Communications and Media

It is as the Chinese Barbaric to the Palestinians as to the Great Wall to the Israeli West Bank Barrier. All along, this has been covered and followed by the international media. Different views were born and this has started another mileage for these Middle East countries to cope on the image media has pictured about them.  This is nevertheless about the building of the Israeli West Bank Barrier and how its what about developed across different media.

It was actually on June 16, 2002 when the State of Israel started the construction of the said dividing wall in pursuit of security against the neighboring Palestine nation. One of the reasons why this wall has being erected is the reducing of the possibilities of attacking its citizens, the Israelis.

Following its construction by 2002, it was only in 2003 that the discourse about it has surf the US media. Pioneer news networks and newspapers patrolled happenings within Israel 247. Peace talks have been in demand but as usual collapsed as the two countries never retreated from each other. It has been recorded as worlds biggest humanitarian problem that even the USA could not do anything about it, except trying to stop them like in this case, the building of the said divisive wall.

Through then when the news of Israel building this wall has bombarded the whole world, different views have risen and media has the most credit for it. News as defined to be current, concrete and precise information transmitted to the people is news because it affects us and the way we perceive things.

In the article written by M. Coker Christians ask Israel to call halt to barrier The wall is bad for all of us, leaders of 13 churches say of Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the words apartheid wall and security fence became rhetorically considered. The issue about Palestinians priesthood was also raised thus stated in this piece

Surrounded by hundreds singing Lord Have Mercy, leaders of the Roman Catholic, Lutheran, Anglican and other churches called for an end to what they brand a destructive project that threatens to divide Bethlehem and separate the West Bank from Israel.

Israel then reiterated that the building of the wall was purely for protective purposes while the Palestinians see it as a long term like what the Berlin Wall is. Another article said that the wall cuts off Jewish settlements from Palestinian areas and is essentially a patchwork of concrete wall, electric fencing and barbed wire provoked sentiments of negativity towards its readers.

This has intensified the Palestinian arms and has added to the violence as what was perceived from the news.

Although the wall per se was not presented as a direct cause of suicide bombings (Ismael, 2009), we learn that its negative perception by and impact on Palestinians help fuel intifada violence The protesters threw paint on a 25-foot-high wall that runs along the western side of Qalqilya, and spray-painted slogans . . . We are living in a big prison, said Mahmoud Farahmeh, 46, a Qalqilya resident.

Besides of the various definition that have risen from the wall, the portrayal of media using the television became more sympathetic especially when it comes to the innocent life perished due to the uprising violence caused by the wall.

On August 19, 2003 when a Jerusalem bus was bombed, there was reported a large number of children fatality.  It was said to be one of the most unsettling cases of bombing since it involved a mass of childrens death.

For an Israeli public that has endured the random, frightening toll of suicide bombings through 35 months of a violent Palestinian uprising, the attack Tuesday that killed 20 people and the bomber was one of the most unsettling, because an unusually large number of babies, toddlers and children lost their lives or were maimed.

Isamael has written that these reportage enhanced the symbolism of childhood within the conflict. Moore of Washington Post has written several articles protruding child victimization on this, quoted in here

I saw the dead bodies and I moved on . . . I saw a small child, about
2 years oldher head was badly hurt, her eye was torn (Moore, 2003a, p. A01). Grieving over children lost in the attack was also described At the first glimpse this afternoon of 11-month-old Shmuel Zargaris tiny corpse, swaddled in a cream-colored prayer shawl, an entire funeral home broke down (Moore, 2003b, p. A01).

Consequently, shown from the TV were pictures of scattered baby strollers, blood covered bodies and grief all around the bus. There has been a commotion of hate and lost as the messages from the reported transmits to its audience.

Various conflicts from just the definition of the wall and how children are being portrayed sympathetically through news could be the first two, another thing to consider is how media considered this issue as means of violence and revenge as cyclical phenomena.

As Chazzan writes in an article from Wall Street,
Hamas claimed responsibility for a blast at a bus stop in the West Bank Jewish settlement of Ariel, which killed an 18-year-old man and wounded several others and marked the organizations first open breach of the cease-fire. Hamas said the bombing was in revenge for Israels killing of two of its operatives in a raid on the West Bank town of Nablus last week.

Through how the media interpreted the news, it simply made the opposing sides more agitated against each other. The news also raised points in blaming who should be blame in this occasion.

Ismael quoted that while Sharon described Sidr as a serial killer who was caught red-handed planning the next terror attack, Islamic Jihads leader in the West Bank called Sidrs killing a grave crime that the occupation army, its soldiers and settlers will pay a heavy price for.

There has been consistent graphic news portrayal of suicide bombings. An Israeli cashier in a supermarket who has seen the bombing in the 12th of August, 2003 said that as quoted in the New York Times article

I hope well have peace . . . But I dont believe in it anymore The windows of the supermarket were blasted out by a bomb packed with steel ball bearings, shredding the metal blinds, blackening boxes of cereal and toppling towers of paper towels.


Until media intervention has reached the level of directing the people about what side to take when the boiling point touched the primordialism foregrounds issue. It has been about nationalism, national identity and mobilization. The following is one of the most descriptive pages of the New York Times describing the conflict, thus

Two and a half years ago, a 10-month-old Israeli girl, Shalhevet Pas, was shot to death in her stroller by a Palestinian sniper here in Hebron a West Bank town, a city where the competing claims of Jews and Palestinians to the land, holy places and the past grind together with particular pain. (Fisher, 2003b)

And also in this page from the Washington Post where Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon talked about being a Jew

We have to remember that I am speaking as a Jew. For me, to be a Jew is the most important thing. The Jews have a tiny country with many talents. This is the only place in the world where the Jews have the right and the capability to defend themselves by themselves. That is my historic responsibility to the Jewish peopleto keep it, to preserve it. That is what I am going to do.

This has given readers and televiewers the perspective that this war between has been now questioning their identity, their culture. Sharon talking could be given a sense of becoming vividly in primordial fashion, very rhetoric as what could be read from the said page.

After all, how religion became one of the major causalities of the fight between these countries were severely emphasized in the television and pages of news making.

Though it was firstly emphasized in the above pages (the thing religion as Israel center of Christianism), Israelis who have survived the August 19, 2003 bus bombing were described as if carrying religious significance. Thus

In reporting on the aforementioned Jerusalem bus bombing (August 19, 2003), primordialism surfaced within the perpetrator and victim spheres of the attack. Several news reports emphasized that the bus carried several Jews returning from the Western Wall, Judaisms holiest site (e.g., Bennet, 2003a Moore  Anderson, 2003). Many of the passengers on the bus were devout Jewish families, one report asserted (Coker  Nelson, 2003a, p. 1A). The attacks location was portrayed as itself carrying religious significance, as it occurred across from the Synagogue of the Jews of the Caucus on Shmuel Hanavi Street in the Beit Israel neighborhood, just north of Jerusalems Old City (Moore  Anderson, 2003, p. A01). One bombing survivor explained his escape through a bus window in spiritual terms It was a miracle, he said of his survival. I prayed at the Western Wall today (Bennet, 2003a, p. 1). In a separate religion-laden reference, one report recounted.

Through then, we have seen the never-ending conflict of these countries like a long and creative rhetoric of television superb manuscripts. Since 2003 when the West Bank Barrier, Wall, the Thing controversy, whatever, has surfaced onto our daily papers and television, number of news agency sent choppers, bulk of writers, production assistants and prime reporters to the Middle East just to cover the said issue. This has been one of the most viewed segments of news television and as well as the most earning one.

Through this, delivery of news became a vicious cycle.  Nevertheless, every time you see a TV and the news is all about Israelis and Palestinians conflict, the notion- unending media sympathy resulting to pure and legit yellow journalism.

Overview
Calling journalism Western suggests the practice of journalism itself bases on European-American standards and knowledge, making such concept as non-Western journalism be the exercise of writing, reporting and broadcasting distinct from that in the Western region.

Non-Western journalism, then, would have characteristics exclusive to it, defining and shaping it that there would be noticeable differences from that of the West. Modern practices and principles of journalism, however, would usually have a Western format, making texts and news stories universal, understood by audiences, listeners or readers in multiple mediums, and broadcasted.

It is not only by chance that journalism was also defined and developed in the West. After all, news gathering and transmission from its crude to contemporary forms and techniques have been shaped by emerging technologies throughout history  all invented by Western nations.

