Wolfgang Mühl-Benninghaus

The Social Media Management Chain, How Social Media Influences Traditional Media

Digitization and Web 2.0 have brought about continuous change from traditional media management to new strategic, operative and normative management options. Social media management is on the agenda of every media company, and requires a new set of specialized expertise on digital products and communication. At the same time, social media has become a vibrant field of research for media economists and media management researchers. In this handbook, international experts present a comprehensive account of the latest developments in social media research and management, consistently linking classical media management with social media. The articles discuss new theoretical approaches as well as empirical findings and applications, yielding an interesting overview of interdisciplinary and international approaches. The book’s main sections address forms and content of social media; impact and users; management with social media; and a new value chain with social media. The book will serve as a valuable reference work for researchers, students and professionals working in media and public relations.

Depictions of America in GDR television films and plays, 1955–1965

During the Cold War, East Germany and the other socialist States formed a safety belt for the Soviet Union, following the tsarist tradition Stalin had inherited. In the minds of most citizens of the GDR, the USA dominated the other western occupying powers from the beginning. Troops in the American zone were always in readiness, although the borders of the other occupying zones were almost deserted. A few violent East Germans in power had no doubt at all about the constant threat that came from the Americans and their Allies towards their own socialist state. Anti-American propaganda in the GDR tried to establish this point of view trough clichés directed towards many parts of the population. The swanky occupying US-Soldiers, who lacked culture, all crude fellows, resembled cartoon stereotypes. The cold and cynical leaders that stood behind the soldiers were a continuous source of paranoia. The roles of both types were always played in the DEFA-movies—DEFA: the state film studios—by the same antipathy-inspiring actors. This concept of the enemy was also spread during the 1950s and 60s through the press and the radio. No one could stop these phenomena. A special magazine publicized in the GDR called USA in Wort und Bild (the USA in Words and Pictures) repeated negative stereotypes every fortnight. East German television owes its foundation, its technical development, and the development of its programs to the Cold War. It was conceived as a border-crossing medium, which claimed an all-German political and cultural effect on the population, the same as its West German counterpart did. The DFF (Deutscher Fernsehfunk—East German Television) joined the philosophical and ideological battle against the capitalist opponent with the official opening of the program on 3 January 1956. Television adopted the existing concept of the enemy from the other media. History and the present offered dramatic materials for the the system of television drama. Quite early, several authors specialized in the artistic coverage of the consequences that followed the dropping of the first atomic bombs on Japan. Young GDR Television dramaturgy artist and author Hans Müncheberg covered this subject: as early as 7 July 1954 in the documentary-play called Die Todeswolke (The Death Cloud, dir.: Hannes Fischer) and in the documentary studio play Ich bin schuldig (I am Guitty, dir.: Wolfgang Luderer) three years later, on 6 August 1957. The latter illustrated the conscience of one American who fell into a deep psychological depression after the bombing of Hiroshima. Müncheberg returned to this subject several times.