Philemon Bantimaroudis

Candidate Image Attributes Experiments on the Substantive Dimension of Second Level Agenda Setting

This study examined the role of attribute salience in the agenda setting process. Two experiments were conducted to investigate how media emphasis on certain political candidate attributes would influence public perceptions of those politicians. Specifically, media portrayals of candidate personality and qualification traits were explored. Findings suggest that peoples impressions of candidate personality traits mirror media portrayals of those traits. However, media portrayals of personality traits do not affect a candidates overall salience. The data also indicate that candidate qualifications do influence affective perceptions of politicians. Finally, the authors consider the ramifications of these results on future scholarship.

Gatekeepers in International News The Greek Media

Previous research has demonstrated that international gatekeepers used various criteria, including proximity and conflict, to determine the newsworthiness of certain stories. Taking these under consideration, the current study used in-depth interviews with twenty-five editors and journalists representing six elite media in Athens, Greece. Through those interviews, the study attempted to trace intermedia influences, not only by other Greek media, but by European and global media. The study found that Greek editors rely on Greek sources, such as the Athenian Press Agency, more than they rely on foreign sources. Nevertheless, European influences are not negligible. The European editions of Time, Newsweek, and the French Le Monde and TV-5 appeared to be quite influential. The only contradiction to the proximity hypothesis was posed by the emergence of global television and especially CNN International, a source that broadcasts programs to more than 250 countries around the world.

The Cultural Framing Hypothesis: Attributes of Cultural Alliances and Conflicts

The “clash of civilizations” theory states that “culture and cultural identities, which at the broadest level are civilization identities, are shaping the patterns of cohesion, disintegration, and conflict in the post—cold war world.” This notion of cultural conflict promoted initially by political scientist Samuel Huntington stirred a discussion among journalists, academics, and other intellectuals around the world. In the current project, the authors investigate whether the media reinforce Huntingtons conception. Using the war in Kosovo as a case study, a quantitative content analysis of coverage in The New York Times and Ta Nea was completed. Two research questions are explored: (1) Were there references to cultural alliances based on distinct cultural traits? and (2) Was the conflict between Serbs and Albanians portrayed as a cultural conflict? The study concluded there is some preliminary evidence of cultural framing.

Revisiting the Gatekeeping Model: Gatekeeping Factors in European Wireless Media Markets

Mediation in news industries has received significant attention by researchers for more than half a century. Gatekeepers decide which information should be delivered to different audiences. The Shoemaker/ReeseGatekeeping Model identifies five different filters of content processing: individual influences, professional routines, the organization, extra-media influences and ideology. Journalism practices, intra-organization and extra-media-related procedures and strategic alliances, including culture and ideology, add more complexity in the contemporary globalized media landscape. Gatekeeping is being processed through out all the above mentioned pillars. ICT technologies related to the media have influenced the interactivity among the pillars and wireless technologies have influenced the digital media landscape. The European Union has experienced dramatic changes in its regulation environment and spectrum resources allocation. In this article, the authors examine the impact of wireless technology on gatekeeping practices in the context of EU news markets.

Cultural Agenda Setting Media Attributes and Public Attention of Greek Museums

The recent transformation of cultural organizations has altered their relationship with the public, evidenced by their engaging in market research and analysis of public perceptions about their identity, mission, and services. Through the lens of agenda-setting theory, this paper examines whether, alongside other factors, media coverage of museums can drive museum visitation. We pursue a second level of agenda-setting analysis, examining the relationship between valence—the positive, negative and neutral portrayals of museums in the media—and visitation. We conduct an econometric analysis of monthly data for the period June 2004-June 2008 for a sample of major Greek museums. The study reveals that media coverage of cultural organizations and positive valence constitute significant elements of reputation, which subsequently drive museum visitation.

Cultural Agenda Setting and the Role of Critics: An Empirical Examination in the Market for Art-House Films

In this study we investigate and expand agenda setting theory in the context of the market for art-house films. First, we test first and second-level agenda setting hypotheses, according to which higher media visibility and favorable media valence of a particular film are expected to have positive effects on public salience. Second, we expand agenda setting theory by adding critical valence as an important influence of public salience within cultural contexts. Our findings suggest that while higher media visibility, favorable media valence, and critical valence have positive effects on public salience, they are also independent of one another in carrying salience over to the public.