Aside from technology, another factor considered to be of greatest influence in journalism being predominantly Western in trait is the English language. De Burgh (2008 372) asserted that Anglophone journalists do not believe that their adherence to traditional journalistic practice is an ideology, but that these rules are what make the essence of journalism. English as a medium of communication, therefore, does play a main role.

Something that might be considered non-Western journalism would thus be any departure made by reporters in a given nationality or culture in the exercise of the profession, whether in news gathering, transmission, sharing or overall impact of stories and reports that are characteristic of that particular culture alone.

This treatment of journalism and news as cultural product would be theoretical and subject to further study, but are loosely based on the Barbie Zelizers contention that journalists have to be studied within their respective cultural contexts (Berkowitz 1997 4 Zelizer, 2004). Ettema and Whitney in Berkowitz also call for an understanding of journalism as a cultural product, that is by looking at relationships between journalistic production processes and the social contexts in which they are enacted (Berkowitz 1997 4).

To facilitate the aim of this paper to present concrete examples of journalism outside the Western hemisphere, scope has to be established. Answering the question, Is there such as thing as non-Western journalism the Southeast Asian region, particularly Singapore and the Philippines, would be main references.
Southeast Asia is an interesting subject of study given its cultural diversity, background and influences. It an emerging region forming the ASEAN alliance which has transformed from olden villages to modernity, affected by global forces of change, particularly Western concepts and principles, but at the same time still being truly Asian by its local adaptations of neighboring regions and cultures while having their own national identities (Owen 2005). Singapore and the Philippines are the member countries with media considerably spoken and produced in English. The language would thus be telling of their Western (particularly American) influences in reviewing their journalistic practice and products.

Singapore
Singapore has experienced economic and political success since the mid-1960s and has been a thriving independent city-state after British colonial rule. The immediate rise to prosperity involved a single party disciplinarian rule dedicated to efficiency, cleanliness and generous social services (Owen 2005 424). In exchange of the high standards of living, personal liberty and free expression suffered under authoritarian rule.

Needless to say, free press is far from developing, with a monopoly ownership in place since the 1980s. Singaporean journalism today is one that conforms to discipline of journalism for development and journalists as government partners (Romano 2005).

Earlier forms of press were competitive and commercial (Kokkeong 2001) in the 1960s to early 1970s, when the Peoples Action Party (PAP) succeeded to state power. The ruling party also enacted a newspaper licensing policy in the name of national security that regulated ownership and content. Such laws were especially against radical leftist views and ethnic chauvinism (2001 83). The publications, written in Malay, English, Mandarin and Tamil were all influenced by the British in terms of character and management. The publications were privately controlled and owned by wealthy families and businesses. Newspapers had to reconcile the PAPs pro-English language stance and favorable political and social approvable of communist China caused dissatisfaction among citizens and intraclass disputes (Kokkeong 2001).

Transition of the press from having a capitalist orientation to that of a public corporation with an increased state influence over the media began, while applying Lees press philosophies of subordination of press freedom to the city-states current needs and purpose of government. Local media were also directed to strengthen cultural values (Kokkeong 2001 77) while the state took on the right to control the flow of foreign information. Journalists with unfavorable comments were either accused of supporting communism and would only be released after an enforced public confessions to crimes of pro-communist conspiracies. The advantage, however, of the governments control mechanisms benefited the publications economically (2001 90).

In the 1980s, Singaporean media was marked by corporate mergers and monopolies leaving only two corporate media groups to dominate the Straits Times Press and the Singapore News and Publication Limited. These two also merged in 1989 to form a single monopoly called Singapore Press Holdings (SPH) with four subsidiary publication groups. The New Paper, first published in 1988, was an evidence of socioeconomic commodification (Kokkeong 2001 93) by avoiding political discussions while targeting young Singaporeans (2001 123). The publication was modeled after English tabloid USA Today.

Mainstream Singaporean journalisms compromising adoption of  a solidly pro-establishment perspective (Fong in Kokkeong 2001) for progress sake could considered a departure from the Western ideal of a free media culture and uncontrolled flow of information. Press organizations general willingness to give up corporate powers for mergers and integrations, though also an orientation of the British media  taking the case of BBC as an example  were of the Singaporean attitude to give constructive accounts of leadership and governance for the objective of unity. Singaporean newsgathering and reporting take on the format of Western practices, but such organizational culture of reiterating the status quo (Lee 2005 16) is a characteristic of journalism in Southeast Asia.

The Philippines
The Philippines arguably has the freest press in Asia, and has survived from periods in recent history with political variability and government-control, especially during the rule of dictator Ferdinand Marcos from 1985 to 1986 during which reports and information against the government were harshly sanctioned (Romano  Bromley 2005 xiii). Insistent journalists, however, managed to skirt around and slip subversive comments and exposs into publication. There continued a love for freedom and independence, taking on the journalistic role of watchdogs adversarial to political figures and critical to policies culminating to the People Power Revolution which forced Marcos to flee from the presidency in 1986 (Severino  Salazar 2007).

Such upheaval triggered by journalism, in fact, was not singular in the archipelagos history. The Propaganda movement led by national heroes Jose Rizal and Marcelo del Pilar during the close of the 19th century produced the publication La Solidaridad calling for reform from Spanish colonial rule. The ideas inspired a secret armed society, the Katipunan, which transpired to the Philippine Revolution that aimed for independence from Spain. This led to the First Philippine Republic with a declaration of independence in 1899 (Diola 2010 Schumacher 2000).

The involvement of the press in struggles for independence in Philippine history can be seen as an influence to other Southeast Asian countries, mirrored in Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos and Burma which had underground publications (Ooi 2004  964). On the other hand, journalistic practices in some neighboring countries such as Singapore concede to compromise with powers-that-be to avoid conflict and work towards a common goal. It is not accurate to say, however, that the press in the Philippines does not share objectives of progress, development and democracy with its government (considered one of the most corrupt in the world).
Reporting and news gathering in the Philippines take on a disinterested approach, many times even critical to politicians and their policies. Coronel says that Filipino journalists guard their freedom and believe in the adversarial role of the press, but this freedom also leads to criticisms of a lax reporting and commercial exploitation (2008 91).

The move towards development journalism in Asia is attributed to have arisen from the Philippines (Abraham, 2008) taking after the belief that journalism should be brought to rural communities to give voice to ordinary people. Empowerment is to get readers to think of solutions to problems of development. The concept, however, was used to justify media subservience to the Suharto government in Indonesia, and was further criticized by Westerners who saw it as fig leaf for authoritarian governments in Asia (2008 9).
The case of development journalism in the Philippines can be an example of specialized journalistic practice not usually applicable in other cultures. Reporting in the Philippines is, however, deemed to be free and vibrant only because of lowsy systems and state supervision (Coronel 2008 91) and have tendencies to excess and corruption. Still, the fact that journalism in the Philippines is accomplished and dutiful under an American-influenced guarantee to free expression in an Asian setting must not be ignored.

Discussion
Looking at the journalism in the Southeast Asian region and zooming into the situation in Singapore and the Philippines, I can perceive two distinct national settings that create and influence their respective presses and publications, and consequently attitudes and views on reporting and newsgathering as well as the role of media practitioners. There exist vibrant non-Western approaches to each of their countries journalism, such as in overall outlook on development and the value of press freedom.

Journalism as a cultural product of these Southeast Asian countries has seen to be influenced by the West, written in English and affected by globalization and colonial rule. Nevertheless, the West itself has been critical of some practices and principles in the Philippines and Singapore that appear to be working for them, after all. It can be said, therefore, that journalists in both countries have pursued a kind of non-Western journalism.

The primary aims of my research paper is to critically assess the characteristics and traits of the Disney heroine and to come to a conclusion as to whether these traits are appropriate for a child audience growing up in 21st century society. Therefore, a methodology which encompasses the epistemological perspective of phenomenology, as opposed to realism or constructivism, appears to be most appropriate.

With phenomenology the primary concern is with exploring how human beings make sense of experience and transform experience into consciousness. (Quinn Patton, 2002, p. 104) In relation to my research topic therefore, I shall be looking at the experience of consuming animated features from the Disney studio, particularly in relation to protagonists who the audience of these films are particularly likely to take as role models and identify with, often adopting their personality characteristics. (Gotz, 2005, p. 89) This shall then be examined in terms of how these messages are translated into behaviours and morals for the adolescent market who consume them.

