International Journal of Media and Information Literacy

110-122

Authors: Mastewal Misganaw Alemayehu

The issues of health are relevant to the existence of a human being. How can communication hasten containment of a COVID–19 pandemic is crucial to mitigate its impact on human lives since issues relating to health are considered vital to all strata of persons in the society regardless of their socio–economic and political status. This study is to investigate how Addis Zemen newspaper covered and framed news stories concerning Coronavirus health concerns in Ethiopia. Using the quantitative content analysis method, the newspaper was analyzed along the lines of its news report; feature stories, editorial, opinion as well as interviews. Findings show that much coverage has been given to the spread of coronavirus, and the issue was considered prominent in the newspaper. On sources of information, about one–quarter of the stories have used government officials as its sources; on the other hand, about one–five of the reports on Coronavirus were substantiated by health experts and health organizations. Ten types of frames were found prominently emphasized in the reports while two were made salience in almost half of the total reports on the pandemic. Containment and effect frames were by far the most frequently appearing frame in the media.

134-144

Authors: Тatyana Balina, Elena Dagaeva, Irina Novi

The study is devoted to the problem of the formation and development of informational needs of state and municipal employees in the university environment. Needs are a necessary prerequisite for any activity. Taking into account the increasing role of media literacy and improving the informational and communicational competencies of state and municipal employees, the task is to study various aspects of media literacy of students in the training direction 38.03.04 – "State and municipal administration" (“GMU”) and working employees in this area of professional activity. In the course of the analysis of scientific sources reflecting aspects of the formation of media literacy of state and municipal employees, a deficiency of empirical research in this area was found. This led to the organization and conduct of a questionnaire survey of students in the direction of training 38.03.04 – "GMU" and current state and municipal employees. As a result of processing and analysis of the data obtained, it was found that the level of informational needs and the range of media resources used by students is much lower than that of working specialists. The conditions for the formation and development of informational needs in the university environment are not enough, and they do not fully meet the requirements for the level of development of "digital competencies" of a modern civil servant. Acting employees regularly use media resources in their professional activities and understand the importance of developing media literacy at the earliest stages of professional training. Based on the results of the scientific interpretation of the results, the paper identifies a mechanism for the formation of a student's personal sense of mastering media literacy, which is able to form a stable tendency towards further self-study and professional development. Content filling of the proposed mechanism with specific teaching tools is considered as a prospect for further research.

153-163

Authors: Alexander Fedorov, Galina Mikhaleva

This review article presents the current trends in media and information literacy in scientific publications of the early 21st century based on the content analysis of Russian and foreign researches: – major function of media and information literacy is to provide access to information and knowledge and promote free, independent and pluralistic mediated social environments (UNESCO); – media literacy as a vital, survival skill for an individual; – minimizing online risks and expanding online opportunities in media literacy education; – information or digital literacy in the educational and professional contexts; – focus on studying human behaviour in social computer-mediated interactions and challenges of global cross-cultural communication; – promoting people’s media and information literacy for active social change; – media literacy and digital literacy as critical instruments against various online risks and manipulations; – media and information literacy integrated into the school curriculum and university syllabus; – media literacy education aimed at students’ applying their critical thinking skills to media messages and creating media texts; – focus on media language and representation analysis in media and film studies; – national peculiarities of promoting media and information literacy in different countries; – international media literacy based on the effective strategies used in different cultures. Besides, the authors emphasize the following problem zones in media literacy education for further research and development: training and education programs for media studies for all levels of education; teacher training courses in media education; increasing media awareness of all stakeholders and organizations in the social sphere; international collaboration and research in media education and a wide exchange of research findings; practical application of media literacy education for various social groups.

