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The Society for Radiological Protection (SRP) and UK Partner Societies have formed a working group to consider ICRP proposals for new recommendations, helping to formulate responses to ICRP from the International Radiation Protection Association. SRP views have been summarised under three headings: (1) Science; (2) Applications; and (3) Communications. (1) Small changes in low dose (< 100 mSv) risk estimates may not warrant detailed revisions. Proposed changes to ICRP dose quantities and ICRU operational quantities are generally welcomed. However, it is noted that the present system works well and such changes do not of themselves appear to warrant the publication of new ICRP general recommendations. (2) An important focus for the practical application of the system is the promotion of reasonableness in the optimisation of protection at low doses in different circumstances of exposure. Experience has shown that in many cases, application of the ALARA principle over-emphasises the 'as low as' without due consideration of the 'reasonably achievable' and the caveat of 'taking economic and social factors into account'. (3) ICRP recommendations are aimed principally at regulatory authorities, organisations and individuals who have responsibility for radiological protection. There is scope for improved coordination of the efforts of RP organisations in the development of the system, its dissemination to RP professionals and its communication to stakeholders affected by the application of the system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper historicizes the current challenges brought about by digitization to the Third World by revisiting a movement launched by the Non-Aligned Movement countries during the 1970s and early 1980s. Also known as the New World Information and Communication Order (NWICO), the movement contested the dominant liberal notion of freedom of information and spotlighted the critically material inequality and power asymmetry often concealed by the liberal vision of the free flow of information. Not only did NWICO present a counter-model to the liberal notion of freedom of information, it also provides a vital case for understanding the interrelations between information and domination and the role of international law therein. This paper retells the story of NWICO, its normative ambition as well as its internal contentions and practical limitations, and reflects on its legacy for TWAIL scholarship and the current politics of digitization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article argues that Southern advocacy for media sovereignty pushed the U.S. government to redouble its international efforts to define liberal democracy as inextricable from privately-owned media. Topics discussed include reason the U.S. announced its intention to leave the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in December 1983, contradictory U.S. stance on press freedom exposed by Southern advocacy for information sovereignty, and U.S. proxy organizations that campaigned against the New International Information Order (NIIO).

Airspace today is densely penetrated by Wi-Fi networks, GPS services, and broadcasting and mobile phone signals. This process, what we call the mediatization of the air, is not so new, as it began in the first two decades of the 20th century, with the advent of wireless telegraphy. Based on archival research, this paper shows that wireless telegraphy mediatized the air and made it a matter of common interest for formerly-disconnected international realms. The mediatized air transformed meteorology, timekeeping, mobility, and transportation, and challenged governance over aerial borders. Overall, this historical study contributes to a different narrative about mediatization by including an invisible and understudied phenomenon that today represents a basic and taken-forgranted infrastructure for global communication. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The development of media literacy education in modern Russia, having been for a quarter of a century at the stage of the enthusiasts' experiment, is facing a number of problems. In accordance with UNESCO recommendations, it is necessary: to develop comprehensive programs for media education at all educational levels; training teachers in the field of media education and increasing awareness of media literacy of all stakeholders and organizations in the social sphere; conducting research in the field of media education and the wide dissemination of their results; international cooperation in the field of media education; and most importantly - the wide practical implementation of media education of the population at various levels. In this direction, it is necessary to consolidate pedagogical universities, universities, schools of journalism, libraries, media centers, and media community; coordination of interaction of state structures, already existing media education centers and experimental sites in this field. In a word, it is necessary to introduce media education wherever possible within the curricula (schools, universities), as well as in the context of additional, informal education and self life-long education. The model of mass media education we have developed, in our opinion, can be adapted to different age and professional groups of the population, but preferably requires, of course, substantial support from the state, media and public structures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The role of information and communication in establishing and defining world order formed the basis of a comprehensive call for the New World Information and Communication Order. Many strategic and regional blocs of nations and economic forums have been formed over time. BRICS has made a relatively new attempt in the coming together of several politically, economically and culturally diverse countries. Their summits reflect their intention to work together. By positioning the media system, this brief article looks at the patterns of evolution since New World Information and Communication Order and the comparable aspects of media in these countries. China and India, apart from their membership in BRICS also have historical ties, issues and concerns. Connectivity, as intended in the Belt and Road Initiative, is in a bilateral sense a matter of diplomacy and negotiation. An attempt has been made to contextualise this issue as well. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This special section of China Media Research explores the trend towards visual online communication with a special focus on BRICS Countries. Online imagery nowadays plays a central role in the net environment and everyday life not only in Western countries. Among other aspects it creates a sense of belonging, relates to identity formation, expresses political vies and in extreme cases ideologies which is displayed in four single study articles in this special section. The final article concludes with trans-disciplinary views on De-Westernization and the future of visual online communication. The special section brings this timely and still rather novel topic to the forefront and questions the idea of the hegemony of Western-centered visual communication. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although armed conflicts are an intensively researched domain in communication science, not much is known about the factors influencing their visibility in the news media. Based on research on the international flow of news, we identify traits of conflicts and the nations involved that potentially determine visibility. In our study, we combine data on 119 armed conflicts between 1992 and 2013 and an analysis of German newspaper coverage. We can show that several event- and context-oriented factors exert an influence on how much attention the media devote to a conflict. Conflict visibility was determined by the geographical distance between the reporting country and the conflict, the involvement of nuclear weapons, a military involvement of the reporting country, political sanctions imposed by supranational organizations, and (to a lesser extent) the number of fatalities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The description of the Ukraine crisis as an ‘information war’ in recently published studies seems to suggest a belief that the Russian government’s propaganda in the crisis contributed to Russia’s swift annexation of Crimea. However, studies focusing on Russia’s state-controlled media fail to explain how Russian’s narrative spread beyond the ‘Slavic world’. This study, based on quantitative and qualitative analyses of news coverage by ITAR-TASS, Reuters, the Associated Press, and Agence France-Presse over two years, reveals that Russian’s narratives were internationally circulated in news stories published by a western news agency. Although this by no means suggests that the western news agency was complicit in Russia’s propaganda effort, these news stories were published on the most popular online news sites, such as Yahoo News and Huffington Post. These findings highlight the vulnerability of today’s global news gathering and distribution systems, and the rapid changes in relationships between states and corporations in the media and communications industry. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The image of a nation is crucial in the conduct of international relations. As a rising power, China is increasingly concerned about its image, due to which it is increasingly investing into its public diplomacy. Public diplomacy, broadly understood as a country's engagement and communication with foreign publics, has become one important part of China's overall diplomacy in recent years. This article introduces the Chinese debates on public diplomacy. In doing so, it helps to better understand how China sees itself in the world (mainly misunderstood), how China perceives the international environment (potentially hostile), and how China wants to be seen by the outside world (as a friendly, peaceful, and reliable partner). Furthermore, this article demonstrates that in China, public diplomacy is understood more as an instrument to fulfill strategic and functional purposes and less as an instrument of mutuality. Although the non-Chinese discourse focuses on mutuality, exchange, and reciprocal communication, China is more concerned with getting its message out and convincing the world of its benign intentions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies how the entry of an imperfectly informed foreign media outlet removes the government's role as the sole provider of information, altering its reporting to maximize citizen support. We find that while foreign media entry typically lowers local media bias, it can also exacerbate bias in countries with an incompetent government. The resulting deterioration in local media quality can outweigh the additional information from a foreign media of moderate quality, leaving citizens worse off. When analyzing a government's decision to suppress foreign media, we find that suppression is most heavily used in countries with a moderately competent government. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The last two decennia of the 20th century bear the mark of two phenomena situated, as some specialists explain, at the basis of the globalization and economic integration process (Moldoveanu M. (coord.), Liuşnea D., Munteanu C., Bonciu Fl., 2004, p. 6). On the one hand, the first phenomenon is the explosive progress of the transport and tele-communications infrastructure, and, on the other hand, the second is the diminution or removal of the national barriers from the way of the international flows of merchandise, services, technology and capital. Indisputably, the economic globalization process brings at the heart of the theorists' and practitioners' debates a new concept, related to the issue of the economic development level in the present context of the interplay between economic, social and institutional phenomena, which can exert strong influences on the way the resources of a national economy are allotted, at present and in the future. This concept is the sustainable development concept, emerged from the concern of the scientific society for rethinking and reformulating the economic development concept, having as basis the relation between the human activities and the natural environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Develops a rhetorical field theory that conceptualises the relationship between background ideas and foreground communication • Distinguishes between two layers of background ideas (nomos and topoi) that underpin communicative encounters in a field • Conceptualises communicative opportunities and moves through which actors change the nomos of a field • Illustrates the added value of a rhetorical field theory by inquiring into nomic change in the nuclear-weapons field A burgeoning literature in International Relations draws on Bourdieu's theory of social fields to address the question of how actors make and unmake order in world politics. Inquiring into deeply seated background ideas constituting order, this literature often neglects how communication reproduces and (de)contests background ideas. Our article seeks to remedy this shortcoming by outlining a rhetorical field theory. This theory puts background ideas and foreground communication on an equal footing and conceptualises their relationship in detail. We distinguish between two layers of background ideas (nomos and topoi) and address the crucial question of how nomic change becomes possible. We introduce a typology of nomic change (destabilisation, adaption, disorientation, shift) and conceptualise the interplay of rhetorical opportunities and rhetorical moves that bring about particular types of nomic change. We probe this theoretical framework by analysing the recent nomic change in the nuclear-weapons field. This empirical analysis provides evidence for our theoretical framework. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Why are some countries mentioned very frequently in international news while others are not? Seeking to improve previous explanations in the literature, this study employs a large corpus of news sites in 11 countries and 10 languages over a 3-year period. A systematic computer-driven analysis revealed a similar pattern common to international news in all countries. The best explanation for the prominence of a foreign country in the news included variables from three groups (national traits, relatedness, and events), each representing different spheres (economic, social, and political), respectively. The conceptual contribution and empirical implications for future studies are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rise of Al Jazeera has left an indelible mark on Middle East politics, invigorated the region's media landscape, and introduced new dynamics in global media flows and international communication. The recent unsettling developments in the Middle East, however, have altered the media dynamics on which Al Jazeera thrived all along. Taking heed of the ongoing transformation of the Arab media landscape and the geopolitical reconfigurations of the region in the aftermath of the Arab uprisings, this article explores growing tensions and conflictual pulls that are redefining the network and compelling it to change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Breaking with perspectives that merely criminalize audiovisual piracy, this article describes this phenomenon as one of the key elements of an informal economy of communication that shapes unofficial transnational flows. We analyze to what extent the networks of this informal economy have concurred in the changing geographies of global audiovisual flows. We first study under what conditions piracy has fueled the rise of new contraflows of non-Western cultural products and then discuss whether these have given form to counterhegemonic flows, that is, flows that carry content running counter to the dominant meanings of American programs. At the same time, we explore the ways in which piracy has contributed to an increased global presence of U.S. cultural products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Empirical researchers of civil war rarely collect data on violence themselves and instead rely on other sources of information. One frequently used source is media reports, which serve as the basis for many ongoing data projects in the discipline. However, news reports rarely cover a conflict comprehensively and objectively and may therefore be prone to various reporting issues. This article provides an analysis of the accuracy of information given in news reports. In particular, if focuses on two types of “hard facts” that event data sets require: the location of an event and its severity. By linking media reports to firsthand accounts from a military database, the article does two things: (1) it analyzes the determinants of inaccuracy and confirms the expectation that events with a low number of observers tend to have higher reporting inaccuracies and (2) it assesses the magnitude of these inaccuracies and the implications for conducting empirical analyses with media-based event data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Idealized