WilliamHartPhD's Notes: global communication

Showing posts with label global communication. Show all posts

Thursday, April 27, 2017

GlobalMedia: Sam Keen, 9/11, War and Metaphor - Part 2/2 (W16-P2) [VID] Sp17

So, dehumanization of the enemy was done in the past all over the world. Does it still happen in the 21st century? That's the question that my co-author and I asked in our study of editorial cartoons of bin Laden and the Taliban after the events of 9/11.

Hart, W. B. & Hassencahl, F. (2002). Dehumanizing the enemy in editorial cartoons. In B. Greenberg (Ed.). Communication and Terrorism: Public and Media Responses to 9/11 (pp. 137-155). Cresskill, NJ: Hampton Press.

In short, our study found that people (U.S. leaders and editorial cartoonist, in this case) continued to use the dehumanizing visual metaphors identified by Keen -- enemy-as-animal, enemy-as-barbarian, enemy-as-criminal, etc.

We closed our book chapter with the following important note.

Does this process of dehumanization continue today? Let's check the news.

"The 'right' to dehumanize and humiliate [Turkey's]Erdoğan"? (2016)

"Do Not Dehumanize Muslims and Liken Them to Dangerous Animals" (2016)

‘Blame Russia’ media blitz aims to dehumanize and demonize - RT (2017)

From EuroNews April 5, 2013

If you are interested, see "Anonymous Can't Stop North Korea, but They Can Turn Kim Jong-un into a Pig" (The Atlantic Wire).

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GlobalMedia: Sam Keen, 9/11, War and Metaphor - Part 1/2 (W16-P1) [VID] Sp17

Why is it that during times of war people see the enemy of as animals, as monsters, as barbarians, as devil or death? Put differently, why do people dehumanize the enemy? What purpose does it serve?

Social psychologist Sam Keen offers some answers in his book and a doc based on the book. Here's the beginning of the doc. I'd encourage you to see the rest.

How do we dehumanize? Why do we dehumanize? Why do we make the enemy less than human?

According to Keen, there are a dozen or so common ways that the enemy is seen.

Enemy-as-Animal,
Enemy-as-Barbarian,
Enemy-as-Death,
Enemy-as-Enemy-of-God,
Enemy-as-Criminal,
Enemy-as-All-the-Same
etc.

Keen argues that the enemy is dehumanized because it justifies the killing of the enemy. If the enemy is not a civilized human like us, then, according to Keen, the guilt associated with killing then enemy is greatly lessened and killing is easier.

Faces of the Enemy: Reflections of the Hostile Imagination : The Psychology of Enmity by Sam Keen

During World War II the Nazis dehumanized Jewish people. Notice the dehumanization of Jewish people in the Nazi propaganda film called the "Eternal Jews". Watch at least the first five minutes of the film. What was the purpose of this dehumanization of Jewish people?

Just in a 5 minute clip from about 13:45 to 18:37, what dehumanizing metaphors are used?

If you are interested, for more a detailed study of the dehumanizing metaphors used in The Eternal Jew, see:

Hassencahl F. & Hart, W. B. (March, 2013). A fantasy-theme analysis of Der Ewige Jude (The Eternal Jew): From WWII Nazi propaganda to YouTube today. A paper presented at the national Popular Culture Association convention, Washington, DC.

Note: See in relationship between dehumanizing an enemy in war time and racism?

Spot any dehumanization in the following U.S. training film from World War II?

The following is a 1945 World War II propaganda film released by the U.S. War Department entitled "Know Your Enemy: Japan" Who watched this film? What was the purpose of the film?

Even Dr. Seuss took part in the propaganda effort. See the presentation "Dr. Seuss Goes to War:The World War II Editorial Cartons of Theodor Seuss Geisel" (see specifically 35:00-44:00).

Dr. Seuss Goes to War: The World War II Editorial Cartoons of Theodor Seuss Geisel

Other examples from WWII, Cold War, etc.:

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Thursday, April 20, 2017

GlobalMedia: Globalization: Is the World Flat? (W15-P3) [VID] Sp17

In 2005, Thomas Friedman, a noted American journalist, wrote a book titled The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century. There is a more recent edition The World Is Flat 3.0: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century

The book has had some influence.

