Rethinking Media Pluralism : A Critique of Theories and Policy Discourses

This study examines different ways in which the concept of media pluralism has been theorized and used in contemporary media policy debates. Access to a broad range of different political views and cultural expressions is often regarded as a self-evident value in both theoretical and political debates on media and democracy. Opinions on the meaning and nature of media pluralism as a theoretical, political or empirical concept, however, are many, and it can easily be adjusted to different political purposes. The study aims to analyse the ambiguities surrounding the concept of media pluralism in two ways: by deconstructing its normative roots from the perspective of democratic theory, and by examining its different uses, definitions and underlying rationalities in current European media policy debates. The first part of the study examines the values and assumptions behind the notion of media pluralism in the context of different theories of democracy and the public sphere. The second part then analyses and assesses the deployment of the concept in contemporary European policy debates on media ownership and public service media. Finally, the study critically evaluates various attempts to create empirical indicators for measuring media pluralism and discusses their normative implications and underlying rationalities. The analysis of contemporary policy debates indicates that the notion of media pluralism has been too readily reduced to an empty catchphrase or conflated with consumer choice and market competition. In this narrow technocratic logic, pluralism is often unreflectively associated with quantitative data in a way that leaves unexamined key questions about social and political values, democracy, and citizenship. The basic argument advanced in the study is that media pluralism needs to be rescued from its depoliticized uses and re-imagined more broadly as a normative value that refers to the distribution of communicative power in the public sphere. Instead of something that could simply be measured through the number of media outlets available, the study argues that media pluralism should be understood in terms of its ability to challenge inequalities in communicative power and create a more democratic public sphere.

The principle of microscopic reversibility in organic chemistry - a critique

The principle of microscopic reversibility is one of the few generalising principles used in organic chemistry which have their roots in the fundamental laws of thermodynamics. It has, therefore, been highly popular. However, although the principle has some important uses, its general application is not without pitfalls. The principle is easy to misunderstand and to misapply: indeed, some of its formulations are semantically dubious. The principle is most dangerous when used as a charm, for it is more subtle than some of its formulations suggest. But above all, the principle may not be used for deducing or disproving the mechanism of a reaction, except when the mechanism in the reverse direction is known independently. For, such use is, perhaps, the deadliest misapplication.

Comments on the Friends of the Sea Otter critique of the State of California sea otter proposal

Written in response to "A proposal for sea otter protection and research and request for the return of management to the State of California" report published by the California Department of Fish and Game in 1976. (52 page document)

Euripides’ Critique of Athletics in Autolykus, fr. 282 N2

[ES] Son numerosos los testimonios, tanto en la literatura como en el arte, que dan cuenta del importante papel que el tema del deporte tuvo en la Antigüedad. Aunque la mayor parte de ellos ofrecen una imagen positiva de la figura del atleta, no faltaron tampoco las críticas a su modo de vida por parte de poetas, filósofos y médicos, que mostraban su desacuerdo ante un régimen que ponía en peligro su salud y consideraban escandalosa la excesiva valoración social de la que gozaban. El fr. 282 N2, perteneciente al drama satírico Autólico de Eurípides, resulta muy representativo en este sentido al hacerse eco de todos estos puntos de vista.

O naturalismo em perspectiva comparada: de Émile Zola a Aluísio Azevedo

Considerado pela maioria da crítica como uma literatura pútrida (cf. ULBACH, 1868) ou torpe (cf. VERÍSSIMO, 1894), acusado de confundir ingenuamente ciência e literatura, bem como de cientizar a linguagem literária, e em particular no Brasil, além disso, questionado por plágio ou importação de uma moda estrangeira, o naturalismo foi relegado às margens da historiografia literária. Assumindo como ponto de partida esse panorama crítico, a tese propõe uma reavaliação crítica e historiográfica da estética naturalista, começando por descrever e analisar sua origem no decurso da história, a partir do advento do realismo moderno nas obras de Stendhal e de Balzac (cf. AUERBACH, 2004). Enfoca a lenta afirmação dos termos realismo e naturalismo, bem como a importância da contribuição de diferentes romancistas franceses no processo de consolidação da estética realista e de seu prolongamento no naturalismo. Discute-se também o projeto estético proposto por Zola, assim como se desconstroem mitos corroborados pela historiografia literária a respeito da teoria e do movimento naturalistas. Por fim, correlacionando a estética naturalista com o ideal republicano, aborda-se a aclimatação dos princípios naturalistas no Brasil, na obra daquele que foi seu principal representante, Aluísio Azevedo. A partir de uma abordagem comparativa entre o naturalismo na França e no Brasil, busca-se, em síntese, contribuir para o processo de revisão crítica e historiográfica de um período literário muito produtivo nos dois países, não obstante a tendência para sua desvalorização em geral observada nas manifestações da crítica novecentista

Ecologie benthique de la Lagune Ebrié. Théorie sur la méthode du DR' pour la mise en évidence de biocoenoses

The theoretical aspect of the DR' method was presented. It suggestes the association of some characteristic transects, the organisms of which will be used to describe the first biocoenoses of the Ebrié lagoon.

Partial survey and critique of Ceylon's marine fisheries, 1953-55

This is a resume of a 1953-1955 study of Ceylon's fishing gears, fisheries and records of experimental and commercial fishing operations. Representative catches of edible fish per unit of effort for several of the gears studied are summarized in the table. They are low compared with many countries, indicating low abundance of fish.

CONTINUUM-THEORIES OF OPTICAL PHONONS AND POLARITONS IN SUPERLATTICES - A BRIEF CRITIQUE - COMMENT

The so-called hydrodynamic (HD) model on optical-phonon modes in superlattices is critically examined. Contrary to the HD model, a comparison between TM polaritons and the Fuchs-Kliewer-type interface modes has shown that the Fuchs-Kliewer interface modes do possess Frohlich potentials.