For example, to take a scene from The Frog Princess, we see Tiana ultimately working hard to fulfil her dreams, taking long shifts at a restaurant and physically showing signs of exhaustion, with heavy shoulders, ungraceful steps and dishevelled hair, painstakingly gathering just coins to put towards buying her own restaurant before she collapses into bed, with the alarm going off moments later for her to go out to work yet again. As ultimately her hard work and sacrifice of the opportunity of going out and socialising with her friends in favour of work is rewarded through saving enough money to buy the restaurant of her dreams, similarly the notion of hard work is rewarded and encouraged. Under a phenomenological approach her behaviour would be interpreted as similarly encouraging the notion of hard work to the audience of viewers, and this would then be translated into consciousness to cause the child to similarly be imbued with a strong work ethic to achieve your goals.

A reason for my choice of a phenomenological as opposed to a constructivist approach is because the constructivist approach emphasises the way in which there is a variety of sources which come to create reality for a human being, those which are both related to the media and external of media consumption. As I am exclusively discussing Disney features, factoring in the influence of home, school, parents as well as other media sources for influencing behaviour may well complicate my research unnecessarily. As this approach highlights plurality it takes the emphasis off the role of these films and includes a variety of other sources to explain behaviour. Whilst it is important that these sources are not neglected in accounting for a childs behaviour, to study the effect of just one source of influence the phenomenological approach seems more appropriate.

In relation to the earlier example therefore, Tianas display of being hard working and ultimately being rewarded for it would not necessarily be linked to the childs adoption of this ethic. Rather, exploration into the childs life, involving their personal experience of hard work, the ethic their parents have towards hard work and what they learn in school about being hard working would all need to be taken account of to explain a child displaying hard work. I believe that this ultimately does not help achieve my research objective of uncovering the behaviours a Disney films elicits in a child, and rather more broadly examines the various sources where a child learns behaviour. Therefore to be most effective in achieving my research aims, adopting the phenomenological as opposed to the constructivist approach seems more appropriate and rewarding.

In contrast to this however the realism approach seems to undermine the subjective nature of film viewing. This approach seems to imply that there is just one real truth from these films which can be uncovered to account directly for the behaviour of a child. The phenomenological approach therefore emphasises the translation of a specific experience into behaviour, whereas the constructivist approach covers various experiences, and the realist intends to uncover just one true experience of watching these films. By adopting the phenomenological approach therefore discovery of how a viewing of a certain film leads to behaviour is uncovered, appropriately providing a framework from which to answer my research question which simultaneously does not overstate the plurality of this process, nor does it ignore its subjective nature.

According to the body of literature already existing in relation to the way in which the characterisation of females by the Disney company has changed over time the potential for Disney to act as a moral educator for generations of children is extremely high and potent. For example, both John Taylor in Storming the Magic Kingdom and Michael Real in Mass Mediated Culture point out this influence. Particularly in American culture Disney has a philosophy which is so wide spread and accepted it is akin to that of religion as argued by Phil Vischer in Me, Myself and Bob, permeating all areas of American culture. In addition, these messages which are purveyed through their features are reproduced through cross media sources, through film, television series, merchandising, experience at theme parks and much more, according to Ward in an almost propaganda like manner (Ward, 2002, p. 2). Through studying the behaviour consuming these films elicits we are able to gauge more accurately the consequences of Disney and come to a judgement as to whether or not these texts are appropriate for children in a 21st century context, causing parents to think more critically about the amount of trust they put into this company to educate their children about the behaviours which are expected of them and the role they are expected to fulfil throughout their lives.

In order to achieve this it is therefore necessary to conduct a semiotic analysis of these Disney films. To make the semiotic analysis I conduct as effective as possible in meeting the objectives of the research study it is important to distinguish between the signifier, what is denoted on screen, and the signified, the connotations of these or the hypertext surrounding them. For example, in Pohcahontas upon seeing her for the first time Smith raises his eyebrows. Whilst this may on surface seem like an insignificant movement, Disney animation is not an innocent art form nothing accidental or serendipitous occurs in animation as each second of action on screen is rendered in twenty-four different still paintings. (Bell, 1995, p.108) The connotations of this signifier therefore emit messages about the value of physical attractiveness. Whilst Pohcahontas is often seen as one of the more female empowering texts, as she ultimately acts as a peace maker between two conflicting cultures rather than passively watching by as her culture is overridden by the white people, nonetheless, she still possesses physical beauty and through the attention Smith pays her exclusively because of her physical appearance, signified by him raising his eyebrows, the message is that possessing physical beauty is an important trait to possess, and in order to replicate Pohcahontas and to be attractive to the opposite sex, emphasis must similarly be placed on psychical attractiveness.

The semiotic analysis method is often criticised for lacking methodological vigour, resulting in low levels of objectivity and reliability. (McNeill and Chapman, p. 166) As there are very few methodological guidelines in existence for conducting a semiotic analysis, it means that the opinion of the individual is likely to influence the outcome of the analysis, known as subjectivity. For example, Snow Whites decision to conform to a role of domesticity whilst living with the dwarves, as she states, And if you let me stay Ill keep house for you. Ill wash and sew and sweep and cook. could be interpreted in different ways by different researchers based on the upbringing of the researcher, their individual experiences, culture, sex or age. Whilst the decision could be seen to have connotations of subservience to males and a womans only fitting role being confined to within the walls of her house, as whilst the dwarves work looking for diamonds, Snow White prepares their dinner and cleans their home. Alternatively it could be viewed as being in keeping with the ideology of the 1930s, when the role of the female was primarily based around domesticity and by representing females as so, Disney is merely conforming to an already existent notion, rather than being responsible for creating this world view independently.

This point then brings me onto the issue of retrospective study which is also an issue for my research. As the vast majority of features to come from the Disney studio which place females in a starring role were made decades ago, by looking at them from a 21st century perspective, when ideology and the role of females in society has changed to an almost unrecognisable degree, inconsistencies should be expected to be found. I believe however it is still important to address, given the Disneys companys longevity and the tendency for these films to have enduring popularity for generation after generation, with parents trusting them enough to pass onto their children, whether a child growing up today would pick up negative or positive behaviours through consuming these texts which were intended for a 1930s, 40s or 50s audience and this is a question I intend to address.

For example, Snow Whites behaviour reflects messages which would have been appropriate for the context in which the text was produced which was in the midst of the Depression. Following a terrifying chase through the woods where she is only just spared her life by the huntsmen and is plagued by horrifying images through the forest the underlying message is that she will cope somehow with a smile and a song. Whilst the connotations of this seem inappropriate to teach a child growing up in our modern society in 2010 when a more active role is encouraged in choosing your own fate, in 1937 when times were a lot more difficult and there was a real fear in society that you might not be able to get through these difficult times the message therefore had a lot more resonance, was far more fitting and was an adaptive attitude to possess.

Similarly, Cinderella reflects some of the issues which were potent post World War two. Cinderella was the first feature to come out of the Disney studio after the war and an eight year halt in production. During the war the females had patiently been waiting for their husbands and partners to return, therefore the connotations of the image of Cinderella fighting for her right to go to the castle to find her Prince, whilst it may seem out of touch to a modern audience as she seemingly falls in love at first sight after only a dance with him and her fairy Godmother comes to rescue her by providing her with a dress and a carriage, would again have had a greater deal of resonance with the 1950s audience it was intended for who are likely to have been only too able to relate to Cinderellas finding of true love and the message of struggling to be with him. Certainly the box office figures suggest that Cinderella had resonance at this time, as the film ultimately grossed 85 million for the Disney company.

However, despite these flaws of the semiotic analysis methodology it is a method which numerous academics in this field have selected to look at childrens film through. For example, Ward. Within her text Mouse Morality she looks in turn at a number of Disney features and using various techniques of semiotic analysis to access how and what they are communicating about morality. She also makes the point that whilst the semiotic tools provide the method for which these moralities are uncovered with, they shine a light on the results, as opposed to determining what may or may not be uncovered. (2002, p. 8) In terms of my research study therefore, by adopting a semiotic analysis approach the messages being communicated through these films are able to be uncovered, however, it is not the case that by using a different method, for example looking at virtue ethics, studying myth, archetype and ritual, would uncover an entirely different message. It seems the case that through the varied number of films I intend to look at, the broad approach of semiotic analysis seems to lend itself to more widely identify the signifiers and signified and provide a level of flexibility, as opposed to an approach such as myth and archetype, which Ward adopts in relation to The Lion King, a text which is heavily related to these notions and would not work as well with a film such as Sleeping Beauty which isnt as hinged on these notions.

