Civic engagement: a case study of the efforts of a major market public television and radio station to morph into a public media hub

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francesco Vuono
2017 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 91-105 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roman Batko ◽  
Jan Kreft

Purpose However, the scale of corporate social responsibility (CSR) implementation in Polish media organisations is diversified. The survey, which was conducted among the CEOs of some regional radio broadcast partnerships in Poland, indicates that only one of them has in fact accepted the CSR solutions. The majority of this group think there is no need to implement CSR because they consider it to be a duplication of the public media mission. Considering commercial media, all the biggest TV and radio stations apply CSR. The pressure is manifested by the fact that numerous media organisations – commercial and public ones – have accepted solutions of CSR. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach To verify the hypotheses, a survey was conducted from January to June 2015, in 12 (out of 17) Polish regional radio stations (independent partnerships). The research was of quality character – each media organisation selected for the survey was a separate case study. To collect the required data, two research methods were applied: in-depth interviews with the radio station CEOs (N1-N12); analysis of organisation documents concerning the mission of public organisations. We assumed that an in-depth analysis of a fragment of the empirical material in the form of a case study comes as an element of universal experience, and it reflects the universe (Denzin and Lincoln, 2009). Findings The survey suggests that only one organisation implements CSR standards. Its CEO, however is mainly driven by business reasoning. He considers that “it is an excellent tool to improve the image of the organisation in the advertisement market” and “a good way to present a radio company as a reliable business partner”. Research limitations/implications A critical attitude to CSR in media organisations has a double source: generally, CSR is not adequate to all organisations; CSR multiplies social functions of a media organisation, and a role which it plays in the society. It comes as an immanent feature of the way how a media organisation functions in its basic dimension. As presented above, the attempt to define specific elements, which allow us to analyse the level of “advance” characteristic for a media organisation, drives us to a following conclusion: communication and implementation of the CSR standards seems natural in the context of such activities of media companies as placing orders (relations with business partners, internal policy of employment, etc.), however, it only comes as a confirmation of such expectations from media organisations which are connected with maintenance of journalist standards. Practical implications As the survey of the CEOs of Polish public radio companies suggests, the problem of multiplying social responsibility of media refers, first of all, to public media. Majority of the executives considers CSR as duplication of fulfilling the public mission, and as some superfluous practice in public media. Social implications Considering this situation, it is possible to state that the concept of CSR, first of all, results from the presence of media entities in the market, where they compete mainly for the attention of listeners and advertisers. The consumer-investor dimension of media operations also contributes to the perception of CSR as the operation which is apparently pro-social, however which truly aims at increasing the company value by the improvement of its image as goods and service provider. Originality/value The source of acceptance for public media is a strong belief in social value of honest and competent information reporting and its contextualisation. At the same time, however, a basic deteriorating factor of media legitimisation is their transformation into market-oriented economy. Commodification of media means constant pressure to increase the role of “business” rhetoric and “business” solutions. The pressure is manifested by the fact that numerous media organisations – commercial and public ones – have accepted solutions of CSR.


Author(s):  
Michael W. Pratt ◽  
M. Kyle Matsuba

Chapter 9 focuses on contexts of positive engagement in the domain of the wider society among emerging adults. The authors examine the growing research literature on civic engagement and volunteering, covering patterns of development and change during emerging to young adulthood, describing how this development is linked to the three personality levels of the McAdams and Pals model. They also describe work on one salient contemporary type of civic engagement, environmentalism, and review what is known on this particular topic in youth. The authors cover the evidence on both of these domains from their Futures Study sample, using both questionnaire and narrative material to expand these findings. As a way of illuminating the key points, the chapter ends with a case study of the early life story of John Muir, an important founder of the environmental and conservation movement in the United States.


2021 ◽  
pp. 174619792110413
Author(s):  
Siamack Zahedi ◽  
Rhea Jaffer ◽  
Camille L Bryant ◽  
Kala Bada

The development of student civic engagement has featured in Indian educational policies for decades as a critical goal of schooling. However, the narrowness of the prescribed K-12 curricula, and the intense focus on competitive exams, do not support such an outcome. To overcome this problem, ABC School in India decided to pilot service-learning in its middle-school classroom. The idea was to assess the effects of such a program on students and the community’s welfare. Analysis of data from surveys, focus groups, and interviews showed that the service-learning project might have supported increased civic engagement in some students while also enhancing the welfare of the community served. No prior peer-reviewed empirical studies have been published on the nature and effects of service-learning at schools in India.


