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In the light of the 2004 enlargement of the European Union with ten new member states we need to reconsider what we know about the Brussels press corps. Brussels journalists play a pivotal role in the European integration process. They act as agents of Europeanization, wedged between complex European issues and national public spheres, privileged in terms of information supply, geographical proximity and social networking. This study is one of the first to examine correspondents from new member states vis-à-vis the rest of the Brussels press corps, EU institutions, home offices and audiences. In-depth, semi-structured interviews with 14 journalists from different new member states show that the current status of the new member states' correspondents in Brussels could impede the emergence of a Europe-wide public discourse. The growing heterogeneity of the Brussels press corps reduces the relative importance of journalists from smaller member states and leaves them at disadvantage in the news-gathering process. Moreover, volatile and also tense media markets in the new member states, paired with little interest for EU affairs in these countries constrain the journalists' news performance, leading them to stress national angles over European ones. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates the structure of the European network of newsflows. According to recent literature, the horizontal integration of national public spheres is a constitutive element of a European public sphere. Based on a sample of newsitems in 25 countries, we present a comprehensive depiction of the mutual coverage of member states in the EU. The results show that the network of newsflows is shaped by the economical and political power of the involved countries as well as by their cultural and historic proximity. Moreover, we identify two structural gaps: Smaller countries are generally marginalized and there is a clear division into an Eastern and a Western European public sphere. The duration of the membership of a country in the EU, however, has a positive effect on its integration in the network. Opposing recent studies in the field we find little evidence of the existence of an European public sphere. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper compares Russian national legislation concerning online freedom of expression with the Council of Europe (CoE) legal standards on this issue to discover the extent to which the Russian legislation has been consistent with the CoE vision. The paper first examines the CoE perspective, including the European Court of Human Rights case law and non-binding documents of the other main CoE institutions. Then, it analyses the Russian national legislation and the highest Russian courts' perspectives. The paper compares the CoE and Russian legal visions of key principles to govern online freedom of expression, the new notion of media, editorial responsibility for the readers comments, the right to anonymity and the protection of journalists from surveillance. The paper concludes that the Russian legislation concerning online freedom of expression needs a considerable revision to comply with the CoE standards and suggests that Internet companies and international organisations should drive this process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the visual construction and performance of European identity in the public communication materials of fifty cities participating in the European Capital of Culture scheme between 2005 and 2011. The paper is part of a large-scale project that examines the complex ways in which a sense of a collective European identity is being constructed in contemporary European visual discourse. I consider how 'Europe' is reimagining and re-presenting itself in the wake of European integration and overall processes of globalization. In the multilingual context of Europe, visual discourse may function as a cross-culturally strategic form of communication, thanks to its perceptual availability and communicative power. Through a social semiotic analysis, I examine how public communication materials frame these cities as quintessentially 'European' in order to show the 'European dimension' required by the European Capital of Culture scheme as a key criteria for success. In particular, then, I discuss and problematize the ways in which cultural diversity and shared identity (i.e. the key principles of such 'European dimension' found in official discourses about European integration) are discursively handled in these texts. In doing this, I identify a number of semiotic resources used towards this - potentially exclusive and certainly problematic - visual construction of European identity, specifically by dividing these visual resources into 2 overarching analytical categories: visual content and design effects. The data collection for this project was completed at the end of summer 2006 and the social semiotic analysis of visual texts is well under way, with the plan to complete it by the end of this year. The rest of the paper, including conceptual/methodological framework, background information and discussion of relevant cases, has been completed. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The European refugee crisis is an important topic on media, poltical, and public agendas. Media inevitably employ certain frames, which may influence public perceptions of the issue. Due to its scope and impact, its continuing prevalence on the media-agenda and the divisiveness of public debate, new research is needed to understand the media's framing of the issue. Therefore, this study analyzes the frames used by two Dutch newspapers (de Volkskrant and de Telegraaf) in their portrayal of the refugee crisis of 2015-2016. In addition, it is one of few studies to track changes in framing over time as the crisis develops. Method: Inductive framing analysis was used to study 268 news articles from the height of the crisis (April 2015 to March 2016). Results: Portrayal of the refugee crisis consists of ten different frames and counter frames. The frames are communicated on the level of the refugee, on the level of the crisis as an event, and on a societal level. Results show that framing differs between popular and quality paper, and changes following certain transitory events. Conclusion: Recent reporting on the refugee crisis is relatively nuanced and portrays the crisis from a variety of perspectives. The most prominent frames -Innocent Victim frame, Societal and Cultural Threat frame, and Epidemic frame - reflect the European-wide debate on how to deal with the crisis is centered around the question of whether to regard the refugees as victims or danger. Threatening and tragic real-life events as well as cultural rituals, affect framing and possibly subsequent public opinion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Brexit vote in the United Kingdom has caused turbulence in the European Union, and fueled concerns over anti-EU and anti-immigrant attitudes. Meanwhile, researchers have continued to be interested in the potential effects of media on public opinion. Through the lens of cultivation theory, this paper seeks to examine the potential media role in creating anti-immigrant and anti- EU attitudes in Europe. Using data from 20 different European countries, a serial mediation model and multi-level analysis are conducted to examine media influence and the perception of a mean world on anti-immigrant and anti-EU attitudes. Findings show an indirect effect from television on anti-EU attitudes mediated