In addition, a method which is also often used in social science is content analysis, which involves a more quantitative approach, whereas semiotic analysis is more concerned with latent, connotative meanings. (Chandler, 2007, p. 222) This is an approach which was deployed successfully in this field by Junn (1997) who did a content analysis of the number of times love, sexuality and marriage were mentioned in Disney films. Whilst this approach may have more reliability given the quantitative and definite nature of it, however, a flaw with this method is that simply because a film mentions these notions a certain amount of times, it does not automatically make it significant. This problem is overcome by the semiotic analysis method as the connotations of these instances of representation can be decoded to allow for a more thorough and exhaustive study of the Disney companys messages, rather than merely dealing with numbers and figures which do not align themselves so well with a more in-depth analysis of the relationship between the denotations of a text and the behaviour elicited in the viewer.

To apply this point I would like to highlight the case of Ariel in The Little Mermaid. It is often put to the Disney films from the 1990s that the female protagonists tease with the conventions of burlesque. (Bell, 1995, 114) and Junn found that there was a total of 823 instances of romantic or love related verbal references, settings or behaviours to come from films which were assessed as being part of the new romantic sub genre along with Beauty and the Beast  and Aladdin which represented a increase of 124 from the classic romantic sub genre. Whilst this is a significant increase, the assumption from the qualitative results is that this increase is negative and is encouraging sexualised behaviour in the viewers.

However, a semiotic analysis of the behaviour as opposed to a content analysis shows a very different story. Ariel may on paper perform romantic gestures more often than Cinderella or Snow White, however, her behaviour is fuelled by vastly different reasons. With Cinderella and Snow White the emphasis is placed on marriage, and the underlying message is that a woman only finds fulfilment in romantic love. Conversely with Ariel, her motivations lie in wanting to escape the confines of her life under the sea and be free in the real world, as she sings the lyrics, What would I give if I could live out of these waters What would I pay to spend a day warm on the sand Betcha on land they understand that they dont reprimand their daughters. Proper women sick of swimmin, ready to stand. From these lyrics we can see that her fulfilment comes through being permitted to be free on the land and being empowered as a female rather than through marriage, and her sexualised behaviour provides a way for her to fulfil this desire, which seems to tell a very different story to that of the quantitative analysis.

Reading a newspaper is no longer a physical activity where one touches the newspaper and flips over the pages. (Thiel, 1998) As the other activities, reading a newspaper is also a digital activity now due to which the newspaper industry has evolved completely. (Electronic newspapers, 2002)  It was before 1995 that world had not imagined that a newspaper could be read on the digital medium but then this new concept was laid down to the world. America Online had the first newspaper service which was initiated in May 1992 by Chicago Tribune. In 1995 a complete concept of going online and reading the newspaper was developed through CNN as the worldwide engine. This new concept was then well appreciated by the world as in April 2001 American trade journal Editor  Publisher Interactive had a total of registered 12,878 online news mediums in their database. (Krumsvik, 2006)

Today almost every newspaper has its E-paper available in most of the countries. It is believed by the researchers that in the future the printed newspapers will be replaced by their electronic versions especially in case of the young readers (Waal, Lauf,  Schnbach, 2005). This has not only increased the viewership of the newspaper but has also increased its revenues from advertisements as now people with their respective target audience that is there on the internet have started giving their advertisements on the newspapers as well. Other than that companies are also paying the newspapers huge amounts in order to advertise on the webpage through selling the companies the banners and other advertising options on the website. (Farhi, 2008)

Differences between the e-papers
The newspapers that I have selected to analyze are The Washington Post, The Boston Globe and The New York Times. All the three newspapers are the most popular ones among their competitors. The E- papers of the three newspapers have been used in order to compare them. The comparison or the similarities would be based on the various factors like the layout, easy access, easy navigation and other important aspects of an E- newspaper. The newspapers have been analyzed by viewing the websites of the respective newspapers of which the sources are available in the references.

Layout
The Boston Globe and The New York times have a pretty reader friendly layout as they have a complete summary or an abstract of the whole newspaper on the first page of the electronic edition. This makes it convenient for the reader to access any article that he wants as it is right there on the front page. The New York Times is more efficient than The Boston Globe is this respect because it also provides the page number and the section number of the article very precisely on the first page of the electronic edition. This makes The New York Times more convenient according to me because then a person could refer to the news in the conventional edition as the location is described very precisely over there.

The Washington Post is not reader friendly in this aspect. It does not specify the name of the articles in the newspapers on its first page. This may make it difficult for the reader to look for a particular article as he has to go through each of the page to find the article.

The Boston Globe and The New York times also have the picture of the print edition on the front page of the electronic edition of the newspaper while The Washington Post does not have it right it the front you have to go to another webpage to access it, though the link to the print preview is available on the front page of the e- edition.

Accessibility
The easiest access of all the E- editions is that of The New York Times where the button for E- edition is right there in front and the person does not have to search for it. The website does not even require any sort of subscriptions of signing up for anything at all. It can be accessed by anyone very easily. The Boston Globe is also easily accessible as it does not require any subscriptions but on its website it does not say anywhere about the electronic edition and thus a person has to look for it a little bit. This makes it a little less easily accessible than The New York Times. Out of all the three, The Washington Post is accessed with the most hassle because in order to view the electronic edition a person has to subscribe for it and then is able to view the paper. Subscription required the input of personal data and a one page form has to be filled up by the viewer.

Easy Navigation
Navigating from one page to another is not difficult in all three of them as there is an option in all three newspapers to go to any page without going back to the homepage. All the three have a bar which lists down the other pages in the newspaper and it is easy to go from one page to another.

The difference in the three papers is the way in which the bar that lists the pages is presented. The Washington Post has the name of all of its pages listed down. The Boston Globe and The New York Times are pretty similar in this case as they have the name of the pages listed along with that a few articles are also listed along with a little preview of the story and the picture. The only difference is that in The New York Times the two things are listed together while in the other they are there at different places.

Advertisements
The Boston Globe has the most advertising on its webpage. It has a branded banner along with more advertising columns. The New York Times has not branded any banner and has only placed advertisements that are related to various sections of the newspaper itself. The Washington Post is in the middle of the two as it does have advertisements over the webpage but the amount is very less as compared to The Boston Globe.

Similarity with the printed version
Out of three newspaper I feel that the electronic version of  The New York Times looks more like its printed version because it has all the news articles in the straight column as in case of the printed newspaper. Not only that but I also feel that the text is also quiet similar to the text of printed newspaper which makes it look like that.

Ownership
Looking at the factors that have been assessed we can find a lot of similarities in The New York Times and The Boston Globe. We can say that the two newspapers are almost on the same lines as they follow the similar rules. Both prefer a reader friendly outlook as we can find the names of the article and the name of the section there on the front page in the electronic edition.

Other than that the complete page layout for the two is pretty similar as mentioned above. Both have a preview of the first page of the newspaper which is also there on the front page of the webpage. If we observe the two WebPages very closely one more similarity that will be found is that both of these newspapers have an easy access to the previous editions of the last 7 days. The most similar thing is that the two websites present this option in the same manner. Looking at the similarities above one can safely assume that the two newspapers are from the same owners.

Print Vs. Electronic Edition
In order to compare the print and the electronic edition I have selected is The Boston Globe. I did not find much of the difference in the two as the most important things that is the news stories are the same. The format is of coarse different and that is because of the medium itself.

The most important difference is in the advertisements that are there on both the mediums. While going through the print version I found out that some of the advertisements are different in print from that of the electronic edition.

I prefer the printed version because I find it easier to read. Though the e- version is accessible anywhere but still I personally feel that the face that since all the stories and articles are right there in front of me so I find the printed version easier to read. I can very easily decide on what to read and can switch to a different article by only flipping a page.

Though the literature says that the online version gives the reader a more control but I am still of the opinion that the print version is better as in a conventional newspaper all the articles are visible so a person could easily find out what he or she is looking for. The electronic version has issues regarding the download time which makes it a hassle to read.

Another important factor that I feel makes print more favorable for me is the whole experience of reading the newspaper. Reading a newspaper to me has always referred to as a paper which has to be read in order to get the news. The whole digital aspect has taken out this whole experience of touching the newspaper and flipping its pages physically. Thus, to me it does not give a complete experience of reading a newspaper. To me reading a computer screen for hours and hours is very difficult and it causes a lot of sprain to my eyes. This serves as another very important factor for choosing conventional newspaper over its electronic edition.

