Quand la droite nationaliste montre les minarets : la médiatisation ambigüe d'une initiative populaire en Suisse

This contribution addresses the anti-minaret referendum accepted by the Swiss people in 2009, using data drawn from the main television news program in French-speaking Switzerland. The analysis tries to point out ambiguities in the media coverage of this referendum and to show how increasing the Muslims' visibility worked against their public recognition. The clarification of the concept of visibility pays attention to the ways in which certain actors (politicians of the nationalist right) force others (the Muslims of Switzerland) to appear in the public sphere, creating controversy and publicizing their identity aspirations. This investigation leads to an inquiry on the normative conditions necessary for democratic debate. Cette contribution revient sur l'initiative anti-minarets acceptée par le peuple suisse en 2009, à partir de matériau provenant du principal journal de la Télévision suisse romande. L'analyse tente de ressaisir les ambiguïtés inhérentes à la médiatisation de cette initiative et de montrer comment la visibilisation des musulmans a joué en défaveur de leur reconnaissance publique. L'élucidation du concept de visibilité se veut attentive à certaines formes d'instrumentalisation par des acteurs (des politiciens de la droite nationaliste) qui en forcent d'autres (les musulmans de Suisse) à apparaître dans l'espace public, afin de susciter une controverse et publiciser leur programme identitaire. L'enquête débouche sur une interrogation relative aux conditions normatives nécessaires à la tenue d'un débat démocratique.

Cultural Biases in Public Service Delivery : Evidence from a Regression Discontinuity Approach

What determines the share of public employment, at a given size of the State, in countries of similar levels of economic development? While the theoretical and empirical literature on this issue has mostly considered technical dimensions (efficiency and political considerations), this paper emphasizes the role of culture and quantifies it. We build a representative database for contracting choices of municipalities in Switzerland and exploit the discontinuity at the Swiss language border at identical actual set of policies and institutions to analyze the causal e↵ect of culture on the choice of how public services are provided. We find that French-speaking border municipalities are 50% less likely to contract with the private sector than their German-speaking adjacent municipalities. Technical dimensions are much smaller by comparison. This result points out that culture is a source of a potential bias that distorts the optimal choice for public service delivery. Systematic differences in the level of confidence in public administration and private companies potentially explain this discrepancy in private sector participation in public services provision.

Diet-related buccal dental microwear patterns in central african pygmy foragers and bantu-speaking farmer and pastoralist populations.

Pygmy hunter-gatherers from Central Africa have shared a network of socioeconomic interactions with non-Pygmy Bantu speakers since agropastoral lifestyle spread across sub-Saharan Africa. Ethnographic studies have reported that their diets differ in consumption of both animal proteins and starch grains. Hunted meat and gathered plant foods, especially underground storage organs (USOs), are dietary staples for pygmies. However, scarce information exists about forager-farmer interaction and the agricultural products used by pygmies. Since the effects of dietary preferences on teeth in modern and past pygmies remain unknown, we explored dietary history through quantitative analysis of buccal microwear on cheek teeth in well-documented Baka pygmies. We then determined if microwear patterns differ among other Pygmy groups (Aka, Mbuti, and Babongo) and between Bantu-speaking farmer and pastoralist populations from past centuries. The buccal dental microwear patterns of Pygmy hunter-gatherers and non-Pygmy Bantu pastoralists show lower scratch densities, indicative of diets more intensively based on nonabrasive foodstuffs, compared with Bantu farmers, who consume larger amounts of grit from stoneground foods. The Baka pygmies showed microwear patterns similar to those of ancient Aka and Mbuti, suggesting that the mechanical properties of their preferred diets have not significantly changed through time. In contrast, Babongo pygmies showed scratch densities and lengths similar to those of the farmers, consistent with sociocultural contacts and genetic factors. Our findings support that buccal microwear patterns predict dietary habits independent of ecological conditions and reflect the abrasive properties of preferred or fallback foods such as USOs, which may have contributed to the dietary specializations of ancient human populations.