What does Friedman mean when he says the world is flat?

What are the 3 eras of globalization according to Friedman?

How does this connect with our earlier coverage of globalization?

Is Friedman right?
Pankaj Ghemawat: Actually, the world isn't flat.

Key terms: globalization, social media, anti-globalization movement,

What is globaloney? How is Ghemawat using the term?
In the past this term referred to an unrealistic foreign policy or global outlook. That fits Ghemawat's usage, but Ghemawat is more specific. How? See 'globaloney' definitions below.

(Definition from The Oxford Dictionary of American Political Slang )

How does this connect with our earlier coverage of globalization?

If Ghemawat included data on film and television, what do you think he'd say?

If you are curious:
(1) "Why the World Isn't Flat" (in Foreign Policy) by Pankaj Ghemawat
(2) World 3.0: Global Prosperity and How to Achieve It by Ghemawat

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GlobalMedia: Social Media Important to Arab Spring Revolution? (W15-P2) [VID] Sp17

Other than helping individuals to communicate, what grander social role does the Internet play?

For example, the Internet can be used to speak to power and cause social change. In the quote below McPhail notes the role blogs played in challenging power in 2002.

Quote originally taken from 2nd edition of Global Communication.

So, in the United States the Internet can be used to speak to power, but what about in other countries. For the Internet to play a strong role, there would need to be a substantial amount of Internet users in a country. What sort of growth is there for Internet use around the world? According to McPhail (2nd edition),

Quote originally taken from 2nd edition of Global Communication.

The 3rd edition of McPhail has some interesting, updated numbers. What changes do you note?

China, 298 million
U.S. 227 million
Japan, 94 million
India, 81 million
Brazil, 68 million.

Global Communication: Theories, Stakeholders, and Trends
(For slightly more updated Internet use stats see this site, if you're curious.)

So, Internet use is certainly on the rise around the world, more so in some countries than in others.

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On the world stage, the Internet, specifically social media, has been credited with building revolutions in countries and bringing down dictators.

Take for example, protests in the former-Soviet republic of Moldova in 2009. It was called "Moldova’s Twitter Revolution."

More recently though, when one thinks of social media and revolution, one thinks of the Arab Spring. The Arab Spring is "a revolutionary wave of demonstrations and protests occurring in the Arab world that began on Saturday, 18 December 2010."

A Map of Arab Spring Countries

(Image used under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0, image created by Kwamikagami)

Countries highlighted in black are countries in which the government was overthrown. From left to right the countries are Tunisia, Libya, Egypt and Yemen. Countries highlighted in other colors are countries in which some protesting occurred.

For a sense of the role social media played in Tunisia, see the following news clip.

What exactly did social media do Tunisia? What was the role of social media?

Let's move from a specific example to a broader discussion about the role of social media has played in the Arab Spring. Some say that social media is insignificant and others say social media play a few important roles in revolution. What are both sides of the argument and what are the arguments on both sides. Why, for example, would some say "no, social media doesn't play a role"? To help answer these questions see the Zuckerman video below.

See specifically the presentation from 4:45 to 8:45 and the remainder if interested.

Note: Zuckerman is co-founded international blogging community Global Voices. Check it out of you are interested.

If you're curious and want to learn more about social media and revolution, check out
Revolution 2.0: The Power of the People Is Greater Than the People in Power: A Memoir

GlobalMedia: Internet Basics (W15-P1) [VID] Sp17

Some basics:

What is the Internet?

Think of the Internet as the hardware and the World Wide Web as the software that runs on the Internet. The Web is not the hardware. It is collection of interconnected web pages that exist on the Internet.

Now, how did the Internet evolve as a medium of communication from email in the late '60 and early '70s to the web-based communication tools that we have today?

Update to Zuckerman video:

If we can think of the 1990s as the decade of the World Wide Web (web pages, blogs, etc.), we can think of 2000-2010 as the decade of social media. The decade got off to a slow start, but by...

2004: Facebook founded.
2005: YouTube founded. Note the strong social/sharing aspect of YT.
2006: Twitter founded.
etc.

