Journal of Mass Communication & Journalism

In the last few decades Latin America has seen a shift to left leaning, socially progressive and radical governments. Despite their diverse political textures, all of them have been elected democratically and have appealed to the most marginalised sectors of this vast continent. Hand and hand the region has become a fertile ground for the generation, cross-fertilization and consolidation of history-changing socially progressive movements. From the 2011 student movements in Chile, to the recent Bolivian Aymara Indian actions to block the Dakar rally, Latin America is experiencing a rich tapestry of energetic citizen movements. Considering these two contemporary paradigms, one could argue that Latin America is going through a process of democratic engagement from below. It is a political and civil movement instigated and led by grassroots urban and rural actors struggling to achieve a truly democratic system, a democratic system where social, economic, cultural and environmental justice prevails. The struggle is not without its foes. There is one deep-rooted foe that since the post-colonial period has tried to preserve its class privilege, economic interest and economic control. The Latin American right is not exempt from mighty tools to subvert democracy and obstruct social change. And the mass media is one of its most formidable. In a broad and big-picture approach this article examines, contextualizes and brings up-to-date the role the mass media plays as an “ideological organizer” of the Latin American right. In this context, this paper gives a special emphasis to Chile’s El Mercurio, considered the country’s “paper of record.” It is the oldest daily in the Spanish language currently in circulation and it is the archetypical media “ideological organizer” of the right. Its role in subverting democracy and suppressing social progressive movements cannot be underestimated.

This study investigates the “Impact of Indian dramas on language and dressing of females of village Sehowal district Sialkot” through survey using a questionnaire as a tool of data collection. It targeted 100 women aged 16- 30 years and viewing cable television for a minimum two years. The study recorded the respondent’s consumption patterns, level of viewing, preferred channels, favorite watching time, and control over remote. It checked the above factors with the age group and marital status with demographic characteristics of the respondents. Results show that Indian media trying to cultivate their culture in our society, females even in the village area like Indian dresses and use Hindi words Intentionally or unintentionally but there is the slight changes occur in Interaction pattern.

An attempt has been made to explore and study the consumption pattern in regards to the health programmes on television for women ages above 20. The study also include women’s rationale for watching health-related shows, their perception of the situations portrayed on these shows and also the impact on them based on the sample of 120 respondents in selected areas of Gulbarga city of Karnataka state. The results are discussed and have been observed the types of television programmes are viewed, popularity of different channels and their contents among women and the opinion of health programmes among viewers. The objective of research was to understand the relationship between viewer motives for watching television and interpersonal relationship perceptions. The interpersonal relationship perceptions that were examined included: attachment styles, love styles, and Machiavellianism. This research used both quantitative surveys and focus group interviews as data. The quantitative data analysis produced support of genre specific media effects. First, motives were examined in relation to the television. Watching for positive outcomes was positively related to television viewing and watching for interpersonal outcomes was negatively related. Second, the relationship between television exposure and relationship perceptions was examined. Respondents discussed how health programmes on television made them to be aware of their health condition and also how to remedy for common disease including personal health care. Finally, respondents agreed that health programmes are very helpful for providing information and remedies about certain common disease.

A reanalysis of the Cleveland newspaper market of 1980, prior to the closure of the Cleveland Press, differs with the conclusions of a previous content analysis of two-daily communities that have become monopoly markets. Unlike the conclusions of the previous study, by McCombs, this replication found a diverse marketplace of ideas and opinion that suggests a lively agenda-setting and ideological diversity that disappeared with the emergence of the monopoly market, to the detriment of the Cleveland community and the democratic process.

Soap operas have gained huge popularity all over the world and women are an important component of these soap operas. Contemporary soap operas’ content are mostly dominated by family dramas and house-hold fights. In the process of attracting more female audiences, soaps are presenting values that are different from reality. Various studies conducted on the influence of soap operas on viewer’ attitudes, indicate the growing popularity of soaps all over the world but at the same time it is also important to study the way the content is portrayed in these soaps, particularly in India where socio-cultural values influence the lives of individuals. Portrayal of negative content in soaps can influence the society in a negative way. Socio-cultural values are mostly depicted negatively in Telugu soap operas of Andhra Pradesh. Therefore, this study seeks to re-examine the portrayal of socio, cultural and economic values in Telugu soap operas and their influence on the housewives of Andhra Pradesh. This study examined the content of four Telugu soap operas by using the content analysis method and also conducted a survey in order to know homemakers’ opinions on the patterns of portrayal of values and ideologies in Telugu soap operas. Six districts from Andhra Pradesh were randomly selected for survey with a sample size of 300 homemakers. The study is based on the Cultivation Theory. The findings obtained through content analysis of Telugu soaps suggest that the socio, cultural and economic values in majority of serials are portrayed negatively; soaps are mainly focusing on promoting the ideology of radical feminism in the portrayal of its female characters. The data obtained through the survey indicates that soap opera audiences are not passive, they are critical about the content particularly the portrayal of the socio-cultural values and viewers are not influenced by such negative portrayal but a perception shared by a selection is that there is a likelihood of some audience being influenced by such portrayal.