Our study uses big data analysis to examine the influence of Marxism on communication studies throughout its history. We track citations of Marxist authors and the use of Marxist concepts in the ...titles, keywords, or abstracts of publications in the Web of Science scholarly database in the category of communication. We find that Marxian authors and ideas were almost completely absent from the mainstream of media studies until the end of the Cold War. The end of the Cold War and the Great Recession of 2008 significantly increased citations of Marxist authors. We use network analysis to identify different currents of thought or paradigmatic appropriations of Marxism within communication studies and identify five clusters of appropriation of Marx’s ideas within communication studies: Theories of Democracy, Political Economy of Communication, Critique of Power Relations, Feminism and Antiracism, and Critical Discourse Analysis.
Članek obravnava protipolno razmerje med digitalnimi platformami in tradicionalnimi mediji. Za to razmerje je značilno, da zaobsega tako vrednostno nasprotovanje in elemente konkurenčnega odnosa (saj ...digitalne platforme in tradicionalni mediji tekmujejo za pozornost občinstva) kot tudi elemente nesimetričnega odvisniškega odnosa (saj postajajo tradicionalni mediji vse bolj prisiljeni slediti logiki digitalnih platform). V članku, ki izhaja iz empirične raziskave (analize intervjujev s sodelavci in letnih poročil iz izbranih slovenskih medijskih hiš), je ugotovljeno, da je omenjeno razmerje globoko vpisano v mnogih različnih vidikih strukture slovenskih medijev. Kot je analizirano v posamičnih sekcijah razprave, se odraža na ravni sprememb 1) medijskega trga, 2) poslovnih strategij medijev, 3) novinarskega dela in strukture medijskih organizacij, 4) selekcijskih principov, 5) navad občinstev in 6) kakovosti informiranja. Izhajajoč iz perspektive tradicionalnih medijev v izbranem geografskem in časovnem okviru, je članek nadgradnja preteklega raziskovalnega dela predvsem s poskusom zaobsega celostnega pregleda stanja, ki je posledica strukturnih sprememb družbenega ko-municiranja zaradi vpliva digitalnih platform. V zaključku članka avtorja obravnavano problematiko postavita v širši družbenopolitični kontekst in ugotavljata, da četudi je digitalnim platformam uspelo nasloviti mnoge zgodovinske pomanjkljivosti tradicionalnih medijev, so po drugi strani še povečale neenakost v družbenem komuniciranju.
Interview with Dan Hind, advocate for media reform. We discuss the need to democratise journalism, his proposal to achieve this goal by giving the public direct control over the allocation of public ...subsidies in the form of public commissioning, possible objections and hurdles in the way of implementing it and his views on the pilot project of public commissioning by the Croatian Ministry of Culture.
Interview with Peter Golding, Emeritus Professor at Northumbria University, Visiting Professor in the School of Arts and Cultures at Newcastle University and one of the crucial figures in Critical ...Political Economy of Communication. In the interview we discuss the role of critical scholarship, the sometimes troubled relationship between cultural studies and critical political economy of communication, the importance of a sociological perspective in studying media, and the impact of broader socio-political trends on academia.
Interview with Breda Pavlič, critical researcher and former staff member of UNESCO’s Division of Free Flow of Information and Communication Policies in the 1980s (1984-1989). We discussed her path ...towards the critical-analysis approach to information and communication problems, the role of such analyses in the academic field of the time, as well as within the political context of the Movement of Non-Aligned Countries, and their initiative in UNESCO and in the United Nations Organization for a New international information and communication order (NIICO).
The intention of this paper is to provide a historical overview and an introduction to the interviews with Bodgan Osolnik, Breda Pavlič, Cees Hamelink, Daya K. Thussu, Peter Golding and Dan Hind ...presented in this special section. Following Marx, we entitled the section The Point Is to Change It! Critical Political Interventions in Media and Communication Studies. We discuss the need for critical theory to bridge the divide between theory and practice because this notion is central to all of the interviews in one way or another. We also provide a historical contextualization of important theoretical as well as political developments in the 1970s and 1980s. This period may be seen as a watershed era for the critical political economy of communication and for the political articulation of demands for a widespread transformation and democratization in the form of the New World Information and Communication Order initiative. We believe that many contemporary issues have a long history, with their roots firmly based in this era. The historical perspective therefore cannot be seen as nostalgia, but as an attempt to understand the historical relations of power and how they have changed and shifted. In our view, the historical perspective is crucial not only for understanding long-lasting historical trends, but also to remind ourselves that the world is malleable, and to keep alive the promises of the progressive struggles of the past.
This paper takes an often neglected labour perspective on journalism and investigates labour relations and processes at Slovenian public radio. By taking into account public radio's specific position ...in the media environment, which importantly shapes the dynamics between power, property, and work, and by drawing from the work of Michael Burawoy, this paper explores the strategies of manufacturing consent at the Slovenian public radio that minimise potentials of class consciousness among newsworkers and labour-management conflict on one hand and practices and possibilities for resistance and solidarity on the other. Investigation of labour relations and processes at Radio Slovenia was conducted a few months after the Slovenian government adopted austerity measures that have also resulted in layoffs and changes of the employment arrangements of a considerable number of atypical workers at the Slovenian public broadcaster. To gather, assemble, and analyse data, the authors used two research methods: first, participant observation in two newsrooms of Radio Slovenia, and second, in-depth interviews with public radio editors and journalists.
Interview with Daya Kishan Thussu, Professor of International Communication at the University of Westminster. We discuss his journalistic experience at the Press Trust of India and Gemini News ...Service, the New World Information and Communication Order and the MacBride report, the rise of BRICS and changes in the sphere of international communications in recent decades, the significance of critical scholarship and the need to internationalize media and communication studies.
Interview with Bogdan Osolnik, active member of the Yugoslav liberation front during World War II, member of the International Commission for the Study of Communication Problems under the leadership ...of Sean MacBride (commonly known as the MacBride Commission), former vice-president of International Association for Mass Communication Research (IAMCR), one of the pioneers of theoretical and practical research of public opinion in the Yugoslav socialist society and one of the co-founders of the first journalism program in Yugoslavia. Osolnik was an engaged critical researcher of media and communication in the international environment and combined theoretical work with political activity.
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