via anti-immigrant feelings and mean world. The multilevel model adds support to this by showing regions with lower number of immigrants within their country show heightened anti-immigrant sentiments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Digital communications are at the centre of information society policy initiatives across Europe. Digital ICTs feature prominently in programmes to promote digital inclusion and to implement extensive reform in public service provision. The transition to an all-digital communications environment and the digital switchover of public services bring to the fore a need to rethink access as a public policy goal. When the switchover happens, use of public services that have been universally available, and/or accessible via universally available technologies will require a level of digital media literacy capacity. This paper probes patterns of internet access diffusion among disabled people in the UK to examine the role of communications policy in promoting media access capabilities. As a starting point for this line of inquiry, the paper draws on insights from the capabilities theory and resource-based models of media access in order to highlight: the multi-dimensional character of media access and literacy and its centrality in policy initiatives for 'digital inclusion'; the relational character of disability as a phenomenon of the interface between personal circumstances and structural disadvantage; a gap in policy commitment to promote universal access for disabled people and a requirement for policies sensitive to the need for additional resources to equalize their media access capabilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper sets out to evaluate the Finnish and Swedish public service broadcasting companies' diversity management and diversity implementation. We map the main discursive shifts within this policy domain at a European level. The empirical analysis focuses on two Nordic public service broadcasting companies - YLE in Finland and SVT in Sweden. Both companies have policies concerning ethnic and cultural diversity. In addition the two companies have downsized their staff in recent years. Diversity policies and various initiatives to promote diversity, particularly in public service broadcasting, have been developed in Europe since the 1960s. Now in the 2000s there are a variety of strategies to increase representation of minorities and recruitment of journalists with minority background in mainstream media. European collaboration, particularly through EBU and/ or EU finance, is both taking inspiration and ideas from national experiences and disseminating 'good practices'. This is a manifestation of managed multiculturalism, which is clearly becoming a more integrated and professionalized part of European media policy and practice. In our analysis we are specifically interested in how and for what purposes diversity discourses are used and how cultural/mission and economic/market arguments are articulated in the companies' diversity media policies. Policy documents in addition to other related material, such as speeches, preliminary papers, websites and interviews with key people are scrutinized with critical discourse and policy analysis. Media policy is analysed as crystallization of values: it opens a view to current debates on media's role in multicultural societies. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims at shedding light on how civic engagement matters for the emergence of a European public sphere. It inquires the citizen's role in constituting it and asks how citizens being located in different cultural and political contexts participate in and appropriate EU-political communication. First, the paper develops a pragmatic approach to the European public sphere emphasizing the importance of citizens' communicative participation. It is assumed that the constitution of public spheres - representing social constructions fulfilling democratic functions - ultimately rely on citizens' (media based) perception of the impact of common problems and political decisions as well as on their subsequent participation in public discourses (Dewey 1927). The second part of the paper presents the findings of empirical case studies conducted in France, Italy and Germany to explore citizens' engagement in and appropriation of the European constitutional debate. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The contribution is focusing Europe with its special mixture of language, lifestyle, life worlds and the understanding of journalism role in society. It delivers the perfect surrounding for a case study - because all the findings could be discussed from a common standpoint: the societies in Europe - the different they are -, from orientation of politics, distribution of political power, or economic growth still are reflecting a quite similar base, and could, with that, be compared in a way better than any other region of the globe. This contribution will analyze foreign correspondents' self-conception and labour conditions by using a survey with questionnaire plus content analysis. The perhaps most interesting hypotheses of the paper is - especially regarding the current crisis on the financial markets - the following: "The foreign correspondents of European media specializing in business journalism have a special professional self-conception which is composed of various dimensions." The findings on this hypotheses could directly lead to an interesting interpretation of the reaction of European mass media in the second half of 2008. With that, this paper seems to be fairly relevant to near oneself to an intellectual of understanding role-consciousness of business reporters working in foreign countries. From seven alternatives the foreign correspondents questioned in Germany see themselves as "arrangers" and "explainers" with a "neutral fact orientated" habit. That might be the most surprising finding of this research - and should (in the opinion of the authors) - lead to further research. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper distinguishes between laissez-faire and interventionist models to justify and implement cultural diversity policies in the news media. The paper argues that the laissez-faire model is characteristic of U.S journalism. However the convergence of media systems and the widespread adoption of diversity management practices threaten to turn the laissez-fair model into the prevalent model throughout other Western democracies and Europe in particular. The problem with this approach to media diversity is that it relies on commercial instead of normative justifications. As a result, cultural diversity is mostly reduced to an ornament. Equated with accuracy and treated as a business asset, diversity serves rather than challenges the existing media system. By failing to open sufficient spaces for alternative social voices, business-driven media policies do not respond to the democratic needs of a multicultural society. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Public debate on multiculturalism heated up in most European countries in the 2000s. Many countries, the Netherlands and Denmark in particular, which have been known of their multicultural and tolerant policies towards ethnic minorities began to tighten their immigration and minority policies. This paper aims to analyze European multicultural discourses by focusing on a critical analysis of the media prize Prix Europa Iris, the yearly awards competition that celebrates multicultural television programming in Europe. Although submissions are received from independent filmmakers, public broadcasters and commercial television, public broadcasting corporations play key roles in the organization and definition of the event. In this paper I examine how the jury reports and speeches define and signify multiculturalism and anti-racism. These statements help to influence multicultural media policy throughout Europe. Policy can be analyzed as a crystallization of values and definitions. The paper tackles these key questions: What kinds of discourses of multiculturalism and anti-racism are expressed? How is multiculturalism defined? How is Europe and European identity presented? How are these definitions and positions limiting and opening up possibilities for minorities? The paper concludes that recognition of minority identities and status does not necessarily lead into inclusion. Multicultural media initiatives, such as the Prix Europa Iris, have fundamental problems. Increased recognition and intercultural exchange do not solve problems of marginalization, instead marginalization and recognition of ethnic identities co-exist in the contemporary Europe. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Debates about media concentration and its adequate handling are not coming to an end. This paper stresses the dual character of media goods, the underlying ideological ideals, and the attendant institutional setting as source of value conflict in communications policy making. It discusses this value conflict and gives examples of where it surfaces and how it is confronted. It is particularly evident in cases of media concentration. Newly introduced communications laws and policies within Europe and the USA aim to reduce (ownership) regulation, promote competition and cope with the challenges posed by convergence. This quest is coupled in part with protections of media pluralism through custom-developed indices for measuring concentration in media markets and tests for assessing media plurality in merger cases. The paper describes and discusses such new methods and instruments as novel but imperfect attempts by policy makers to respond to the various challenges in communications such as value conflict, convergence, the need for empirical proof and claims for non-economic ways of assessing media diversity. It concludes by stressing the need to re-emphasize normative claims as essential guiding elements of communications policy making. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Children's online experiences, especially the risks to which they might be exposed, is an increasingly important policy and research concern. This paper reports an analysis of the amount, nature and range of empirical research concerning children's online experiences across 18 European countries. Research teams in each country have collaborated, as part of the EU Kids Online network, to identify, code and compare studies. In all, 235 studies were identified and coded in a publicly accessible data repository. All countries had some available evidence regarding children's online risky experiences, with strengths mainly in relation to research on access and use; several countries were found to have a richer evidence base encompassing research on online learning, literacy, participation, parental mediation, and so forth. Regarding risks, more research focused on potentially harmful content than on risky forms of contact. Key research gaps included research on younger children, on mobile online platforms, and on certain types of online risk. The paper concludes by observing the challenges facing researchers in this field, including the time-sensitivity of research that quickly dates, the difficulty of tailoring research to meet the needs of a demanding policy agenda, the complexity of designing projects that recognise the contextual and contingent factors that mediate children's online activities, and the ethical considerations that apply when asking children about private, transgressive or upsetting experiences. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a systematic comparison of online newspaper coverage comprising both Eastern and Western European countries (Austria, Bulgaria, France, Germany, Ireland, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Spain and the United Kingdom). Countries were sampled according to the classification developed by Hallin and Mancini (liberal, democratic-corporatist, polarized-pluralist countries) as well as according to membership status in the European Union (6 old members, 2 members that have joined in 2004, and 2 members joining in 2007). Analysis focuses on three dimensions: similarity in reporting styles (i.e. factualness of new reports), vertical Europeanization of news (focus on EU matters and "domestication" of EU issues) as well as horizontal Europeanization (intensity and patterns of mutual observation between countries). Correlational, regression, and cluster analyses are employed in studying the data. Results show that there are no systematic country differences in reporting styles, thus lending support to the homogenization thesis. Levels of both vertical and horizontal Europeanization in news can be explained by EU membership status, with different patterns emerging for the 2 dimensions of Europeanization. In mutual observation between EU member countries, Western European countries get the bulk of attention but this can be explained by their bigger size, not by a particular neglect of the East or by the duration of EU membership. In conclusion, more theory-driven explanatory research on country differences in news reporting is advocated. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper acknowledges the importance of the pan-European attention that has been paid to the European ‘Roma problem’ at various scales and in various discourses recently, from European Union policy-making to local grassroots activism to social scientific studies. However, it argues that policy-oriented activism and most social scientific research offer an oversimplified view of the Roma’s situation in post-communist Europe by continuing to ground Romany identities in victimization and by ignoring the ways in which global entertainment media and transnational networking have transformed ethnic relations in Eastern Europe in the last fifteen years. The essay considers new representations that revalorize traditionally ludic, entertaining Roma images, analyzing in some detail the recent Hungarian animated film, The District (2004), which features ‘cool’ Roma characters from the urban ghetto, the space of exclusion from the nation, as representatives of an emerging national, ethnic-class solidarity against both corrupt neocolonial governments and global corporate capitalism. ..PAT.-Conference Proceeding [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper conceptualizes the Europeanization of the national public spheres as a gradual process that may occur on four different dimensions: monitoring governance, mutual observation, discursive exchange and collective identification with Europe. A quantitative content analysis of the political discourses in quality newspapers of five European Union (EU) member states (Austria, Denmark, France, Germany, Great Britain) over a period of twenty years. The analysis revealed that the main pattern of transnationalization to be found in all countries is segmented Europeanization. The study found that the emergence of a European public sphere is lacking behind the development of European integration and that despite the partial increase in public attention on the EU, the level of Europeanization is still very low.