Conclusion
The conventional newspaper has found its counterpart which is its electronic version. Since the first online newspaper in 1995 today almost every newspaper is available in the cyber space. (zer) The most important need of digitalization of the newspaper was because of reducing the geographical boundaries in the readership of the newspapers.

The three very important newspapers in the US have been analyzed which are The New York Times, The Boston Globe and The Washington Post. The differences and the similarities among the three have been analyzed. In my opinion, print version of the newspaper is still better than the electronic version as the e-version lacks the whole newspaper reading experience. Though the Electronic version has many advantages over the conventional paper but I still prefer reading the conventional newspaper.

Jumanji was a childrens movie which released in the year 1995. The movie is based on a book which was published in 1981. The book was written by Chris Van Allsburg. The film revolves around 4 characters that play a board game. Judy and Peter are the children whose parents leave them at home and ask them to keep the place clean. The children head out to the park and find a free board game, Jumanji.

The game instructions say that it starts in the jungle and ends in The Golden City. At the first roll of the dice, the boy, Alan is sucked into the game and can not be found. Years later another two children, Judy and Peter, find the game and start to play it. At every roll that the kids make, some animal is unleashed and the next move is the only thing that will send it back. The game can not be stopped once it has started, thus the children need to finish it. The three characters, Judy, Peter and Alan find Alans old girlfriend who also helps them out with the game.

Every roll of dice causes them to experience something new and out of the ordinary. Animals such as pythons, lions, and a rhinoceros stampede are part of the game. But it is not only animals which are unleashed. The children also experience natural disasters such as monsoons during the course of the game.
Once the game finishes and the first player to reach the end calls out Jumanji everything goes back to normal and the children are in their homes. Everything goes back to the way it was.

Reality or Fantasy
Reality is something which is true. It is something which can happen to any one of us. Fantasy is the complete opposite of reality. It is something which is not true and is not possible. Most movies incorporate some elements of fantasy. There are movies which are completely based on fantasy, for example fairy tales and then there are movies which comprise a little of both. These movies usually include movies such as Daddy Day Care. These movies are also meant for children but are not completely untrue. There is a very thin line between fantasy and reality. It is also difficult to define something as a complete reality or a complete fantasy, there are many grey areas.

Childhood is a social construction and in different times children have had different developments socially and culturally. In todays time, the schools are there to help the children understand what it is to be a child and what is expected out of children in general.

When children watch shows which border on the line between reality and fiction, they get confused. They tend to think that these things can also happen in real life. We have heard of many incidents where the children watch superhero films and then try to act like the hero. For example some kids try to fly after they have seen a Superman movie. This causes many accidents to take place and many children to loose their lives or their limbs.

To some extent it can be said that movies help children identify with people that are similar to them. But if there is too much fiction in a movie, it may result in the child identifying with something that is not possible in real life.

It is not necessary that all television and TV time is bad for children. According to the Singers, watching some TV is actually good for children as it increases their level of creativity and promotes readiness. But this requires some guidance from the parents or the teachers, who can show children the right content.

Jumanji is a film which is based on fantasy. There is hardly any element of reality in it. The concept of board games does exist in reality and children and adults of all ages do play them but the way this board game, Jumanji is played in the movie is complete fiction. It is not possible in real life for animals to come occur just because the board game says they will. There are some specific scenes which are the most confusing. First of all, it is also not possible in reality for a child to be sucked in a game and being lost until another 2 children start to play the game and the same child appears as an old man.

The second confusing scene which borders on reality and fantasy is just by playing a board game the children have wreaked havoc within the city and nobody else within the city notices. It is unusual for all the other residents to vanish, except Alans girlfriend who they found and got to play with them. Also, Judy and Peters aunt has conveniently dropped out of the movie and is not to be found, especially since she was there before the children started to play the board game.

They are running around, trying to avoid the animals and disasters which emerge from the game. The children who initially started the game and the children who re-opened the game, all four of them are trying to finish the game so that they can return to their real life.

Another confusing element for the children is that the boy, Alan when he went into the game was young but years later when the game was re-opened he had aged like a normal person. Also, the movie shows catastrophes hitting the whole city but there is nobody else in the entire city to notice that so much I happening.

There are many other such questions which come to mind when watching the movie. Also children need to connect the thoughts and understand the movie otherwise they can not make the connection between events. As adults we know the difference and are able to view things in isolation. This shows what children talk about when they view the movie with a family.

Jumanji has blurred the difference between reality and fantasy. Many film makers and authors tend to do that. They try to incorporate something out of the ordinary in real life. This leads to confusion for the children because they themselves are not so sure about the reality part of life. Children are just getting to know about all the things around them, their knowledge base is not as developed as that of an adult.

Another example of such burring by an author is the series of Harry Potter books. A life which is based on reality is running simultaneously to a life which is based on fantasy. Many young children question their parents about the things that they are shown in movies and why they are not true in reality.

Jumanji like many other movies cannot draw a distinct line between the two reality and fantasy. It has resulted in children thinking that when they play the game, same things will happen to them, which they dont because they are a fantasy and not part of reality.

Conflicts are a common scenario in the workplace. Employees tend to argue and fight over matters that concern the work, especially so if the other seems to have been favored with beaming tasks. Conflicts are detrimental to the expectations of a particular company regarding the productivity and quality of work expected of an employee. The manager is someone designated to mediate in employee misunderstandings. The ability of the manager to iron out conflicts is essential in bringing forth a working environment more conducive to quality work and more inspiring for employees to give their best in every task assigned to them. Although managers are superior and their words are often irrevocable, it is a must for them to exhibit skills in emotional intelligence for better leadership and organization.

Coaching a Manager with Interpersonal Style Issues
In every working environment, it is expected that one employee could surpass the other in terms of quality and quantity of output. Difficult people are inherent in the workplace and this includes an employee who refuses to accept the fact that one is better than him or her. In the case of Sarah, a question of workload was raised which Fred needs to answer and explain without flaring up. It is to be understood in the very first place that Sarahs questioning is based on her feeling of insecurity over the other. In this case, emotional intelligence is needed from Fred in order for him to intervene and answer the question without hurting Sarah further. The success of a company or of an organization does not just depend on the technical aspect of the business environment. It is essential for any manager to analyze situation according to emotions and personalities of involved individuals.

In this case, it is your responsibility to understand Fred based on his decision of giving out the project to George instead of Sarah. Stating plainly that George could deal with the clients requirement is vague. Let Fred explain in detail what the specific requirements are and why does he think George fit the said requisites. Clarifying the decision and the basis for the decision would lead you to analyzing Freds action and Sarahs reaction in return.

It is also necessary that Fred should understand how his reaction to Sarah would worsen the impression of bias among employees. Sarah might tend to relate what happened

inside the office and the lack of justifying explanation about Freds decision would create the notion of favoritism. This would further create a wrong impact on the business at large. Employees will no longer have the drive to work hard because Fred, the manager, sees only a few potentials.

Thus, there is a need for Fred to establish justification on preferring George over Sarah regarding the project. Freds credibility in assessing employees would reflect your credibility in assessing people for the managerial post. Considering that Fred is just a new manager in the office, the action was still unacceptable.

Fred apparently did little to demonstrate to Sarah that he heard, and understood
her concerns.

Fred lost his temper when challenged by his employee. This is not a good sign What might Fred do in another similar situation or one that requires him to remain calm under greater fire
 Fred minimized Sarahs concerns by telling her never to bring up the question of
gender bias again. His overreaction might only fuel Sarahs suspicions.

Sarah may discuss the interaction with Fred among her colleagues, thus endangering this new managers credibility with others. (p. 185)

Fred is novice in the field and there is really a need for him to be coached. Clarifying his decisions and making sense out of his preference for George would let you see his style in approaching and solving his problems. Indeed, this is a situation-based decision. Coaching primarily depends on the answers and explanations which Fred will provide.

Talking to Fred will help him understand his course of action regarding the questioning incidence of Sarah. His lost of temper and his inability to let Sarah understand the decision would further instill insecurities and inferiority to Sarah. Let Fred visualize the effect or the outcome if he responded the way you are suppose to respond.

Executive EQ Emotional Intelligence in Leadership and Organizations, propose a three-step process for managing emotional energy (p. 35)
1. Acknowledge and feel the emotion (dont pretend emotions dont exist).
2. Listen to the information or feedback the emotion is giving you . . . e.g.,Which of my principles, values, or goals is at stake here
3. Guide . . . the emotional energy into an appropriate, constructive response

Show Fred concrete words and actions which you might have done given the chance that you are in a situation like that.