independent media function as “watchdogs.” Indeed, human rights nongovernmental organizations have argued that media freedom will improve human rights. This makes sense intuitively, yet recent formal and empirical studies show that the effect of independent media varies across regime types. We explore the relationship among media, government, and citizen protest movements and employ a game-theoretic model to investigate how the equilibria vary depending on regime type and media independence. In terms of equilibrium, we find that media watchdogging is most active in autocracies (and not in democracies), especially when the government’s perceived capability to repress public protest is declining. Uncertainty about the government’s ability to repress plays a central role in accounting for the manifestation of media watchdogging in conjunction with public protest. Illustrations from Tunisia and North Korea are provided to highlight equilibria derived from the formal model that vary as a product of perceptions about the government’s ability to repress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reviews the development of Chinese media in Africa since the launch of the going global campaign of China in 2009 to the re-orientation of its charm offensive to charm defensive approach. It looks into the influence of Chinese media organization Xinhua, as well "China Daily" newspaper and China Radio International in the African media market. Avenues for increased interaction and engagement between Chinese media outlets and local communities in Africa are highlighted.

After years of politically imposed isolation, full diplomatic relations between China and South Africa was formalised in January 1998. In the following years the extended contact between China and South Africa was included in the realization of forming the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) group incentive. Grouping together countries that were previously political adversaries often highlights the lack of cultural acceptance and absence of philosophical understanding between nations. It follows that the BRICS relations are reviving common interest in intercultural and international communication systems, processes and communication technologies. With the focus largely on communication capabilities and activities facilitated by new technologies - such as the internet - the area of collaboration in science communication is less pronounced. The intent of science communication is serving a somewhat different requirement than that of journalism but both are necessary in establishing and maintaining global relations. Also; the influence of philosophy and ideology on the theoretical framework of science communication is becoming more prominent; especially within the current 'science and society' paradigm that is central to science communication theory. Africa is lagging behind on all fronts. In this paper a closer look is taken at the complexities that characterised the South African political past that might still have an impact on today's application of science communication and journalism in support of newly forged global relations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper critically reviews cultural similarities and differences between European Americans and Asians or Asian Americans found in contemporary supportive communication research. In addition to research primarily examining and reporting cultural differences of social support between European Americans and Asians or Asian Americans, recent research in culture and social support has been focusing on examining both cultural similarities and differences. Broad similarities across cultures have been found regarding evaluations of support provision goals, messages, behaviors, ratings of support provision beliefs, attitudes, and intentions, likelihood of seeking support and so forth. These findings therefore provide us an alternative lens to examine supportive communication across cultures: rather than highlighting cultural differences, we instead want to attend to both cultural similarities and differences. Theoretically, this transition allows us to have a comprehensive understanding about support processes across cultures. Practically, this change of focus provides bridging opportunities and helps enhance understanding between European Americans and Asians or Asian Americans during supportive interactions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Media operations have gained significant importance for success in the information age. Its provide the ability to monitor and facilitate understanding by the public, explaining the operational situation in a particular context occurrence and communicate perspective army clearly and without any filters. Media operations allow decision makers to consider how international audiences, but also perceive internal conflict and even to influence the manner in which the discussion about a particular operation is possible within the limits of legality and morality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