Thursday, April 6, 2017

GlobalMedia: International Public Relations: Case Study of U.S. Military Image in Afghanistan (W13-P4) [VID] Sp17

A case study is a method of teaching in which students are presented with a problematic scenario or case. A case is an example or illustration of a problem or challenge.

Case studies are some times used in law classes and some times in public relations classes, for example.

After an international case is presented there is a common method used in PR courses.

Define/describe the PR problem.
Give ways for addressing or solving this problem.
List resources needed for implementing solution(s).
Give a timetable for implementation.
State expected impact of solution.
How did you use intercultural skills?

Intercultural skills to keep in mind when working through the international P.R. case

Be mindful

Be thoughtful, aware of differences

Be patience

It may be difficult at first

Be open-minded

Consider other ways of doing things, other views

Be tolerance of ambiguity

Things may not make sense. Be comfortable with uncertainty

Now, let's do a case or three.
Check out the following news videos about three back-to-back incidents between the U.S. military and the people of Afghanistan in early 2012. As you are watching these, starting thinking about the above info. What would you do to build a better relationship between the U.S. military and the people of Afghanistan?

Pentagon denounces Marine urination video (CBS Evening News - Jan. 2012)

Quran Burning Sparks Angry Afghan Protest (Associated Press - Feb. 2012)

Afghan Massacre: Video From Shooting Scene (ABC Evening News - Mar. 2012)

What would you do to build a better relationship between the U.S. military and the people of Afghanistan?

Also, now go through the method given above (i.e., 1. Define/describe the P.R. problem, etc.). Also don't forget to think about how you'd use your intercultural skills in doing this P.R. work.

GlobalMedia: Doing Some P.R. Work for the U.S. State Department (W13-P3) Sp17

Let's pretend that we are doing some public relations/advertising work for the U.S. State Department. They want us to (1) promote a good image of the U.S. abroad and (2) promote tourism to the U.S.

What could we do? How would we do that?

Where would we do that? Let's say we focus on places where people first have contact with the U.S., in airports and in U.S embassies abroad.

As for the what, how about we put together a short video to be shown in the airports and embassies.

Think very carefully about what you would be in that video and why.

No, no. Don't read on. Seriously, think about what you'd put in the video and why.

O.K., now read on.
---

This above scenario actually played out few years back. It actually happened. Let's see how your ideas match up with those actually carried out. Let's look at a series of videos.

A CNN News Report

The Actual Video Shown in Airports and Embassies
(See at least the first minute and the last minute to get a good feel for the video.)

The Making of the Portraits of America Video

Do you think this "Portraits of America" video was effective, based upon what you've see above?

Would you have done anything differently?

GlobalMedia: International Advertising & Public Relations: Campaigns & Culture (W13-P2) Sp17

A campaign is “an operation or series of operations energetically pursued to accomplish a purpose: an advertising campaign for a new product; a candidate's political campaign” (American Heritage Dictionary)

An advertising campaign for a certain new product could contain a "series of operations" like

putting out press releases to the news media,
putting ads in newspapers and
posting a viral video on YouTube about the new product.

The purpose of all these "operations" is to encourage purchase of the product.

Now, what about going global?

According to McPhail,
"There are three strategic models for planning global campaigns: standardized, adaptive, and country-specific. In the standardized model, strategy is formed at the global headquarters and implemented in all operating areas [same or very similar in all countries]. In the adaptive model, a basic strategy [given from head-quarters] is adapted appropriately for each country where it will be implemented. In a country-specific model, the strategic planning is shaped to fit one country [,more grass-roots]" (Global Communication: Theories, Stakeholders, and Trends)

Let's say we are doing advertising for the multinational corporation, McDonald's. As part of the campaign that we are managing, they want 30 second TV ads for their new salads. They want to sell salads (or localized versions of salads) around the world in many different countries. Using each of the above models, how would this be done? See any benefits or drawbacks to each approach? What about in terms of costs and effectiveness?

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GlobalMedia: International Advertising & PR (W13-P1) Sp17

Advertising and public relations are playing an increasing role in international communication. They've certainly gone global.

Let's start with some basic dictionary definitions.

Advertising: “The activity of attracting public attention to a product or business, as by paid announcements in the print, broadcast, or electronic media” (The American Heritage Dictionary).

