Journal of Mass Communication & Journalism

This study fills a gap in the analysis of international news coverage by comparing the design elements of international news stories in both the American and Brazilian media, identifying any common or discerning trends. Best selling newspapers in both countries were examined, and a content analysis performed to compare their layout, using a number of different variables. Results show that American publications seemed to give a higher salience to international stories compared to Brazilian publications when it comes to their design.

How the media reflect culture, and particularly how mass media advertising content represents culture, is an important concern in the era of globalization and transnational communication. Rhetoric is one of the powerful tools that have been widely used in communication practices around the world. This paper looks at the Canadian culture as an example of a culture reflected in the advertising content of magazines, in the context of rationalizing a modern style of communication power. The term “We Canadians”, as an example of a powerful communication mechanism, is examined here. Advertisements from Maclean’s, the most popular magazine in Canada, during November and December of 2009 and January of 2010 are rhetorically analyzed. The paper investigates how Maclean’s advertisements try to persuade readers to purchase products or services; i.e., how copywriters and artists use language and images in creating magazine advertisements that they believe will sell. One of the main ways that advertising influences is through allusions to universality, i.e., the term “We Canadians” ascribes to one unified notion of culture. The specific techniques to achieve this universalized view are rhetorical devices. The paper explores the rhetorical persuasive devices used in advertisements to investigate the influence of Canadian culture in the advertising process. Explored rhetorical persuasive devices are metaphoric language; metonymic language; verbal appeals; the herd mentality; keeping up with the Joneses; imitation of stars and celebrities; reward yourself; stimulate fantasy; oppositions; and images and visual phenomena.

The use of digital video recorders (DVRs) has caused concern among advertisers and the television industry. Many have argued that the 30-second ad is no longer effective because users of digital video recorders are fastforwarding though commercials. This denies the potential actual usage of the DVR in modern television viewing. Bio-metric research has suggested that it is not the behavior of fast-forwarding that matters most, but actual viewing patterns and choices viewers make coupled with memories of previously-viewed advertisements. In the process of fast-forwarding, viewers must pay attention to passing images and are capable of not only recognizing advertisements but altering their viewing to incorporate DVR use. DVRs are used in order to view specific advertising content based on multiple factors, including past emotional memories. Visual cues within advertising are often provocative enough to stimulate action – stopping viewers from fast-forwarding through ads. Still, the idea persists that when viewers do fast-forward through television advertisements, the ads have a reduced effectiveness. This broad assumption ignores the fact that DVR owners report watching more television, using their DVRs for the primary benefit of time shifting – and not fast-forwarding through advertising. The central motivation for using DVR technology is the ability to watch programming at convenient times. In attempting to avoid advertising, most viewers do, in fact, pay attention to their TV screens. Doing so may result in viewers inadvertently paying even more attention to advertising messages.

Digital technologies have fundamentally altered the nature and function of media in our society, reinventing ageold practices of public communication and at times circumventing traditional media and challenging its privileged role as gatekeepers of news and entertainment. We know the world is changing. And we believe research needs to change too. This article discusses how new media landscape has irrevocably altered how people interact with each other, how communities are formed, how opinions are shared. This landscape is technology-led and technologyenabled, and has occasioned key shifts in the way consumers think about the world around them and about brands. The article aims to explore and understand the impact of digital technology on our traditional media and find out how these technologies are enabling media professionals around the world in their respective areas. The focus is also on the usage of digital technology in mass media and its impacts on our society and the future of new technology.