International media assistance programs accompanied the democratic media transition in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Macedonia and Serbia with varying intensity. These countries untertook a range of media reforms to conform with accession requirements of the European Union (EU) and the standards of the Council of Europe, among others. This article explores the nexus between the democratic transformation of the media and international media assistance (IMA) as constrained by the local political conditions in the five countries of the Western Balkans. It aims to enhance the understanding of conditions and factors that influence media institution building in the region and evaluates the role of international assistance programs and conditionality mechanisms herein. The cross-national analysis concludes that the effects of IMA are highly constrained by the local context. A decade of IMA of varying intensity is not sufficient to construct media institutions when, in order to function properly, they have to outperform their local context. From today's vantage point it becomes obvious, that in the short-term scaling-up IMA does not necessarily improve outcomes. The experiences in the region suggest that imported solutions have not been sufficiently cognitive of all aspects of local conditions and international strategies have tended to be rather schematic and have lacked strategic approaches to promote media policy stability, credible media reform and implementation. To a certain extent, the loss of IMA effectiveness is also self-inflicted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While the use of monitoring and evaluation (M&E) by media development implementers is well documented, organizations' coping strategies to adapt to new environments in media and development still remain a relatively unexplored area. The article aims at showing how the theoretical lessons learnt by the industry have been put into practice and how a successful change can be driven within an organization using outside experts. A results-oriented culture of performance and service has been enforced since the 1990s in the EU. Evaluation systems have been a powerful catalyst in driving the transition from media support to media development and in making the latter more independent from broadcasters and donors. In recent years, changes in media assistance procedures and aims have profoundly modified the traditional landscape. This article will not question these changes, their origin and motivations. It will focus on implementers' coping strategies to adapt (or not) to these new procedures and aims and how results-oriented evaluations can drive the shift from outputs to outcomes in a changing media development sector. Can capitalizing on experience be considered a learning process that prepares for change and improves the design and implementation of projects? To what extent can it help to empower the operator as an organization? Referring to various concrete case studies from British, French and German media assistance, the article will focus on virtuous change - the circumstances that encourage structures, as well as donors who fund them, to better define and operationalize their strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article examines the significance of the concept of strategic communication (SC) in international relations. It discusses the development of strategic communication and information technology, particularly in the early 21st century, SC's role in national economic, diplomatic, and military strategies, and SC as a management discipline. The article also examines the role of new media, electronic media, and social networks in communication, and potential difficulties created by SC.

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As a consequence of the global financial crisis, many observers expected that the European Union would initiate and spur the reform of global finance. However, it turned out that the European endeavours have only been modest and unassertive so far. This contribution aims to explore this development. It argues that there are various causes of the European defeat, but that it is possible to identify some structural factors which enabled powerful political actors to defend a liberally organized financial market environment: externally, international communication and bargaining processes have been and still are structurally biased towards a liberal global financial order owing to the strong role of global financial centres and the dynamics of competitive deregulation; and internally, the emergence of a new European economy, based on financial market integration and manifold processes of financialization, has brought about fundamental changes of European capitalism as well as of societal and intergovernmental power relations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the extra- and cross-national journalistic partnership that emerged in 2010 when WikiLeaks, an organization of hackers, formed relationships with newspapers in Europe and the United States to release secret information to the world. It asks: How did news organizations partner with each other and with WikiLeaks? What stories did these newspapers construct out of the diplomatic cables, and what do these stories suggest about the impact of the cross- and extra-national partnership on the national outlook? The study finds that it will take a lot more than cross-national partnerships to erode the nation as journalism's unit of analysis, and argues that the nation as a unit of judgment organizes new journalistic practices in a way that allows it to defend the nation. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article contributes to the fledgling literature in the China-Africa communications field by approaching the topic from the perspective of an event - the fifth conference of the Forum on China Africa Cooperation (FOCAC V). It proposes that by analysing FOCAC V specifically, and the FOCAC phenomenon generally, new and interesting insights might be gained into the interests of the various players - namely, Chinese officials, African officials and the African media. It also contributes new perspectives in leveraging the framing of a communication theory as a means of drilling down to the motivations, tensions, confluences and divergences inherent in the China-Africa relations - a transnational engagement that continues to draw animated discussions and debate in and out of academia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]