2018 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 178-194
Author(s):  
Melanie Ross

Abstract In this article the author makes an argument for evangelical worship as a form of public theology. The analysis proceeds in three parts. The first section examines depictions of evangelicals in American public media in order to show how evangelicalism and worship are closely linked in society’s imagination. The second section draws on debates between David Tracy and George Lindbeck to explain evangelicals’ distinctive approach to worship and witness. The third section presents a case study of a Sunday service at an evangelical megachurch, and suggests that increased attention to congregational worship practices can mitigate tensions between populist and academic understandings of public theology.


2021 ◽  
Vol 72 (4) ◽  
pp. 29-51
Author(s):  
Agnieszka Węglińska ◽  
◽  
Łukasz Szurmiński ◽  
Maria Wąsicka-Sroczyńska ◽  
◽  
...  

2022 ◽  
pp. 283-294
Author(s):  
Muhammad Asim Qayyum ◽  
Mohamed Taher

A Whole Person Approach (WPA) can be used in various parts of LAM (Libraries, Archives, and Museums) sector to provide effective services for underserved groups of society to achieve civic engagement with the communities it serves. WPA is a relatively new theoretical framework in the fields of social science and healthcare. It highlights the necessity and importance of having a holistic view in dealing with different life matters and challenges. This chapter focuses on the special services that LAM sector can offer to facilitate the way towards achieving the goal of enhanced civic engagement, as serving the unserved groups of society is an urgent priority for the sector. Several Creative strategies will be discussed that can be implemented in the current services to make sure the special needs of communities that a sector serves are considered and met. A limitation of this chapter is that it is not a case study, nor is it based on field experiences. It is in fact a critical exploration of the concepts to facilitate in building a theory in an interdisciplinary perspective.


Author(s):  
Adam S. Chilton ◽  
Mila Versteeg

This chapter analyzes three civil and political rights that are practiced on an individual basis: (1) free speech, (2) the prohibition of torture, and (3) the freedom of movement. The chapter first describes the doctrinal aspects of these rights, as well as how these relate to organizations’ ability to secure their enforcement. It then presents results from a global statistical analysis, which reveal that constitutionalizing these rights is not associated with better rights practices. In addition to presenting global data, this chapter present the results from a case study on free speech in Poland, which documents how the newly elected right-wing Law and Justice Party was able to take control of the country’s public media, even though both free speech and the independence of public media were guaranteed in the constitution.


2020 ◽  
pp. 1-12
Author(s):  
Caius Dobrescu

In this article, Elizabethan and Jacobean Baroque drama is considered as a comparative, structuring reference and as a control parameter for understanding contemporary British public television police drama as a genre in its own right. The argument for its autonomy and specificity lies not primarily with formal arguments, but with its intimate connection with representations on government and governance, as practices and world-models aimed at the management of complexity. Starting from the above, I premise that the public police drama format is highly relevant for Europe at large, not only as a fictional means of comprehending complex government, but as an emerging forum of actual public deliberation on the means and goals of complex government. The logical extension of the current study would be a future analysis of the manner in which the suggested template of police drama was absorbed in the continental television and government culture. For the moment the argument is restricted to pointing out the premises offered by the British original format for a poetics of complex order and of multi-level governance essential for the configuration of a European political imaginary.


2018 ◽  
Vol 55 (1) ◽  
pp. 144-160 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ben Green

The application of memory studies to music scenes has so far had a material focus, favouring places and objects. This article critically examines the role of an iconic event in scene identity, through a case study of the ‘Cybernana’ music festival, hosted by Brisbane community radio station 4ZZZfm in 1996 and marked by what has been characterised, alternately, as an audience riot and a police riot. Based on ethnographic research and analysis of cultural texts it is shown that, against official findings and wider disinterest, there exists an intergenerational counter-memory of Cybernana as an iconic event, within a politicised narrative that defines both the radio station and the local music scene. The factors involved in constructing this iconicity are considered, including the role of media. This mediated, cultural memory provides a narrative frame for individual experiences, through which people locate themselves within the scene and reaffirm its collective identity.


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