Liberalization, globalization and convergence lead to a political control crisis and subsequently to regulatory reforms in the mediamatics sector (media, telematics), the convergent communications sector. The traditional common pattern of statehood in the mediamatics sector is obsolete and a new common pattern seems to emerge, encompassing changes of political institutions, content and processes of regulation and control. In this paper we focus on one important element of such a transformed statehood, on the changing division of labor between governments and the industry -- more generally, between state actors and societal actors -- and in particular on the models of self- and co-regulation in the European Union. Self- and co-regulation are widely considered to be tools of great promise by the industry and various policymakers, prominently by the European Commission. In our analysis we summarize incentives, risks and success factors of self- and co-regulation, present a classification for the different types of regulation, and provide an overview and assessment of self- and co-regulation as defined and practiced at the EU-level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the similarities and differences between the United States Supreme Court’s and the European Court of Human Rights’ interpretations and applications of their respective commercial speech doctrines. Both the Supreme Court and the European Court of Human Rights use multi-step evaluations where a negative response to one of the questions results in a dismissal of the commercial speech restriction. Thus, the application method of how both judicial bodies evaluate commercial speech restrictions is remarkably similar. Both courts consider the legitimacy of the restriction as well as the necessity of the restriction as the most prudent manner to pursue the stated aim. Two crucial characteristics of the European Court’s approach distinguish its decisions: commercial speech has always received full protection and the criteria for determining if commercial speech could be legally restricted are found in the written articles regarding expression. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper compares the influence of television (TV) on 174 primary school children's European knowledge and identities in England and Bulgaria. The study concludes that TV plays a strong role in collective identities when a topic is salient on the agenda. TV raises awareness and knowledge and sets the direction of understanding about the "imagined" European community. Yet, despite the higher salience of Europe on the Bulgarian media agenda, Bulgarians feel less European than English children. The article provides an explanation to this phenomenon, thus filling an important gap in the literature about media's impact on collective identities formation with a particular focus on imagined communities (after Benedict Anderson's powerful formulation) such as the national and the European ones. It also adopts an innovative approach in the study of agenda-setting theory by investigating its application vis-à-vis children through qualitative and quantitative methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Organizations from government departments and corporations to small businesses are increasingly adopting social media for strategic corporate and organizational communication and public relations. This is seen by many as a positive development because the openness of the Web 2.0 environment potentially democratizes voice and affords participation, dialogue and community-building. However, optimistic views of the benefits of organizational social media communication fail to adequately take account of potential conflict between the philosophy of openness that characterizes Web 2.0 and organizational strategy and management processes. Based on two international surveys from Australasia and Europe, this paper shows how social media are being deployed by organizations in a number of countries. These findings were further explored through depth interviews with a selection of social media specialists to examine how the tensions between the open, uncontrolled practices of social media and organizational strategy and management might be resolved or balanced, particularly in relation to objectives, control and governance. The findings identify future directions in strategic communication that mediate the interests of organizations and online communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents information on a paper which examines how European transnational football broadcasting flows in Sub-Saharan Africa and the cultural role of African players in Europe create a cultural proximity. It also focuses on the characteristics of television broadcasting in Africa and the migration of footballers from Africa to Europe.