Public Relations (P.R.): “The methods and activities employed to establish and promote a favorable relationship with the public” (The American Heritage Dictionary).

The basic dictionary definitions need a little modifying.

Add to the advertising definition, the key purpose of advertising: to persuade people to purchase. "Attraction public attention" is a good first step, but not the ultimate goal.
Add to the P.R. definition, the idea of establishing, promoting and maintaining a relationship. Secondly, add an "s" to the end of public. What are the key publics that a company needs to have a good relationship with? Externally: the government/law makers, other companies, customers, the media, etc. Internally: investors, employees, etc.

If you are curious, checkout some more online definitions of advertising and public relations.

With some basics out of the way, let's go global with advertising and P.R.

In his book, Global Communication: Theories, Stakeholders, and Trends, Thomas McPhail offers three key reasons why there has been a growth in international advertising and P.R. Why has advertising and public relations gone global?

"1. Corporations themselves are going increasingly global and taking their advertising agencies with them. This includes communication corporations as well as other sectors such as transportation, food, beverages, natural resources, credit cards, etc.
2. As multimedia outlets -- from privatized radio and television networks in Europe to new media and print outlets in Latin America -- expand, they require successful advertising campaigns in order to generate the revenues and attract new customers necessary to succeed as viable commercial enterprises.
3. The growth of satellite-delivered broadcasting channels, along with a rapid expansion of cable systems and networks, have in turn generated demand for increased use of advertising agencies in order to develop a sufficient customer base for either the new services themselves, or the problems they advertise."

Note that the first reason focuses on general companies, the second reason focuses on media companies that provide content and the third reason focuses on the media hardware companies.

In their book, Global Journalism: Topical Issues and Media Systems (4th Edition), de Beer and Merrill offer their own explanation for the expansion of international advertising and public relations.

Why the expansion?

Financial businesses, etc.

Economically connected
In short, business is global

Issues management & crisis management

Crises spread quickly on the ‘Net nowadays.
Some crises, like environmental and financial crises, easily cross borders.
In short, many issues/crises are global

In short, P.R. and advertising have to go global.

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Friday, March 24, 2017

GlobalMedia: International Journalism: Being a Journalist in a Foreign Place (W12-P3) Sp17

Imagine being a journalist in a far off land.

Wouldn't be easy, would it?

First, you may, depending on where you are and what you are covering, be physically harmed or killed. See Anderson Cooper clip below, for just one example.

And, if you are curious, check out some recent news about about foreign journalists being hurt or killed in the past year month.

It is also not easy being a foreign journalist because you may misread/misunderstand what you are covering in that foreign land. It is a challenge.

P. Eric Louw, in his chapter "Journalist Reporting from Foreign Places" in Global Journalism: Topical Issues and Media Systems (4th Edition), writes about the challenges of being a foreign journalist.

Thesis of chapter:

“Journalist coverage of foreign places increasingly influences the governance of those places.” (e.g., CNN effect.)
“The emergence of international governance based on foreign news-driven mediated realities has inherent dangers."

“Double Misreadings”?

“Relying on the news media to understand distant places inherently produces a double misreading because…”

Journalist can misread the news event and
We (the audience) can misread what the journalist is saying.

“journalists generally are not equipped to read distant contexts, and neither are their audiences."

Journalist misread for several reasons.

“First, journalists arriving in a new context are foreigners [who don’t know the history, the religions, etc.]
“Misreadings also occur because journalists carry their cultural biases with them when reporting in a foreign context.”

e.g. American values/ways of doing things being seen as normal. Seeing foreign ways as “incomprehensible” or “despicable”.

“…the journalistic practice of deploying simplistic labels.”

Taking a complex, sometimes chaotic situation/place and putting into 20 words or less and putting it in a way that U.S. audience will relate to. “ethnic cleansing” label “white supremacy” label used in coverage of S.A.

“…journalists routinely use binary oppositions when describing foreign contexts” Related to #3

Common characters in a news story: “good guys” vs. “bad guys” Other characters? Common plot? Again, oversimplification.

“…when sent to report on foreign contexts, journalists tend to (subconsciously) select contacts with whom they feel comfortable working…”
“…foreign issues are read in terms of ‘home’ understandings and agendas.”

e.g., S.A. anti-apartheid struggle = U.S. civil rights struggle. Similar to # 3

What if we took these ways of misreading and applied them to Andersen Cooper's work?
Any misreading in his reporting?