Clearly state what occurs now and what needs to occur. People respond better to language focused on results (not consequences). Get the person to think out
loud
 Im not clear on details. Tell me more.
 What do you value about your work
 Why did that happen (Answer.) Why do you think that occurred (Do this until you identify the root causes under the symptoms)

Coaching Fred will be easy given the chance that you understand clearly why he decided to act that way. Let Fred see the importance of patience to explain to others so that things will run smoothly especially in a working environment such as yours. As you show Fred that patience you have for him, he will eventually have a clearer picture of what you are trying to point out.

Finally, let Fred be in rectification of his unacceptable behavior over Sarah. Your presence in the next conversation which Fred will schedule with Sarah will be showing not just your concern for the issue neither just Freds acceptance of his error but also the companys concern over the employees issues. This would show that each part of the company matters a lot.

We go behind the scenes, a contemporary phrase news journalists sometimes use to introduce the story behind the story, also aptly depicts the point of this paper which examines voice and articulation components depicted in two YouTube video clips currently showing online.   The first clip features Katic Couric, a newscaster for CBS television network.  The second video clip, Robin Williams as the American Flag, spotlights Robin Williams, a prominent comedian, who has also starred in numerous movies.

Analysis of Katie Courics Voice
The background for the video of Katie Couric, managing editor and anchor person  for CBS Evening News, could be construed to reflect the typical faade the news journalist must routinely wear to report the news with little emotion  a bit cool.  In the background of the 849 minute YouTube video, the viewer can plainly see the world outside Courics news set through a huge picture window.   Snow still covered the ground outside when this video segment was filmed January 8, 2009, the night Couric reported the New Hampshire primary election results The viewer may also see what appears to be the edge of a dog house at the far right corner behind Couric and two thin tree trunks mid-left behind her.  A satellite news truck appears to be parked in the middle distance far behind Couric.  As she speaks, Couric regularly pauses to take a sip of what appears to be a hot beverage from an oversized, black coffee cup, with a white interior.
Nothing in the video segment posted on YouTube indicates whether Couric realized she was being recorded other than during the few seconds she reported one result that had just come in as being still too close to call  (354).   This particular speaking situation, set up for prime-time TV viewers watching CBS, also included Courics supporting team.  Although sometimes, Courics voice was pleasant to listen to, much of the time during this behind the scene scenario, her voice did not sound so pleasant.  Two particular examples of the not so pleasant times occurred at timed points, 314  and 834 when Couric verbalized the same words each time in a much too low pitched voice  Time for the weather and Al.   These two instances replicated the tone in one other instance when Couric deliberately lowered her voice to an unnatural tone and stated  My voice is so low with this cold (310).  Several times, due to Courics cold, although her voice did not sound distorted, it did reflect the undesirable quality of a too-high pitch.                  
During the times Couric was not on the air, she maintained extreme expressiveness.  Some of the material she presented while off the air was not meaningfully interpreted.  Some comments Couric made, with an extremely varied voice, appeared to be borderline sarcastic.    Sometimes Courics pitch was much too high, due to her cold.  Other times, as noted earlier, he pitch sounded entirely too low when she deliberately lowered her voice.  On the air, however, Courics pitch sounded just right, while when off the air, her pitch as well as her volume varied from one extreme to the other.  One time, her voice sounded a bit too loud another time too soft, and then yet at another time - just right.  This occurred, the writer asserts, due to Courics cold and her joking with her team members.  

The rate of Courics speech varied from too slow, to too fast, to just right.  At one point, when Couric asked members of her team whether the town of Wheatland should be pronounced Wheatland or Wheatland (136-147), she spoke in a high-pitch, at a bit too fast rate.  Couric demonstrated active lip, jaw and tongue movement during the video.  

Based on the writers analysis, Courics key voice strengths appear to be her articulation and sound quality.   One area where she seems to perhaps need voice improvement include when she spoke in a too high pitch.  That area, however, may be attributed to Couric having a cold.

Analysis of Robin Williams Voice
The YouTube 507 video segment spotlighting Robin Williams comprises part of a TV special, I Love Liberty, created by Norman Lear and presented by The People for the American Way (PFAW).  The two-hour version originally aired back on March 21st, 1982.   This video, filmed in front of a life audience, is almost 28-years old and still draws viewers.

Robin Williams tunes in to and targets his live audience held in an amphitheater style convention center.  As his audience of fans surrounds him from every angle, the majority of the mixed-race crowd appears to between 20 and 40 years old. At one point, during a brief cut-a-way made during the filming, the cameraman shows a close-up frame of Ted Turner, a prominent TV personality, seated in the audience.  

The material Williams presented on stage was meaningfully interpreted.  When the I Love Liberty, video excerpt starring Williams begins, he, dressed in a shirt replicating the American flag, stands at the front of the stage with a majestic, gigantic American flag positioned behind him in the distance. Although the viewer does not hear the song, Robbins makes a comment that leads the viewer to believe the song The Star Spangled Banner had just been played.  Robbins starts out his routine with the words, Im the one that theyre singing about Just call me Flag (14- 24).      

While Williams spoke, his voice remained pleasant to listen to.  The writer did not note any undesirable qualities in his voice or articulation, as his voice remained clear, distinct, and easy to understand, except for one intentional distorted sentence.  The line, after Williams, portraying himself as the American Flag, reported that he had been to the moon  One small step was intentionally distorted to mimic the static heard during the communication when the first men stepped on the moons surface (344).   Williams demonstrated active lip, jaw and tongue movement during his monologue.  

While pointing to several particular stars depicting states, Williams spoke with various accents.  In reference to Tennessee, Williams said with a distinct southern accent  We got yur Tennessee, How yew doin today (229).  This segment demonstrates what Lynn K. Wells (2003) explained in the text book, The Articulate Voice  An axiom is generally thought to be that of persons within the same linguistic community, while a dialect is often considered to be that of a person with another primary language (p, 135).  The writer did not notice any signs of dialect when Williams spoke, only that he complimented this one part of his monologue with axioms.

Williams remained extremely animated during the video.  His voice varied and was flexible. His pitch varied regularly from too high to too low to just right, however the inflections and changes in pitch were deliberate.  His high pitch proved particularly effective when he stated   Im in my birthday suit (42).   Williams also appropriately varied his volume.  Even when it could have been technically considered too loud or too soft, each time, in regard to this criteria,  proved to be just right as each change in volume effectively accented the words.   Williams speech rate varied and at one point may have been a bit too fast.  In his past, Williams admitted to having used cocaine.  The writer does not know whether this may have been a factor in his life at this time or it may have contributed to him demonstrating excessive speed during the video.   At the end of the video, Williams rate of speech proves particularly powerful.  As he kneels down on one knee to mirror the American flag being flown at half staff, Williams states   This is not my favorite  Look at it as if you are saluting yourselves. Im just a flag, a symbol  And if I may say so from here pointing to his heart - long may you wave (404-431).  

Williams pitch, like the waves of the ocean, rolled up and down...  His speech effectively shows how a person can deliberately control the flow as he paces his words from slow to fast and in between.
He animated his actions when responding to the question addressed to the flag at 204 years old  Flag, how do you stay so young Is it Jogging
No.
Is it tennis
No.  
Its waving.

Williams demonstrates that in comedy, the ability to flexibly change ones voice to present a range of pitches high, low pitch, and in between, serves as one of many keys to not only target ones audience, but to use ones voice to best do so.  

Conclusion
In this paper, the background and audience differed for Couric and Williams.  Couriss speaking situation placed her at a distance from most of her audience, while Williams positioned himself in the midst of his.  The quality of Courics voice may have been adversely affected her cold.  The writer did not note any concerns regarding the quality of Williams voice.  Both Couric and Williams proved to be articulate in their speech their voices were basically clear, distinct and easy to understand.  Both speakers demonstrated active lip, jaw and tongue movements.  Williams deliberately distorted the sound to replicate the communication between the earth and the moon.   Neither Couric nor Williams spoke in a dialect.  