Research on journalism in Europe tends to conclude that there is no such thing as "European" journalism. Yet scholarship has largely ignored peripheral manifestations of regional transborder journalism. The aim of this paper is to illuminate the ways in which broadcast journalists engaging in regional transborder collaborations approach their work. Two such cooperatively produced programs (France/Belgium and France/Germany) provide case studies. This article examines how program content reflects Europe as experienced by the periphery of each nation, and how an understanding of Europe is constructed in non-elite terms. The article investigates how the journalists involved in these programs are reaching across the silos of national journalism cultures. This investigation is based on analysis of original program content as well as interviews with the primary journalists involved in the collaborations. There are numerous hurdles to such work, but there are also fruitful connections emerging largely under the radar of journalism research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding how news stories are constructed through journalistic practices lies at the heart of much of journalism research. We contribute to this strand of research by reconstructing journalistic practices from the perspective of the journalists in order to identify typical constellations of factors that trigger coverage. The method developed for this purpose is the comparative reconstruction of the 'biographies' of news stories by interviewing the authors of articles shortly after their publication. This was done during the same two weeks covering European news in 23 elite, popular and regional newspapers in six countries (Great Britain, France, Germany, Poland, Denmark, Austria). It turns out that complex constellations of different factors trigger the process of news making. Typical components of the European trigger constellation are occurrences in the field of institutional politics, information gathered through coverage of other media and space being available in that day's paper. Cluster analysis reveals four typical biographies of news stories. Embodied in these biographies are common practices of news making that form the core of journalism as a transnational profession. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Within this paper we want to develop a balanced view on the European public sphere. For the period 1982 - 2008 we conducted a longitudinal newspaper-content analysis of the leading quality and tabloid newspapers in six European countries (Austria, Denmark, France, Germany, Poland and United Kingdom). Based on this, we can describe several processes of transnationalization; but they remain segmented, not only nationally, but also transnationally in relation to types of newspapers. Therefore, we are confronted with a multi-segmented European public sphere. To explain these complex results, we had a close transnational look at the practices of journalists producing this newspaper media coverage. Based on newsroom observations and qualitative interviews we found different moments of what we call 'political discourse cultures'. Many moments of these political discourse cultures remain national, however, we could also identify orientations that are present transnationally, but segmented in relation to newspaper types. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Various factors are at the origin of the resurgence of racist, neo-fascist and neo-nazi movements in Europe. Fast-paced social and cultural changes due to globalization of economics and communications; intensification of migration fluxes from former Soviet republics, North African countries, and the Balkans, into Western Europe; the process of European unification and expansion; the crisis of traditional systems of political representation, have nourished, since the early 1990s, the re-birth of far right movements and parties.Italy is no exception. Indeed various observers are concerned that Fascism is experiencing a spectacular growth, and that the center right People of Freedoms coalition led by Silvio Berlusconi is increasingly shifting to the right. However, although the literature on the resurgence of the far right is gaining momentum, there is still little analytical and historical information on how far right groups and movements use new media technologies to their advantage. In this paper, I look at how some representative far right groups use their websites to promote a sense of community and belonging, a system for spreading information and networking among sympathizers and militants, a structure to reinforce their already strong presence in the streets and the neighborhoods, and a way to promote an image that is militant and friendly at the same time, one according to which fascism is a benevolent, pro-social force. This research is based on an analysis of selected websites and the popular press, and on a review of existing literature. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper seeks to elucidate over time changes and cross-national variations in the status of popular art forms through a comprehensive content analysis of the coverage given to arts and culture in elite newspapers of four different countries - France, Germany, the Netherlands, and the United States - in the period 1955-2005. The authors explore how cultural hierarchy is affected by specific features of these societies and their respective journalistic and cultural production fields. The four countries show significant differences in journalistic attention to high and popular art forms. Throughout the period of study, the New York Times, and, to a slightly lesser extent, French elite newspapers generally devote more attention to popular art forms than their Dutch and German counterparts. In accounting for cross-national differences in the coverage given to popular culture, field level factors like market structure and relationship with local industries seem more important than more remote societal factors such as national cultural repertoires, the level of societal openness and social heterogeneity ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents an investigation into the educational backgrounds, working activities, remunerations and job satisfaction of European communication professionals. Based on factor analysis on a sample of 1410 European communicators, five major working functions are identified: lobbying with external constituencies, advising and reviewing policies, positioning the firm in the marketplace as well as external and internal facilitation. Conducting ANOVA we hold that some of the more technician-related working activities are predominantly exercised by female communication professionals whereas managerial activities are prevalently performed by their male counterparts. As will be shown, while the educational background does not diverge between genders, salaries as well as job satisfaction does, likewise, there are differences regarding educational background, salaries as well as job satisfaction on a European level. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses practices of online content creation, with a focus on blogging and personal homepages, among Estonian schoolchildren in the comparative context of Europe. The MEDIAPPRO survey of 11 to 18 year-old pupils, carried out in eight European countries (including Estonia) in autumn 2005, various sources from the EU Kids Online Data Repository and the data of a questionnaire survey of 11 to 18 year-old pupils, carried out in comprehensive schools in three cities of Estonia in autumn 2007 (N=713) provide the empirical basis for analysing the extent of pupils' engagement in creative online activities. The findings allow postulating that online content creation is more frequently practiced in countries with a high and even Internet usage across different socio-demographic groups. Activeness in producing content online is related to children's age, computer and Internet skills as well as mediation and support by peers. Estonia is an exceptional country in Europe due to the combination of high Internet usage and only a mediocre level of content creation by children. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The global television landscape in the first decade of the twenty-first century is a complex terrain of contradictory developments and trends. Since the early years of television the United States were the most important exporter of TV series, TV serials and game shows. But nowadays times have changed. Admittedly they are still the leading nation in selling TV fiction all over the world, but since the deregulation of the TV market in Western Europe in 1990s Great Britain and the Netherlands are the leading exporters of non-fictional formats like reality shows, Australia sells its soap operas all over the world, and Latin American countries are important exporters of telenovelas. In the beginning of the twenty-first century the Colombian telenovela Yo soy Betty, la fea made its way around the world. Several countries bought the rights to produce a local adaptation of the format. For example ABC produced Ugly Betty in the United States, the German channel Sat.1 produced Verliebt in Berlin, and there is a Russian adaptation Ne Rodis' Krasivoy. Other countries with local adaptations of this telenovelas are Belgium, Croatia, Greece, India, Israel, Mexico and Spain. This paper compares several local adaptations of the telenovela: the Columbian original and the adaptations in Germany, Russia, Spain and the USA. It looks at the stylistic and aesthetic proximities and differences of the adaptations, the different production contexts and focus on the textual and cultural conditions of the international success. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Media coverage of immigration has played an important role in the creation of national imaginary and identity. However, since immigration and asylum policies are increasingly shifting to supranational decision making in the European Union, the issue should also be analyzed from the perspective of Europeanization. What are the old and new ethnic and cultural identities and versions of community that are being constructed in news coverage of African "illegal migration" to Europe? What types of positions are offered for various social agents? This paper aims to make sense of the representations and identities that are being constructed in the Finnish news stories of African migration to Europe. The coverage of a Northernmost European newspaper of a Southernmost event offers an opportunity to analyze discourses of Europeanization and identity constructions of Europe and Africa.Previous research on news of asylum seekers and undocumented migrants stresses frame of illegality. However, a closer textual analysis shows the diversity in news journalism. Illegality is no doubt the most recurrent frame, but the migrants are also framed as victims and as heroes - particularly in reportages made in Africa where the migrants have names and social status compared to the routine news coverage where they are left as "non-persons". Divisions are made firstly between "poor Africa" and "rich Europe". Africa is presented dirty and diseased, and since Europe is imagined as the opposite, it is loaded with good qualities. However, Europe is not understood as one entity, but distinctions are made between the "organized" North and "inefficient" South. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For decades, film festivals have provided sites for creation and exchange of film knowledge through screenings, discussion and other interpersonal exchanges. This has been especially evident in the power relations of European nations and wider national industries and films of the global South. In the last twenty years, many festivals have also taken more active roles in production through arrangements of co-production and funding, again allowing European festivals to promote films from specific areas, groups or figures of the developing world. This paper draws on interviews, film analysis and festival structures to explore this important ongoing change, its functions and impact from Rotterdam, Berlin and Locarno to Pusan and Hong Kong. This analysis also allows us to understand the implications of this changing role for global power, within the world of film as well as across other global parameters. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Communication Research Trends, a quarterly publication now in its 25th year, began as the newsletter of the Centre for the Study of Communication and Culture in London. Among its original (and continuing) goals is the dissemination of communication knowledge and research summaries among developing countries and religious communication professionals. Acknowledging this 25th anniversary, the staff of Trends now seeks new ways to reach its constituent audiences and to bring more international scholars into its values-based research approaches. Recruiting Third World researchers to write for Trends would bring them into contact with others, including U.S. and European researchers, who are working in the same areas. The primary focus of Trends is an in-depth review of a body of communication literature in a single long article. This being the case, international scholars would be able to contribute to the knowledge of U.S. and European scholars. Websites, wikis, and digital publication offer new opportunities for this old publication. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As new media technologies have come into the marketplace of broadcasting, the broadcasting environment has become more tremendously competitive than ever. With the increased number of channels that digital television provides, it can be difficult for a public service broadcaster to survive amongst media systems which are commercialized in many countries around the world. Based on the case study of the Korean Broadcasting System (KBS), this study articulates the legitimacy of public service broadcasting in the new media age. The question of whether public broadcasting should be sustained and protected is at the heart of current media policy debates in Korea. With some examples of public broadcasting systems in European countries, this study examines the current status of Korean broadcasting policy for the KBS and suggests recommendations of new regulatory frames to accommodate the public broadcaster, KBS with the new digital broadcasting era. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

