Does Numeracy in Digital Journalism Increase Story Believability?

This exploratory study contributes to the literature on numeracy in digital journalism studies by theoretically incorporating the audience/news consumers. While most studies have focused on journalists’ perception and role in the use of numeracy, this study examines how audience perceive stories with numerical values. Through an experimental design, and by comparing the United States, Zambia, and Tanzania, the study was able to demonstrate that news stories with numerical values diminished audience/readers’ affective consumption. In other words, news stories with numerical values were negatively associated with audience appeal. However, individuals with a lower understanding of probabilistic and numerical concepts seemed to trust news stories with numbers more than those with a higher level of numeracy. This was especially true in Zambia and Tanzania where most participants recorded lower numeracy levels. The overall sample in all the three countries seemed to favor news stories with less or no numeracy.

Special Effects and Spectacle: Integration of CGI in Contemporary Chinese Film

Film production in China, like that in Hollywood, increasingly attempts to achieve blockbuster status, through reliance on large budgets which enable the cultivation of star systems and world-class production values. More and more we see a reliance on computer-generated special effects to drive audience appeal and, thus, ticket sales. This article compares two recent films from Chinese auteurs, Zhang Yimou’s The Great Wall and Jia Zhangke’s Mountains May Depart, to examine the degree to which integration of computer-generated effects is achieved and how that translates into film art.

MICHAEL TORKE (b. 1961)House and Home (2012)

This chapter assesses Michael Torke’s House and Home (2012). This sparkling tour de force is guaranteed to brighten up any recital. Torke is a master of post-minimalism and his work is consistently enjoyable, full of flair and verve. The entertainingly emphatic text is taken from Shakespeare’s Henry IV, Part II: Mistress Quickly’s angry diatribe at Falstaff’s uncontrollable appetite. Performers will be aware that passages of repetitive machine-like rhythms, especially in a tonal idiom, have great audience appeal, but can be much harder to bring off than more expansive, obviously virtuosic music. There is a real danger of going off the rails in the cumulative excitement generated. Assiduous preparation is essential in order to produce the desired result of unflustered elan. Moreover, placing consonants in exact rhythm warrants careful attention, and breathing must be strictly in tempo—the slightest hesitancy will be noticeable.

CURRENT AFFAIRS PROGRAMMMES AS PUBLIC RELATIONS TOOL: A STUDY OF EBONYI BROADCASTING CORPORATION (EBBC), ABAKALIKI

The current affairs programmes of broadcast stations are considered as effective public relations tool. They bridge the gap between the government and the governed. They also attract goodwill and patronage for the station. This study focused on how effective current affairs programmes are used in Ebonyi Broadcasting Corporation (EBBC) to foist good image on the station. The survey method was used to get analyzable response from the station’s audience. The study examined the potentials of current affairs as a broadcast programme and how it can be used as a tool of public relations. It specifically sought to determine if current affairs programmes have any effect on the relationship between the audience and any particular broadcast organization; identify the problems that affect the production of current affairs programmes as a public relations tool, and proffer solutions to ineffective current affairs programmes production. It further found out that good current affairs programmes affect station-audience relationship. This is not only because good current affairs programmes induce respect for, interest in and familiarity with the station, but they, more importantly, raise the popularity of the station. Thus these are invaluable resources which every organization craves for as they are also at the root of every good public relations campaign. The study, moreover, discovered that educated adults, mostly civil servants and business men and women listen to EBBC current affairs programmes regularly to know the activities in government (their chief employer and policy maker) and in the society at large. The study however found out that lack of requisite skills, lack of programme materials and lack of touch with station’s environment and needs, and inadequate training of staff are chief among the problems affecting current affair programmes. It therefore recommended among others that broadcast establishments should be professional in their conduct to sustain and retain audience. These they can do by employing professionals in the field as well as carrying out regular training of staff to keep pace with the ever changing trend of audience appeal