Couric and Williams were both expressive when they spoke.  The writer considered Williams to appear more natural, however.  Some of Courics expressions seemed a bit feigned.  When Williams varied his pitch and rate it seemed natural.  When Couric used the same tactics, they did not seem as effective.  The variations in volume also seemed to work for Williams, but appeared flat at times for Couric.  Volume was the volume varied, too loud, too soft, just right. Couric, reportedly relates just the facts when she knows she is on the air something that may be perceived as a strength andor a weakness.  Even when she thinks the camera may not be recording, it appears that Courics modus operandi, her habitual way of operating in front of the camera, continues to determine the way she speaks and how she articulates her words.  The primary strength for Williams seems to be that he knows to adjust his speech and articulate his words to maintain continuity.  He also naturally adjusts his delivery to effectively target his audience.  
That, the writer asserts, depicts the main difference.  A news anchor like Couric is a talking head, reading a script.  A good comedian, like Williams becomes so intimate with his material he does not appear to even need notes.  No matter if one is a public speaker, news anchorreporter, politician or comedian, the writer contends that vital keys to consider in any presentation include quality, articulation, movement, and expressions, which include pitch volume and rate.  Then, as one targets his audience and offers words with substance, his YouTube video excerpt could possibly survive, even if he does not know the camera is recording.  It could perhaps draw viewers up to 28 years after it is first videoed  or perhaps, even longer.

Communication is a very important aspect in life, it enables people who are apart to link up and pass information from one point to another. With the advancement in technology and communication channels in the last decade, many social networks are coming up to deal with the increasing demand for communication. Many people are becoming more and more connected with the new advancement in place.Globolization process is one of the major areas that have been made easier with the latest progress in information, communication and technology (ICT). The world nowadays is like a small village and communication has been made more flexible, cheap and accessible. The research is therefore based on the impact of face book in the world both positive and negative, as a social network group in the modern world (Bucy  Newhagen, 2006).

Impact of face book on social network
Face book is a social network body that was founded by a twenty three year old student of psychology, by the name Mark Zuckerberg. It was officially launched in the year 2004 February and most students in learning institution especially in Harvard University became the first members of the famous social network. It began to spread allover the world in early 2005 and to date the group has become so famous with both the young and the old. The latest report launched by face book officials on the registered members shows that the number has tremendously increased to over 30 million people and it has extended from the studentsyouths to the older ones in corporate world. The research is to enable us find out the changes brought by face book in the world and the benefits which are increasing day by day.

Benefits of Face book to the Userspositive impacts
Face book being a social network group has enabled people to link up so easily by just inviting people as friends or joining different groups or creating new groups and inviting people. As a result, people have shared important and latest information by posting the news on walls of a friend. However if the message is more private, then it is recommended to use inbox as a way of passing the information. The inbox message can not be accessed easily by anyone whether a friend or not since it requires a pass word to open. The benefit of face book to its users varies depending on the type of user or the groups. It can be used by businessmen to advertise new products, best places to buy items are location by just pasting the information on the wall and sending to friends and friends of friends hence the information is passed without delay. One is able to upload pictures from face book and share with friends or use them on communication gadgets like mobile phones as screen savers or attach the pictures uploaded together with the message (Bucy  Newhagen, 2006).

Through the use of face book as a connection tool, one is able to get more information about people they intend to be-friend  unlike other network groups that do not expose peoples profiles, for instance one is able to know the status of anothermarried or single, religious background, age, picturelook, political background and even location. With such kind of information, many people are now keen enough to choose their friends wisely and to know what to discuss with them in consideration of their status or class in the society. To the politicians, face book has been of great benefit in spreading ideology and political intentions of different politicians hence increasing their chances of winning in an election. Face book has not only linked people but it has also made many single menwomen date each other and even marry each other. It has led to new ways of dating and encouraged associations.

Negative impact of face book
With the increasing number of users, the research will focus on the negative impacts of face book that has led to more damage both to the young ones and the old. Face book is full of fun and many friends that are of different backgrounds, age and status. Most people get addicted to face book as a result of meeting new friends and developing new network, in the long run, they tend to postpone their workjob as they spend most of the time chatting with friends during work time. The research is more concerned with the dropping profit margin affecting most companies and organizations as a result of face book use during work time by the employees.

And to find out the reason why face book has led to drop in performance especially to the students that are in learning institutions, face book has led to the drop of performance and most of the teachers are complaining a lot that most students even the former bright ones are recording low grades as a result of face book. Most marriages are also facing threat of separation as a result of face book, since most married couples find themselves attached to other friends in face book and spend most of the time chatting with their new friends than their wives or husbands, and lastly to find out why most of the current divorce cases are in connection with face book usage.

Conclusion
Face book has made communication easier, linked many people allover the world and encouraged partnership both in trade and social aspects. With the advancement in ICT, face book has helped a lot in the spread of informationideas in most parts of the world. It has not only brought benefits to the people but has also led to some negative effects in the society such as time wasting, dating among married people and poor performance in academic institutions.

Ritu Argawan and Meng Mas study entitled Through a Glass Darkly Information Technology Design Identity Verification and Knowledge Contribution on Online Communities explored the effectiveness of knowledge contribution that is encouraged on online communities and how the exchange is aided by the presence of different technological advancements in identity confirmation. For this study, the authors surveyed at least 650 members of two online communities one was an emotional-support community while the other was a common-interest community on the web. The study produced significant results on the research gap regarding the usage of information technology (IT) for communication and knowledge contribution purposes on online communities. The concept of identity verification in the online setting was also given thorough importance by producing a quantitative analysis. The formation of identity in the online world significantly affects the communication process of people and the level of possible knowledge contribution that could exist in this type of community.

The goal of the authors in this study is to explore and define the role of technology as a key factor for an online community in its objective of facilitating knowledge contribution. The study recognized that there are several reasons that affect how people participate in online communities and so the authors made use of different IT artifacts such as virtual copresence, persistent labeling, self presentation, and deep profiling to measure the reliability of their interaction with other people (Argawal and Ma, 2007, p. 43). These artifacts are deemed important in enhancing identity verification of people and in effect contributing to the satisfaction of the members in their participation on online communities and affecting their process of knowledge contribution. The hypotheses of the research study is built around the question of how these four artifacts significantly affects the perceive identification verification of people online and how they direct and indirectly affects the communication process of the community. Participants believe that the effective establishment of their online identity relates significantly to knowledge contribution in the community, increasing the recognition and self-worth that the person enjoys. Argawal and Ma (2007) believe that voluntary knowledge contribution is promoted between strangers through the help of technology-mediated communication (p. 42). There are certain reasons why people are gathered together on one community online and this study verifies if members of the communities really find their participation helpful and beneficial for them in sharing and receiving knowledge from their chosen community.

In Argawal and Mas study (2007), technology is the foundation and medium through which community members interact and therefore it is a significant factor that affects how the communication in the community flows (p. 43). Technology was a central concern in the study and the authors attempted to measure quantitatively the impact of using information technology innovation for the communication process and identity verification in community infrastructure designs. The world that is created with the help of technology has several different rules in the offline world. Therefore, communication in communities online would be different because of the medium that is used in it. As the theory of media ecology dictates, the medium used for communication is as vital as the content being communicated (Levinson, 2000).

The truth is, communication by technology is very challenging and does not always guarantee effective social interaction because crucial and important  contextual cues such as body language and physical surroundings cannot easily and conveniently be realized through computer channels (Argawal, 2007, p. 43).

Communication process is already complicated in its own sense already. The introduction of technology therefore added further complications as communication evolves along with the innovations of media that could be utilized by people. By exploring and empirically testing the communication of people in the structure of online communities, the authors of this study provided a theoretical explanation on what features of technology can help motivate knowledge contribution in the online setting.

As the study proved, one of the vital things needed in online communities is the credibility of the identity of the participants. Online communities are mostly popular because they provide support, encourage similar interests, or promote friendship across the land. The study emphasized that for a community to work effectively, identity verification is important to maintain the smooth interaction and willingness to open up and share in the community. In the study, identity is used to define more than the name of the person. Individuals can choose not to reveal their real name or assume different roles in their online world. Rather, identity takes into consideration an individuals personality, social background and roles, and value systems (Argawal and Ma, 2007, p. 59). These things are often regarded more important than an individuals real name. The establishment of satisfaction and mutual trust is not reliant on the real name of the people they interact with in online communities. Rather, the openness and honesty on personality is regarded more important. The study proved that when understanding has already been established and participants are satisfied with the amount of introduction they received from their co-participants, they could at once share a part of themselves to them and take part in the exchange of knowledge and personal experiences. The figures presented by the study show that three out of four artifacts used in the testing model are often employed.