Video comes from the DVD which accompanies Cooper's book Dispatches from the Edge: A Memoir of War, Disasters, and Survival,

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GlobalMedia: International Journalism: The CNN Effect & the Social Media Effect [VID] (W12-P2) Sp17

In his book, Global Communication: Theories, Stakeholders, and Trends, Thomas McPhail defines the CNN effect as "the process by which the coverage of a foreign event by CNN causes that event to be a primary concern for its audience, which in turn forces the federal government to act." One could add to the U.S. government, then as part of its foreign policy, may influence foreign governments/peoples through direct action (e.g., war) or through sanctions. See video clip below.

Does CNN still have this influence on foreign policy? Any other news networks, U.S. or otherwise, have this influence? Any other form of media now has this influence? Think: Arab Spring (see first 2 minutes). Think: Kony2012 (see short clip). What role does social media play in shaping foreign policy? How's that process work?

The "social media effect" is defined here as the process by which the coverage of an event on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube etc. causes that event to be a primary concern for its audiences around the world, which in turn forces foreign governments to act, thus further influencing the event.

See clip below for more the idea of social media effect.

GlobalMedia: International Journalism: North Korea & Theories of the Press (W12-P1) Sp17

North Korea: An Example

What type of press system does North Korea have? See What is the North Korean media like?

What are the different types of press systems around the world?

In the late 1950s Siebert, Peterson and Schramm (aka Uncle Wilbur) identified four types of press systems that existed in countries up until the 1950s.

They published their findings in their book titled Four Theories of the Press: The Authoritarian, Libertarian, Social Responsibility and Soviet Communist Concepts of What the Press Should Be and Do (Illini Books)

In the book they highlight the relationship between the form of government that a nation has and the press that operates within it.

The four theories:

Authoritarian

Purpose of the Press: To serve and promote the government/rulers
Ownership of Press: private or public
Notes/Examples: England/Western European countries 19th century and before; Afghanistan under the Taliban

Soviet-Communist

Purpose of the Press: To serve and promote the government or the Communist party
Ownership of Press: public
Notes/Examples: Soviet Union and other communist countries

Libertarian

Purpose of the Press: To inform (i.e., present the facts) and monitor the government
Ownership of Press: Mostly private
Notes/Examples: England

Social Responsibility

Purpose: To monitor the government. While another purpose is to inform (i.e., present the facts to) the citizens, this press system goes beyond just presenting the facts to promoting understanding and discussion/debate related to those facts.
Ownership of Press: Private
Notes/Examples: U.S., Canada

What would it be like being a journalism student or a journalist working in these different press systems?

Do you think that these four theories still adequately describe the types of press systems that operate in the countries of today? Does, for example, the introduction of social media, require modifications to the four theories?

The work of Siebert, Peterson and Schramm has received criticism and updating. If you are interested, see for example the following books.

Last Rights: Revisting Four Theories of the Press (History of Communication)

Normative Theories of the Media: Journalism in Democratic Societies (History of Communication)

Thursday, March 23, 2017

GlobalMedia: Development Communication (cont'd): Entertainment Education (W11-P1) Sp17

The idea of presenting a development message within a fictional program is the type of development communication that is called entertainment education. The World Bank is a multinational organization that uses entertainment education in their work. See the video below for examples and background information.

Below is another example of entertainment education. Tim Reid, noted Norfolk State University alumnus and actor/director/producer, and NSU students (Maryna Kariuk and Shimira Cole) were involved in the making of "Hear My Son". How exactly is this an example of entertainment education?

Hear My Son from Legacy Media Institute on Vimeo.

Interested in learning more about entertainment education, I'd recommend starting with a book edited by Arvind Singhal, Michael J. Cody, Everett M. Rogers and Miguel Sabido called
Entertainment-Education and Social Change: History, Research, and Practice (Routledge Communication Series)

Pages

Thursday, April 27, 2017

Thursday, April 20, 2017

Thursday, April 6, 2017

Friday, March 24, 2017

Thursday, March 23, 2017