The Authenticity Paradox: Why the Returns to Authenticity on Audience Appeal Decrease in Popularity and Iconicity

A great deal of research has argued for authenticity as a key firm-level attribute and source of competitive advantage. But we know very little about the boundary conditions related to organizational authenticity. In order to address this, we develop a theory of the social construction of authenticity, how it affects the appeal of a producer’s offerings, and how the market success of these offerings affects the returns to authenticity. We propose that there are two mechanisms, in addition to authenticity, that can drive audience appeal: popularity and iconicity. But increases in both popularity and iconicity also challenge some of the underlying tenets of what the audience considers authentic, namely, intrinsic motivation and the pursuit of social, rather than economic, value. The authenticity paradox, then, is that even as the appeal of authentic offerings increases, their popularity and iconicity diminish the returns to authenticity. We find support for these ideas in the context of the U.S. market for craft beer and discuss the implications of our theory for authenticity research and for the broader market and social dynamics in craft industries.

The spy who loved me: Benjamin Christensen and the Danish silent spy melodrama

This article examines the spy melodrama films produced in Denmark from 1909 to 1918, 21 in all. The best-known (and one of only two to survive) is Benjamin Christensen’s Det hemmelighedsfulde X (Sealed Orders) (1914). A coda will briefly discuss the only pre-1945 spy talking film, Damen med de lyse Handsker (The Lady with the Light Gloves) (1942), also directed by Christensen. The article employs an approach similar to James Chapman’s contextual film history, examining the Danish silent spy melodramas in the context of political climate and genre, but with an emphasis on the concerns of film producers and practitioners. Surviving plot summaries, which exist for all 21 films, reveal a considerable degree of consistency in the storylines. The article argues that the melodramatic elements found in nearly all the films suggest a more female-oriented audience appeal than that of many later spy fictions.

Remaking Television: One Day at a Time’s Digital Delivery and Latina/o Cultural Specificity

New distribution models have transformed television over the past decade, and Netflix’s One Day at a Time (2017–) stands out not only because it is a remake of a classic Norman Lear sitcom, but because it also foregrounds a Cuban American family. Using a radical contextual and relational approach, this study analyzes One Day at a Time from a cultural studies perspective using theoretical tools that arrive from critical Latina/o communication studies. We analyze the first season’s 13 episodes to demonstrate how storytelling is modified in the context of digital streaming. In this case, we argue that One Day at a Time offers an alternative to the flattening of difference far too common in Latina/o media. Instead, the show highlights the cultural specificity of this Cuban American family as a form of broad audience appeal as it negotiates sexual identity and immigration discourses within a contemporary social framework.

Here’s Your Air War

By World War II, public fascination with aviation and air power had created a powerful presence in popular culture.Military and government leaders sought to exploit that presence in shaping public perceptions of the war against Japan and the public fascination that drove it, but so too did writers, editors, producers, and even air power theorists.Movies, books, and popular magazine articles in significant numbers featured air power themes in a number of different guises.Some sought merely to cash in on audience appeal, while others sought to boost public morale or support for the war effort; still others used the various media to build public support for air power itself or to push distinctive theories about air power’s application.Regardless of intent, these depictions reached wide audiences and helped shape attitudes toward the war, the enemy, and air power itself, giving a unique insight into the nature of the Pacific air war.

Welcome to the Party

This chapter lays out the Tea Party’s history as a mass-mediated construction in the context of journalism, political communication, and social movement studies. It argues that the news coverage of the Tea Party primarily chronicled its meaning, appeal, motivations, influence, and circulation—an emphasis on its persona more than its policies. In particular, the news media tracked the Tea Party as a brand, highlighting its profits, marketability, brand leaders, and audience appeal. The Tea Party became a brand through news media coverage; in defining it as a brand, the Tea Party was a story, message, and cognitive shortcut that built a lasting relationship with citizen-consumers through strong emotional connections, self-expression, consumption, and differentiation.