International research concerning ethnic minorities and the media has focused mainly on media content. One of the shortcomings in research is the lack of knowledge about media perception and the attitudes of ethnic minority audiences themselves towards the media. In Europe, in particular, little attention has been paid to media audience research within ethnic minority communities. This article examines the news consumption patterns and the news perception of ethnic minorities. We analysed the role ethnic identity can play in news consumption and perception as well. The main focus lies on the results of focus groups conducted between 2003 and 2005 with ethnic minority audiences (the Turkish and Moroccan communities) in Flanders (the Dutch speaking part of Belgium). The research findings suggest that ethnic minorities have a ‘diasporic mind’ for news consumption, which means that they are oriented towards national, as well as transnational news media. These news consumption patterns can be linked to the extent of ethnic identification. ..PAT.-Conference Proceeding [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

On the initiative of German philosopher, Jürgen Habermas, seven European Intellectuals on May 31 2003 published articles on the theme “What is Europe?” in seven European newspapers. This study focused on the political discussion caused by these articles in various European newspapers. It explored whether the seven Intellectuals were able to stir a political debate with pan-European perspectives, European political communication. To obtain the empirical material, a search via Nexus-Lexus was carried out on the Internet, and follow-up calls were made to the newspapers. Results indicated a debate that was locked in regionally, presumably by cultural differences. Instead of a political dialogue across borders there were thus several regional debates, above all within the German language media. The conclusion of the case study is that, culturally, Europe is divided into ‘cultural and historical regions’, where the three European regions suggested by Hallin and Mancini may approximate a useful division. ..PAT.-Conference Proceeding [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the production of live television formats, as they have developed in Europe the last decade. The analytical examples are taken from entertainment as well as factual television, and from public service as well as commercial contexts. In the article is argued that there has been an approximation between the textual features and generic and narrative structures of entertainment and factual live television, and a model is presented, that is suppose to account for these narrative patterns. ..PAT.-Conference Proceeding [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Through the Information Society, dislocated hypertexts that are connected through hyperlinks reintroduce virtual places, its people and its culture. Images from the nations that constitute Europe are mediated through the Internet and reach out far beyond Europe. The article considers the parallels between the illustrations of the various national portals that are created in the framework of the eEurope initiative and follows their hyper-connections, focusing on the Greek case study. For the MINERVA project, Europe’s resources are important for preserving community memory, for the creation of a cultural area common to the peoples in Europe. Are the visions of Europe representative of those they portray? How are these metonymic images chosen and do they reflect the whole from which they were drawn? The author shows how these illustrations open up specific electronic windows in order to attract the cyber-flanêur’s gaze and how other aspects of the sociality of the specific place are kept out of sight. Through direct comparison of specific examples and the analysis of some Greek thematic portals, a number of meaningful connections become evident. The photographic illustrations are analyzed in terms of four theories: 1. Levy’s notion of a meta-national culture, 2. Baudrillard’s recycling theory 3. Foucault’s theory on the societies of discourse and 4. Manuel Castell’s notion of timeless time. ..PAT.-Conference Proceeding [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article investigates the theoretical bases of empowerment, appropriation, identity and compares them with empirical analysis of the use of the Internet by groups of women in four different geographical areas: Europe, North America, Asia and Africa. A number of Web sites from these areas were selected to perform a content analysis and compare their use in reference to community service, social action promotion, women's involvement in political practices and forms of interactive communication.

This article examines the role of Europe in national online campaigns in the 2004 European Parliamentary Election. Although the European Union continuously gains political influence as one of the most ambitious projects of present transnational cooperation it still lacks the support and trust of its citizens. Citizens' political knowledge about the functions and institutions of the European Union continues to be rather small citizens' political knowledge about the functions and institutions of the European Union continues to be rather small.

This article answers the question of whether Europeanization of reporting in the national media is taking place in the European countries. The meta-analysis shows that, overall, European Union (EU) topics account for an extremely small share of reporting in the particular national media. Compared with national protagonists, the players at EU level also only feature in minor roles. It can therefore be stated that the publics of the EU states continue to exhibit a strong national orientation.

This article deals with British public debates over European integration by recourse to an original data-set on political claims-making. A media-based data on public claims-making is used and the sample covers a five-year period, from 1990 through 2002. Claims-making acts which link different levels of politics are important carriers of Europeanisation processes for national public spheres. There are five possible types of claims-making involving national actors. Each of the possible types of claims-making represents a relationship between actors that constitutes a specific form of Europeanised political communication. The French public sphere are generally more pro-European than those in the British, with the exception of horizontal claims-making by actors from foreign European Union states.

This article examines the influence of exposure to political media content on political disaffection. Studies have shown that negative media content leads to political disaffection. This has been called the media malaise hypothesis. Other studies have shown that exposure to political media content regardless of its tone leads to informed and mobilized citizens. This has been called the mobilization hypothesis. To examine, which of them holds true, the relationship between exposure to political media content and trust in national parliaments in 21 European countries taking part in the European Social Survey was analyzed.