Puolueiden keskustelutilaisuuksista mediatapahtumiksi. Television vaaliohjelmat ja niihin liittynyt sanomalehtijulkisuus 1960-luvulta 1980-luvulle

Tässä tutkimuksessa tarkastellaan television vaaliohjelmia ja niihin liittynyttä sanomalehtijulkisuutta 1960-luvun alusta 1980-luvun lopulle. Tarkastelun kohteena ovat sekä eduskunta- että presidentinvaalien vaaliohjelmat. Tutkimusaineisto koostuu Yleisradion hallinto- ja ohjelmaneuvostojen pöytäkirjoista, vaaliohjelmien televisiotallenteista sekä vaaliohjelmia käsittelevistä sanomalehtikirjoituksista. Lehtiaineisto on kerätty Helsingin Sanomista, Ilta-Sanomista, Iltalehdestä, Aamulehdestä, Kansan Uutisista, Suomenmaasta sekä Suomen Sosialidemokraatista. Sanomalehtiaineistoa on täydennetty Yleisradion leikearkistoon kerätyillä lehtileikkeillä. Tutkimuksessa on analysoitu toisaalta television vaaliohjelmien kehitystä ja toisaalta vaaliohjelmiin liittynyttä sanomalehtikirjoittelua. Television vaaliohjelmien kehityksen osalta tutkimuksessa on kuvattu, millä tavoin vaaliohjelmia on eri aikoina tehty ja millaisia poliittisia kiistoja niiden tekemiseen on liittynyt. Sanomalehtiaineiston analyysissa on tarkasteltu sitä, mihin seikkoihin vaaliohjelmia käsittelevissä kirjoituksissa on kiinnitetty huomiota, millä tavoin lehdet ovat suhtautuneet ohjelmien toteutukseen ja millainen rooli ohjelmilla on nähty olleen vaalikampanjoinnissa. Väitöskirjan näkökulma on historiallinen, mikä merkitsee ajallisten kontekstien keskeisyyttä analyysissa. Tutkimuksessa on kiinnitetty huomiota sekä poliittisessa kulttuurissa että mediamaisemassa tapahtuneisiin muutoksiin. Vaaliohjelmat olivat 1960-luvulla tarkkaan säänneltyjä puolueiden välisiä keskustelutilaisuuksia, joissa toimittajilla ei ollut näkyvää roolia. Ohjelmien toteutuksesta vastasivat puoluemandaateilla toimineet Yleisradion ohjelma- ja hallintoneuvoston jäsenet, joten ohjelmien toteutuksen yksityiskohdista vastasivat puolueet. Puolueet riitelivät usein vaaliohjelmien toteutuksesta, mikä osoittaa, että puolueille television vaaliohjelmat olivat tärkeitä poliittisia foorumeita jo 1960-luvulta lähtien. Vaaliohjelmat jakautuivat kahteen erilaiseen ohjelmaformaattiin; vaalitentteihin ja suureen vaalikeskusteluun. Vaalitenteissä kunkin puolueen edustajat olivat vuorollaan ”altavastaajina”, joille muiden puolueiden edustajat esittivät kysymyksiä. Suuri vaalikeskustelu oli perinteisempi paneelikeskustelu, jossa poliitikot selvittivät vuorotellen kantojaan ajankohtaisiin poliittisin kysymyksiin. 1970-luvun puolivälissä vaalitenttien toteutuksessa tapahtui suuria muutoksia, kun toimittajat syrjäyttivät poliitikot vaalitenttien kyselijöinä. Suuri vaalikeskustelu säilyi ennallaan. Sanomalehtien suhtautuminen vaaliohjelmiin oli 1960- ja 1970-luvuilla huomattavasti pidättyvämpää kuin poliitikkojen. Sanomalehdistön näkökulmasta television vaaliohjelmien tärkeimpänä tehtävänä oli puolueiden poliittisten linjausten esittely. Vaaliohjelmia käsittelevissä teksteissä esiteltiin pääasiassa poliitikkojen ohjelmissa pitämiä puheenvuoroja. Puoluelehdissä puheenvuorojen sisältöä arvioitiin aatteellisista lähtökohdista, sitoutumattomissa sanomalehdissä neutraalimmin. Vaaliohjelmien toteutukseen liittynyt kritiikki kohdistui toisaalta poliitikkojen puoluepropagandaan, toisaalta poliitikkojen liialliseen varovaisuuteen. Sanomalehtien suhtautuminen vaaliohjelmiin säilyi ennallaan myös 1970-luvulla, jolloin vaaliohjelmia alettiin tehdä toimittajavetoisesti. Ainoa muutos liittyi vaaliohjelmakritiikkiin, joka kohdistui nyt poliitikkojen ohella myös toimittajiin, joiden katsottiin olleen ohjelmissa liian hyökkääviä. Suurin muutos vaaliohjelmiin liittyneessä kirjoittelussa tapahtui 1980-luvulla. Vaaliohjelmia käsitteleviä kirjoituksia julkaistiin sanomalehdistössä monikertainen määrä 1970-lukuun verrattuna. Samalla myös vaaliohjelmia käsittelevien kirjoitusten näkökulmat alkoivat muuttua, kun ohjelmin visuaalinen ulottuvuus alkoi olla yhä näkyvämmin esillä sanomalehtiin laadituissa analyyseissa. Lehdet alkoivat teettää säännöllisesti erilaisia tutkimuksia poliitikkojen pärjäämisestä ohjelmissa ja kirjoittaa vaalikeskusteluiden voittajista ja häviäjistä. Lisäksi lehtijutuissa arvioitiin poliitikkojen esiintymistä ja vaaliohjelmista välittyviä vaikutelmia. Vuoden 1982 presidentinvaaleissa uusista näkökulmista kirjoittivat erityisesti iltapäivälehdet, mutta vuosikymmenen jälkipuoliskolla samankaltaisia lähestymistapoja omaksuivat myös Helsingin Sanomat ja Aamulehti. Niiden vaaliohjelmia käsittelevissä uutisissa kiinnitettiin yhä useammin huomiota poliitikkojen esiintymiseen, pukeutumiseen ja tunnetiloihin. Puoluelehtien suhtautuminen vaaliohjelmiin säilyi kuitenkin ennallaan, ja myös vaaliohjelmakritiikki säilyi suurelta osin muuttumattomana. 1980-luvun aikana television vaaliohjelmat muuttuivat lehdistön käsittelyssä puolueiden tavoitteita esittelevistä keskustelutilaisuuksista poliitikkojen ja puolue johtajien henkilökohtaisia ominaisuuksia mittaaviksi esiintymiskokeiksi ja suuriksi mediatapahtumiksi, joiden katsottiin toisinaan jopa ratkaisseen vaalin tuloksen. Nostaessaan television vaaliohjelmat kampanjajournalisminsa ytimeen, sanomalehdet vahvistivat television poliittista roolia.

