaches focused instead on the production of alternate worlds that could more fully substitute for this one. This essay turns to trade paperbacks from metaverse developers and proponents released in Japan in the wake of Facebook’s rebranding, exploring the emphasis on physical and social withdrawal that characterizes these metaverse appeals. Examining the conservative ‘otaku’ politics that underwrite this retreat to more comfortable, more controllable forms of media immersion, I offer a critical examination of these Japanese proposals to outsource the space of everyday social interaction to for-profit American technology platforms.","PeriodicalId":18417,"journal":{"name":"Media, Culture & Society","volume":"34 1","pages":"1501 - 1510"},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2023-06-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"85793706","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Share with care: negotiating children’s health and safety in sharenting practices","authors":"M. Tartari, A. Lavorgna, Pamela Ugwudike","doi":"10.1177/01634437231182002","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/01634437231182002","url":null,"abstract":"Sharenting – a new term emerged over the past 10 years – refers to the practice of sharing textual and audiovisual contents concerning children online by their parents or guardians, potentially impacting the construction of children’s digital identity before they can reach the age of consent. Based on a passive virtual ethnography carried out comparatively in Italian-speaking and English-speaking virtual communities focusing on children’s wellbeing and health, this paper offers an empirical contribution to the study of sharenting. While contributing to the wider debates on the practices and discourses about sharing in digital media, this paper provides an analysis of how online and offline parenting cultures affect sharenting practices; how the consequences of sharenting are addressed in online communities; and how the privacy vs openness tension about sharing contents is negotiated by parents with regards to their own and children needs even in terms of digital security.","PeriodicalId":18417,"journal":{"name":"Media, Culture & Society","volume":"36 1","pages":"1453 - 1470"},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2023-06-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"85663947","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}