Abstract

The article analyzes the results of the international survey «Synthesis of Media Literacy Education and Media Criticism in the Modern World», conducted by the authors in May-July 2014. 64 media educators, media critics, and researchers in the field of media education and media culture participated in the survey, representing 18 countries: the USA, the UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Germany, Ireland, Spain, Portugal, Sweden, Finland, Greece, Cyprus, Hungary, Ukraine, Serbia, Turkey, and Russia. Analysis of the data shows that the international expert community on the whole shares the view that the synthesis of media education and media criticism is not only possible, but also necessary, especially in terms of effectively developing the audience’s critical thinking skills. However, only 9.4% of the experts believe that media critics' texts are used in media literacy education classes in their countries to a large extent. Approximately one-third (34.4% of the polled experts) believe that this is happening at a moderate level, and about the same number (32.8%) believe that this is happening to a small extent. Consequently, media education and media criticism have a lot to work to do to make their synthesis really effective in the modern world.

Abstract

El presente artículo analiza la relevancia de los motivos visuales como nuevas herramientas de investigación en cine y comunicación audiovisual, mediante un meta-análisis cuantitativo de dos bases de datos críticas: el ranking de las mejores películas de la historia publicado por el British Film Institute en 2012 y la Enciclopedia Motivos visuales del cine (un proyecto colaborativo de hasta sesenta investigadores y críticos). El primero se utiliza como indicador de valores canónicos de la historiografía cinematográfica, mientras el segundo representa un nuevo acercamiento al cine desde metodologías menos jerárquicas y autorales. Se cuantifican y comparan tres variables estratégicas (décadas, géneros, cineastas), que confirman un nivel de concordancia bajo entre las películas más significativas de ambas bases de datos, y apuntan diferencias notables en cuanto a la perspectiva histórica, los valores de alta y baja cultura y la autoría fílmica. AbstractThis paper assesses the importance of visual motifs as new research tools for film and media studies, by running a quantitative meta-study of two expert review databases: the British Film Institute best-movies 2012 poll and the Encyclopedia of visual motifs in cinema (a joint venture of up to sixty researchers and film critics). The former is used as an indicator of canonic values in film historiography, while the latter represents a new approach to cinema from a less hierarchical and nonauteur- oriented methodology. Three main variables are quantified and compared (decades, genres, directors), pointing to a low accordance between the top films of both databases, as well as to noteworthy differences in terms of historical scope, high / low culture values, and authorship.

Abstract

Technological convergence has affected the media context of generalist television, modifying access and the consumption of content. The design of the scheduling of the general-interest linear television is a key element in understanding the policies that the operators follow when offering genres and formats, and in observing the similarities and differences between public and private ownership. This article analyses the television schedules of 25 generalist channels, public and commercial, operating in Germany, Spain, France, Italy and the United Kingdom. Some of the findings of this investigation show a) little diversity of genres, b) that the editorial policy of public broadcasters clearly differentiates them from private ones by prioritizing informational offerings, national fiction, and documentary info-shows, and c) strategic differences of genres by ownership in each country.

Abstract

Technological convergence has affected the media context of generalist television, modifying access and the consumption of content. The design of the scheduling of the general-interest linear television is a key element in understanding the policies that the operators follow when offering genres and formats, and in observing the similarities and differences between public and private ownership. This article analyses the television schedules of 25 generalist channels, public and commercial, operating in Germany, Spain, France, Italy and the United Kingdom. Some of the findings of this investigation show a) little diversity of genres, b) that the editorial policy of public broadcasters clearly differentiates them from private ones by prioritizing informational offerings, national fiction, and documentary info-shows, and c) strategic differences of genres by ownership in each country.

Abstract

In recent years, Wattpad has become the leading collaborative reading and writing platform allowing young writers to publish their works, some of which belong to the tradition of fan fiction, including stories derived from a source text from popular culture. The main objective of this article is to explore how teenagers reading and writing fan fiction on Wattpad apply transmedia skills related to production and narrative and esthetic reflection. Using a theoretical framework that integrates transmedia literacy, fan fiction communities as affinity spaces, and Wattpad as a tool to promote transmedia reading, we carry out a qualitative study using data collected from workshops, media newspapers, and interviews with adolescents in five different Spanish regions. The results highlight identity-play in the production of the stories, in which fanfics about real-life celebrities from the teenagers’ media universes coexist with original stories inspired by the authors’ personal lives and interests. Likewise, there is a trend toward the hybridization of fan fiction with languages and formats more typical of social media platforms, such as Instagram, with a superficial application of narrative and esthetic transmedia skills related to fan fiction practices.

Abstract

  This article describes the most comprehensive study of the relationship between Generation Z and radio carried out in Spain to date, broadening the focus beyond data known from previous research and offering a structural view of the market from the perspective of media economics. An in-depth analysis of data previously unused in academic research, as well as interviews with the managers of various private radio companies (Ábside Media, Atresmedia Radio, Podium Podcast-Prisa Radio, and Grup Flaix), reveals the gradual loss of contact of Generation Z with this medium and highlights the characteristics of the low radio consumption by this cohort in Spain. Among other conclusions, the study identifies some of the factors which may prove relevant to attract this generation to content produced by radio companies, since there is the conviction that there is still time to reverse this situation. Examples include the development of exclusive digital content, brand maximization and community building, content designed and produced by Generation Z for Generation Z, the combination of paid and free access, and media literacy as a transversal public–private factor. This is a need that the sector must address as a whole.