Public and student awareness science: recreational science as a catalyst

When discussing the traditional and new missions of higher education (1996 Report to UNESCO of the International Commission on Education for the 21st Century) Jacques Delors stated that "Excessive attraction to social sciences has broken equilibrium of available graduates for workforce, thus causing doubts of graduates and employers on the quality of knowledge provided by higher education". Likewise, when discussing the progress of science and technology, the 1998 UNESCO World Conference on Higher Education concluded that "Another challenge concerts the latest advancements of Science, the sine qua non of sustainable development"; and that “with Information Technology, the unavoidable invasion of virtual reality has increased the distance between industrial and developing countries". Recreational Science has a long tradition all over the Educational World; it aims to show the basic aspects of Science, aims to entertain, and aims to induce thinking. Until a few years ago, this field of knowledge consisted of a few books, a few kits and other classical (yet innovative) ways to popularize the knowledge of Nature and the laws governing it. In Spain, the interest for recreational science has increased in the last years. First, new recreational books are being published and found in bookstores. Second the number of Science-related museums and exhibits is increasing. And third, new television shows are produced and new short science-based, superficial sketches are found in variety programs. However, actual programs in Spanish television dealing seriously with Science are scarce. Recreational Science, especially that related to physical phenomena like light or motion, is generally found at Science Museums because special equipment is required. On the contrary, Science related mathematics, quizzes and puzzles use to gather into books, e.g. the extensive collections by Martin Gardner. However, lately Science podcasts have entered the field of science communication. Not only traditional science journals and television channels are providing audio and video podcasts, but new websites deal exclusively with science podcasts, in particular on Recreational Science. In this communication we discuss the above mentioned trends and show our experience in the last two years in participating at Science Fairs and university-sponsored events to attract students to science and technology careers. We show a combination of real examples (e.g., mathemagic), imagination, use of information technology, and use of social networks. We present as well an experience on designing a computational, interactive tool to promote chemistry among high school, prospective students using computers ("Dancing with Bionanomolecules"). Like the concepts related to Web 2.0, it has been already proposed that a new framework for communication of science is emerging, i.e., Science Communication 2.0, where people and institutions develop new innovative ways to explain science topics to diverse publics – and where Recreational Science is likely to play a leading role

Televisión y adolescencia : valores y aspiraciones académico-profesionales. 'Television and adolescence : academic and professional aspirations and values'.