Mediation of the message in a wireless global environment: Revisiting the media gatekeeping model

Mediation in news industries is being revisiting. Gatekeepers decide which information should be allowed to be delivered into a particular audience. In the modern globalized media landscape, journalists are subject to various influences -- intra-organization and extra-media pressures interplay with cultural and ideological factors. Gatekeeping is a process that interconnects people, routines, institutions, extra-media pressures, and the ideological environment. ICTs related to media technologies influence interactivity among these pillars and wireless technologies have changed the global media gatekeeping landscape. The European Union has experienced dramatic changes in its member-states regulation environment and has initiated processes for the allocation of spectrum resources.

Media Framing of Religious Minorities in Greece: The Case of the Protestants

During the past 50 years, Greece has demonstrated significant progress on different social, economic, and political fronts. After joining the European Union in 1981, Greece received generous funding to engage in a radical reformation of its public services and the industrial and agricultural sectors. The central objective of different Greek governments has been an overall convergence of the Greek standards of living with the European standards of living. Thus far, Greece has only partially succeeded in this goal. In the context of civil liberties and human rights, Greece has improved its performance. In sharp contrast to the 1960s, Greek citizens are no longer persecuted because of their political beliefs or party affiliations. All political views from the far right to the far left are tolerated and represented in the Greek Parliament. However, despite Greeces progress in protecting and respecting political views, similar progress has not been marked in the context of religious beliefs. Its noticeable failure to separate Church and State and the obtrusive influence of the Church of Greece on governmental affairs has prevented the country from functioning like its western counterparts (Agouridis, 1998, 158). Various institutions are involved in the sensitive area of religious expression. First, the Greek Orthodox Church, 1 also known as the Church of Greece, which the Greek Constitution recognizes as the “prevailing” religion, undoubtedly remains a significant element of national/cultural identity, because of its cultural past, as well as a powerful political force claiming a role in the political affairs of the country, both internal and external. Also, the Greek Governments Ministry of Education and Religious Affairs oversees all activities related to public religious education, and supervises all non-Orthodox religious entities (Stathopoulos in Christopoulos, 1999). 1The terms Greek Orthodox Church and Church of Greece are used interchangeably. The same applies for the terms Greek Protestants and Greek Evangelicals.

Museum promotion and cultural salience: the agenda of the Athenian Acropolis Museum

This case study examines a process of agenda building in the context of cultural organizations. We chose the Acropolis Museum, as a new, emerging cultural organization in the European periphery which engages in public actions, in the form of symbolic initiatives, in order to set a specific cultural agenda for Greek and international media. We scrutinize seven symbolic initiatives publicized by the museum, as attributes that influence media content. We conclude that development of cultural/educational services, advertising and marketing, visitor/customer relations, partnerships, symbolic actions, special events, and supporting services constitute significant cultural attributes, which strategically become a part of the media agenda, thereby contributing toward the building of a museum agenda.

Media framing of a cultural disaster: the case of Ancient Olympia

Abstract The archaeological site and the museum(s) of Ancient Olympia attract thousands of visitors in southern Greece every year, as this popular destination encompasses not only extraordinary natural scenery, but also a cultural treasure – it is the cradle of the Olympic Games. In summer 2007, forest fires that swept throughout the Peloponnese, with a devastating impact in the whole region, reached the outskirts of Olympia and seriously threatened the archaeological site and the surrounding museum infrastructures. The current project investigates the impact of a natural disaster on media portrayals of Ancient Olympia. The authors used framing theory to measure how national newspapers reported the natural disaster and assessed media framing choices through which the Olympic site and the museum(s) were described. They conclude that the media covered Olympia because of the disaster but coverage of the museum(s) and their activities during this time was minimal. The organization needs to reconsider its media relations strategy while promoting its unique cultural assets.