Entertainment is a sensitive issue for European public broadcasting organizations. After all, why does public television concern itself with entertainment to begin with? Should it not be left to the commercial networks? Contrary to common opinion, the author argues that public broadcasters can better fulfill their mission ? making quality programs, supplying good information and involving people in a democratic culture ? if entertainment is a significant and visible part of public programming. This article specifically addresses the factors that complicate the full and ready acceptance of entertainment in public television: the rise of commercial television, the meaning of quality, the position of the viewer, the interpretation of ?public service? and the virtual absence of a quality discourse for TV-entertainment. Through a careful repertoire analysis of in-depth interviews with over fifty broadcasting professionals, the article also maps the various available options for turning entertainment into an inspiring and indispensable element of public programming. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Euro, the single currency in twelve countries of the European Union, started circulating as notes and coins among some 302 millions people on January 1st , 2002. The introduction of the new currency has diverse implications for the people in each of the 12 countries, both at national and Eurozone levels. Therefore, this change provides an exciting opportunity to test the agenda-setting hypothesis. Data for the study come from the major newspaper in France, the country that initiated the switch to euro, and public opinion polls conducted by Gallup Europe. A total of 298 paragraphs from 72 articles are analyzed to examine second-level agenda-setting effects on substantive and affective attributes of the euro. Findings suggest that affective attributes relating to national implications of the euro are subject to agenda-setting effects, while the ones relating to the entire Eurozone are not. Also, the French media agenda appears to be correlated with the Eurozone public agenda. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The discussion of the effects of depicting violence has a long tradition, but over the centuries, indeed the millenia, the arguments repeated themselves, always related to the given 'new medium". In this one notices a tendency always to make the past look better than it was which, drawing on a novel by Daphne du Maurier, one can call the "Rebecca myth". The historical dimension is analysed with special reference to the developments in Europe. Especially the discussion in Germany after the introduction of the silent movies is used to make evident that so called modern arguments (learning theory, escapism, habituation, suggestion etc.) have been developed in the times before World War I. E.g.; learning theory is not an invention of the twentieth century, but can be found (relating to media violence) in publications of the 17th century. The author argues, that it is important to look at media history in order not to waste time by inventing the wheel again and again (concerning the effects of depictions of violence). One border has to be overcome: we have to look back and learn from history. Because (to quote Alvin Gouldner) a science ignorant of its founders does not know how far it has travelled nor in what direction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper relies on interviews with members of the Romanian diaspora and Romanian migrant workers in London, as well as press coverage in both Romania and Britain, in order to establish the role of returning or temporary diasporas in the current debates between nationalists and Europeanists in Europe. In the current context of European integration, the public dispute between ‘traditionalists’ and ‘modernisers-Westernisers’ in Romania has gained momentum. The so-called 'strawberry pickers' are key to the way the West and Westernisation are viewed in a national context and in the way symbolic geography is imagined and communicated. ..PAT.-Conference Proceeding [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper compares the case law of the U.S. Supreme Court with that of the ECHR by examining the similarities and differences between the U.S. Constitution and the European Convention on Human Rights. It analyzes the United States and Europe on freedom of expression on the assumption that 'the American approach [to freedom of speech], as compared with that which prevails elsewhere, is largely a function of experience, and of the increasing array of cases and challenges that come from time.' The substantive case analysis of the U.S. Supreme Court on the First Amendment and of the ECHR on Article 10 is the main focus of this paper. Critical attention is paid to those key free speech areas such as prior restraint, defamation, obscenity, and commercial speech: a large body of case law in these areas has been accumulated, and a significant trend can be more easily discerned for comparison. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper critically discusses the normative criteria commonly used to assess the emergence of a "European Public Sphere" and presents the results of a comparative, long-term, multidimensional content analysis of national quality newspapers in five European countries to test these criteria (A, D, DK, F, and GB, 1982-2003). In the first part, four normative models of Europeanization are advanced and partly revised. In particular, it is argued that a European public sphere cannot do without some degree of mutual observation and exchange between countries as well as some collective identification with Europe; coverage of EU institutions and policies in the national media is not enough. In the second part content analytic data on all of these dimensions is presented. Unlike other studies, this paper identifies a complex pattern of "segmented Europeanization" due to its multidimensional design: While EU coverage does increase over the past two decades, mutual observation and exchange as well as collective identification stagnate. Proposals for future research on both the reasons and the consequences of this pattern are advanced in conclusion. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Grand Theft Auto (GTA) games are highly successful, in terms of sales, and their content is part of an explicit business strategy which aims to exploit the latest technologies and platforms to develop content aimed at adult game players in certain markets. By all accounts this has been a highly successful strategy with the GTA franchise selling more than 30 million units across platforms by 2004, even before Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (GTA SA) was launched in late 2004 (Take Two Interactive 2004). The latter was the top selling console game in the USA and in the top 10 in the UK in 2005. At the same time the GTA series are arguably the most maligned of game products in many markets attracting much negative commentary and numerous legal actions in the USA. This paper examines the structure of the games industry and the culture of modding, the global production network of GTA games and public reaction to GTA:SA in the USA, Europe and Australia. This paper concludes that despite the widespread rhetoric of globalisation and the dismantling of state sanctioned censorship systems the censorship of cultural products continues in a less overt, but nonetheless, highly political, socially negotiated and nationally contingent way. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]