Resumen tomado de la publicación. Con el apoyo económico del departamento MIDE de la UNED

Offensive advertising, public policy, and the law: the rulings on the Zagorka case

This paper examines the case of a controversial beer advertisement which was promulgated in Bulgaria in 2001, and which provoked eight lawsuits against the brewery, its advertising agency, and the Bulgarian National Television. The case set a precedent in Bulgaria and generated considerable public interest and debate. To the best of the authors’ knowledge this is the first case in Eastern Europe when individuals have challenged companies in the courts of law because of offence caused by an advertisement. The present study discusses how the public bodies responsible for protecting consumer interests and the courts of first instance assessed the advertisement in the context of Bulgarian public policy regarding offensive advertising.

Immigration, security and the public debate on US language policy : a critical discourse analysis of language attitudes in the United States of America

The narrative of the United States is of a "nation of immigrants" in which the language shift patterns of earlier ethnolinguistic groups have tended towards linguistic assimilation through English. In recent years, however, changes in the demographic landscape and language maintenance by non-English speaking immigrants, particularly Hispanics, have been perceived as threats and have led to calls for an official English language policy.This thesis aims to contribute to the study of language policy making from a societal security perspective as expressed in attitudes regarding language and identity originating in the daily interaction between language groups. The focus is on the role of language and American identity in relation to immigration. The study takes an interdisciplinary approach combining language policy studies, security theory, and critical discourse analysis. The material consists of articles collected from four newspapers, namely USA Today, The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, and San Francisco Chronicle between April 2006 and December 2007.Two discourse types are evident from the analysis namely Loyalty and Efficiency. The former is mainly marked by concerns of national identity and contains speech acts of security related to language shift, choice and English for unity. Immigrants are represented as dehumanised, and harmful. Immigration is given as sovereignty-related, racial, and as war. The discourse type of Efficiency is mainly instrumental and contains speech acts of security related to cost, provision of services, health and safety, and social mobility. Immigrants are further represented as a labour resource. These discourse types reflect how the construction of the linguistic 'we' is expected to be maintained. Loyalty is triggered by arguments that the collective identity is threatened and is itself used in reproducing the collective 'we' through hegemonic expressions of monolingualism in the public space and semi-public space. The denigration of immigrants is used as a tool for enhancing societal security through solidarity and as a possible justification for the denial of minority rights. Also, although language acquisition patterns still follow the historical trend of language shift, factors indicating cultural separateness such as the appearance of speech communities or the use of minority languages in the public space and semi-public space have led to manifestations of intolerance. Examples of discrimination and prejudice towards minority groups indicate that the perception of worth of a shared language differs from the actual worth of dominant language acquisition for integration purposes. The study further indicates that the efficient working of the free market by using minority languages to sell services or buy labour is perceived as conflicting with nation-building notions since it may create separately functioning sub-communities with a new cultural capital recognised as legitimate competence. The discourse types mainly represent securitising moves constructing existential threats. The perception of threat and ideas of national belonging are primarily based on a zero-sum notion favouring monolingualism. Further, the identity of the immigrant individual is seen as dynamic and adaptable to assimilationist measures whereas the identity of the state and its members are perceived as static. Also, the study shows that debates concerning language status are linked to extra-linguistic matters. To conclude, policy makers in the US need to consider the relationship between four factors, namely societal security based on collective identity, individual/human security, human rights, and a changing linguistic demography, for proposed language intervention measures to be successful.

Using structured observation and content analysis to explore the presence of older people in public fora in developing countries

There is a lack of research on the everyday lives of older people in developing countries. This exploratory study used structured observation and content analysis to examine the presence of older people in public fora, and considered the methods’ potential for understanding older people’s social integration and inclusion. Structured observation occurred of public social spaces in six cities each located in a different developing country, and in one city in the United Kingdom, together with content analysis of the presence of people in newspaper pictures and on television in the selected countries. Results indicated that across all fieldwork sites and data sources, there was a low presence of older people, with women considerably less present than men in developing countries. There was variation across fieldwork sites in older people’s presence by place and time of day, and in their accompanied status. The presence of older people in images drawn from newspapers was associated with the news/non-news nature of the source. The utility of the study’s methodological approach is considered, as is the degree to which the presence of older people in public fora might relate to social integration and inclusion in different cultural contexts.