176-183

Authors: Anna Кamyshanova, Oksana Karyagina, Angelika Karyagina

This article examines the phenomenon of advertising as one of the activities, without which it is impossible for society to move along the path of progress in the conditions of transformation and modernization of all spheres of human life and society. The influence of advertising on the active sphere of life is indistinct, since it not only boosts production, consumption and services, but also manipulates public consciousness and shapes certain behavioral models. A goal of advertising as an information technology is to influence the individual, group or mass consciousness. On the other hand, law as a general social regulator can interfere in the sphere of advertising. In this context, law as a regulator of public relations in general and advertising in particular is aimed at ensuring that consumers receive reliable information about the advertised goods, services or works. The law establishes requirements for the content of advertising, as well as the methods, forms of its placement and distribution. The study of the relationship between advertising and law is aimed at searching for areas of lawful and illegal behavior in order to determine the legal ways to counteract institutional deformations in advertising.

191-198

Authors: Noor ul Sabah, Humera Sharif, Mohsin Hassan Khan

This study investigates the role of visual signs and modes in the meanings interpretation of visual depiction and also the ideology behind this visual manifestation. It also explores various persuasive strategies through the semiotic manifestation of the video game Age of Empire III. This study reflects the way of meaning making in which video game has been designed to incorporate itself in the virtual world. So, multimodal semiotic analysis of video game: Age of Empire III has been undertaken in the light of G. Kress, T. Leeuwen’s (Kress, Leeuwen, 2001) theory of multimodal communication and S. Littlejohn’s (Littlejohn, 1999) concepts of elements, environment, game design, and gameplay, and storyline and action outcome interactions. It is a qualitative type of research. The multimodal framework and concepts of various terms have been used as an eclectic approach in the study. The study reveals that this video game’s manifestation is an indirect programming of the player in the game who plays and follows the instructional pattern whereas the game introduces the semiotics in form of game choices and gives players the thought of free will. This dual potential has manifested to persuade and provide entertainment to the player or viewer.

205-216

Authors: Anna S. Slavko, Vladyslava M. Zavhorodnia, Natal'ya A. Shevchenko

Over the last decade, social networks have become an indispensable part of societal life. Today, they are used not only for engaging in interpersonal communication but also for developing a personal image or business reputation, creating or promoting a brand, building professional or business relations, conducting commerce, or obtaining the latest information about what is going on around the world. The findings from an analysis of relevant legislation, case law, and user agreements indicate the unique legal nature of social networks. Based on their analysis of social networks’ key functions, the authors prove that in many areas social networks have acquired the role of mass media, as they are capable now of delivering the latest news or any other information to the user factoring in their individual tastes and information needs. Given the significant role played by social networks in informing people in today’s society, coupled with their key characteristics such as horizontal dissemination of information, lack of preliminary moderation of user comments, and availability of two-way communication, compromising people’s honor, dignity, and business reputation on social networks can have quite serious implications for them in various spheres of social life. With that said, it appears to be quite difficult, for now, to counter this kind of attacks, both technically and legally. The paper provides an analysis of key issues that can arise as part of efforts to counter defamation on social networks (e.g., difficulty of establishing the identity of a respondent, difficulty of proving malice, or having to factor in the special nature of communication on social networks) and ones to develop legal solutions and ways to overcome such issues.

227-235

Authors: Alina Zaidi, Ahmad Hanan, Farahat Ali, Muhammad Awais

The aim of the current research is to explore the mediating role of self-gratification and social comparison in explaining the relationship between media objectification and clothing buying behavior in women. For this purpose, correlational research design was employed using 400 female participants within the age ranges of 18-29 selected by convenient sampling. The data was collected using developed questionnaire. The results from Pearson Product Moment correlation highlighted that media objectification (MO) was found to be strongly related with self-gratification (SG), social comparison (SC) and clothing buying behavior (CBB) in women. The results from Path Analysis using AMOS highlighted the mediating role of SC and SG in explaining the relationship of media objectification with women clothing buying behavior. The finding from the study highlighted that besides media objectification in predicting women clothing buying behavior, SC and SG also plays significant roles, these results fills the gaps in the literature pertaining to clothing buying behavior.