Getting Hitched: Weddings and Reality Television

From watching reality shows like A Wedding Story on TLC, I have learned that planning a wedding is stressful, kills friendships, and is generally not fun. In my opinion, I think it’s crazy. So why do people do this? What is the allure of this madness? In addition to the general insanity of weddings, the institute of marriage has been shown to be deeply flawed and quite unequal, but we are still tuning in to watch Engaged & Underage and Perfect Proposal. The fantasy shows that we watch and the glossy magazines we read seem to cover up the fact that the institution of marriage has problems. I want to find out why we are obsessed with getting married, even though many of us won’t actually carry through with the event or will end our marriages in divorce. Is it just the pageantry? The attention one receives as a bride and a new wife? To me, the huge attention paid to marriage in the media these days brings out some really interesting questions.

Where did all these books come from? The Publishing Industry and American Intellectual Life

The American book publishing industry shapes the character of American intellectual life. While the newspaper and television industries have been accused of and investigated for bias and lowering America’s intellectual standards, book publishing has gone largely unexamined by scholars. The existing studies of the publishing industry have focused on finance, procedure and history. “There are few ‘theories’ of publishing – efforts to understand the ‘whys’ as well as the ‘hows.’ Few scholarly scientists have devoted significant scholarly attention to publishing” (Altbach and Hoshino, xiii). There are many possible reasons for this lacuna. First, there is a perception that books have always been around, that they are an “old” technology and therefore they don’t appear to have had as much of an impact on our society as television and other media (which were developed quickly and suddenly) seem to have had (Altbach and Hoshino, xiv). Also, despite books’ present and past popularity, television, radio, and now the internet reach more people more easily, and are therefore more topical points of study and observation. In studying the effects of mass media on everyday American life, television and the internet may be the most logical points of study. Regarding public intellectual life however, books play a much more important role. Public intellectual life has always been associated with independent thinkers publishing their work for the masses. For this reason, this I focus on trade publishing. Trade publishing produces fiction and non-fiction works for the general reading public, as opposed to technical manuals, textbooks, and other fiction and nonfiction books targeted to small and specific audiences. Although, quantitatively speaking, “the largest part of book publishing business is embodied in that great complex of companies and activities producing educational, business, scientific, technical, and reference books and materials,” (Tebbel 1987, 439) the trade industry publishes most of the books that most people read. It is the most public segment of the industry, and the most likely place to find public intellectualism. Trade publishing is not only the most public segment of the industry, but it is also the most susceptible to corruption and lowered intellectual standards. Unlike specialty publishing, which caters to a specific, known segment of society, trade publishers must compete with countless other publications, as well as with other forms of media, for the patronage of the general public. As John Tebbel (author of a widely referenced history of the publishing industry) puts it, “The textbook, scientific, or technical book is subjected to much more rigorous scrutiny by buyers and users, and in an intensively competitive market inferior products are quickly lost" (Tebbel 1987, xiv). Since the standards for trade publishing are not nearly as specific – trade books simply need to catch the attention of a significant number of readers, they don’t have to measure up to a given level of quality – the quality of trade books is much more variable. And yet, a successful trade publication can have a much greater impact on society than the most rigorously researched and edited textbook or scholarly study.

Barbados: public-private sector partnership

Includes bibliography

Metabolic risk and television time in adolescent females

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Short Assessment of Health Literacy for Portuguese-Speaking Adults

OBJECTIVE: To develop and validate a short health literacy assessment tool for Portuguese-speaking adults. METHODS: The Short Assessment of Health Literacy for Portuguese-speaking Adults is an assessment tool which consists of 50 items that assess an individual's ability to correctly pronounce and understand common medical terms. We evaluated the instrument's psychometric properties in a convenience sample of 226 Brazilian older adults. Construct validity was assessed by correlating the tool scores with years of schooling, self-reported literacy, and global cognitive functioning. Discrimination validity was assessed by testing the tool's accuracy in detecting inadequate health literacy, defined as failure to fully understand standard medical prescriptions. RESULTS: Moderate to high correlations were found in the assessment of construct validity (Spearman's coefficients ranging from 0.63 to 0.76). The instrument showed adequate internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha=0.93) and adequate test-retest reliability (intraclass correlation coefficient=0.95). The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve for detection of inadequate health literacy was 0.82. A version consisting of 18 items was tested and showed similar psychometric properties. CONCLUSIONS: The instrument developed showed good validity and reliability in a sample of Brazilian older adults. It can be used in research and clinical settings for screening inadequate health literacy.