Most importantly, the authors of this study also added the significant limitations of this study and included a discussion on what are the possible contributions and implications of their theory. The authors recognized that because they have only surveyed two, highly-centralized, online communities, the results of the study may not apply to some designs of online communities. Other than this, there still other more limitations on this study that can be addressed in future researches. Argawal and Ma (2007) included possible future researches for communication and what other possible aspects of technological advancements could change the process of communicating of online and offline (p. 61). The possibilities of more related studies are bountiful as the culture IT continues to grow and expand.

As the study concludes, Through a Glass Darkly successfully achieved its goal of providing significant and timely results about the interpersonal communication process that occurs abundantly on online communication. The study highlighted, through the theoretical model employed by the authors, the importance effects of technological advancements and how they computer-mediated communication affects the exchange of communication in online communities. This gives emphasis on the evolvement of media ecology and verifies how the medium is significant in delivering messages. And lastly, the authors of the study were able to provide strong empirical discussion that concerns the importance of identity verification and satisfaction for knowledge contribution in online exchanges.

This paper talks about the integrated marketing and communication activities conducted by Nike. Nike is a sports goods company that sells its products all around the world and is known worldwide but in this paper, I would be specifically talking about Nike particularly in Hong Kong.

Mission of Nike
At Nike, the goal of the company is to minimize the energy footprints of the consumers as well as of the business itself in order to flourish in the low-carbon economy. In their products, they try to reduce the energy embedded in it and more focus is placed on utilizing the energy in an efficient manner and constructing green factories. Moreover, in terms of delivery, Nike tries to reduce the logistics by optimizing the product flow and to opt for distance collaboration to reduce travelling. The products manufactured and sold by Nike are innovative and are meant for every athlete in the world. (Nike, Inc. n.d.).

Company background 
Nike is a sportswear company based on United States that manufactures and sells all sports goods such as sportswear and equipment. The headquarters of Nike are located in Beaverton and the company is known as the leading supplier of sports goods in the world. In 2008, its revenues crossed 18.6 billion and it employs around 30,000 all over the world. it was in 1964 when Nike was founded by Bill Bowerman and Philip Knight but initially it was known by the name of Blue Ribbon sports and later in 1978, it became Nike. All the products manufactured by Nike are sold under its own brand name and besides this Nike also operates retail stores under the name of Niketown. Many high profile athletes worldwide are sponsored by Nike and the two trademarks of Nike recognized by the people globally are Just do it and the HYPERLINK httpen.wikipedia.orgwikiSwoosh o Swoosh Swooshlogo.

Products
There is a wide range of sportswear and sports equipment that is produced by Nike but initially Nike used to produce track running shoes but today they have a huge variety of sports goods such as shoes, jerseys, shorts and other products needed by the baseball, ice hockey, tennis, football and cricket players. Nike produces products for women, men as well as for the children and the brand is very popular especially amongst the youth.

Customer analysis
The primary concern and the challenge for every company is to increase sales and to stay competitive for which it is essential for the company to do a proper customer analysis. However, in order to remain competitive, a company must seek for various avenues that would help in boosting the sales such as by identifying new opportunities for sales. Customer is the one who can make a company become successful and so it is important for the company to focus on the needs of the customers and to understand what they want. Customers focus and market intelligence tools should therefore be used by the company to ensure growth. By analyzing the customers, one actually gets to know the current states of sales and all the activities related to sales and this can be analyzed by keeping in view the total number of customers, those who are active and the top ten customers. (Blythe 2008).

There are many market segments that are being served by Nike such as their primary and secondary market. It is wise to sell new products to the same customers rather than to plan strategies to sell new products to the new customers and this is because the ratio of loyalty of the customers with the brand they like is always higher than those people who are new users. The primary target market of Nike is those people who indulge themselves highly in sports and so their consumption of sports goods is high.

Sports in Hong Kong
Just like all the other countries worldwide, sports are also played in Hong Kong and so there is a demand for sports goods in the country as well. In the history of Hong Kong, the first sporting club of the country was Hong Kong City Hall and initially it was involved mainly in water sports. However, due to the British influence, the primary sport of Hong Kong has been football and so Nike has a good market in the country.

Nike in Hong Kong 
Since football is the primary sport played in Hong Kong, it is good for the heath of Nike as this is the most widely played sport besides many other sports in the country and so the sales of football shoes, balls and other equipments can be enhanced. Moreover, as the climate in Hong Kong is mostly subtropical monsoon with a cool and humid temperature in the winters while in summers the climate is hot and rainy, the people can play footballs and other games except for winter sports all around the year and this is advantageous for Nike. Therefore, both primary and secondary segments are found in Hong Kong and many people here are athletic who come under the category of heavy users of the products sold by Nike. Most of the area of Hong Kong comprises of land and so sports on land are played more than the water sports. 89.2 of the people in Hong Kong comprise of the Chinese people and the country has a very high literacy rate i.e. 96.9 in males and 89.6 in females according to the estimates of 2002. (Central Intelligence Agency n.d.).

Currently in Hong Kong, Nike is targeting the men as well as the women and the company is selling sports goods related to running, basketball, football, training, action sports and they are offering foot wear, clothing and equipment for these two segments as well as for the kids. Besides this, at NIKEiD Studio, the customers can customize their choice of style, color, material as well as graphic and personal ID on all the products sold by Nike and so I recommend that Nike should continue with this strategy as it is working quite well in Hong Kong. (Nike n.d.).Competitors Analysis

The top competitor of Nike is Adidas besides which the names of some more competitors of the company are mentioned below. (Daily Finance n.d.).
Reebok
Woodland
Red tape
Bata
Liberty

Nike is an international brand and it is popular especially amongst the youth, however there is intense competition around it and the company has to face various threats that erupt especially from the side of the competitors. The sports goods industry is very competitive especially for sportswear and shoes and despite of the fact that Phil Knight came up with a model to manufacture a high branded product but at a low cost. This model is now being used by most of the companies and it no more serves as a competitive advantage for Nike. Moreover, the competitors today are coming up with strategies in order to take the market share away from Nike.  Nowadays the customers have become more intelligent and savvy and they expect value pricing besides expecting customer value. The competitors that are offering sports goods at the prices lower than those charged by Nike are serving as a threat to the company. The major competition of Nike is with Adidas and so Nike has to set prices accordingly because if the same thing will be available at Adidas at a lower price, the people will shift towards the products of Adidas.

Threats to Nike
Since Adidas is a direct competitor of Nike, it is a major threat to the business in terms of quality, design and the price of the products. Some of the other threats of Nike are the threat of substitute products. Since the athletic shoes are meant for comfort, the customers might switch to other brands if the other brands offer better quality products. For the customers, the switching costs are low as the products sold by Nike are not too expensive and so people can easily switch to other brands. In the industry in which Nike is operating, the companies are mutually dependent and this means that a move by a particular competitor would affect the other companies in this business as well. For instance, if Reebok comes up with a new range of products for women, the other companies will also introduce the same kind of range as well. This again serves as a major threat to Nike as well as it is not so easy to come up with totally a new range of products but in order to deal with the competition, Nike will have to use more of its resources to introduce new products.

IMC Campaign 
In todays era the needs of the consumers differ from one another but to make things easier, the marketer forms certain market segments that are groups of people with similar needs. For instance, Nike sells its products to three main market segments, the men, women and the kids. Therefore, Nike has to adopt different marketing strategies to create an impact on each segment. When using integrated marketing communication, the marketer integrates various marketing tools to create the desired impact by using the minimum resources in order to gain the highest profit. Gone are the days when companies used to use traditional methods of marketing their products and today if Nike uses the same strategy, it will totally harm the business. Therefore, it is not good idea to opt for traditional marketing but according to the needs of the various segments Nike is targeting it must develop different marketing programs accordingly. Nike should opt for both online and offline marketing channels depending on the target market they are marketing for. For instance, for the men and the women, Nike must opt for e-marketing campaigns such as by sending e-mails and blogs. Moreover, they must also use offline marketing channels such as magazines, newspapers and bill boards to market their products. These are the basic changes that Nike needs to make in their marketing plans as traditional marketing no more works for business nowadays.

Understanding the Company 
Nike is a very successful company and from the customers perspective, the products sold by Nike are of high quality and are reliable. As Nike sells all kinds of sports goods to three market segments i.e. the men, the women and for the kids, all three segments are mostly satisfied with the products of Nike. When Nike was founded, it mainly used to manufacture shoes but later it increased its portfolio and began to manufacture apparel and sports equipment as well. Since Nike identified the needs of the consumers and more and more females were encouraged to take part in sports activities, a need for the sports goods for the women was generated as well.

Poon Yiu Cheuk is the captain of the football team of Hong Kong and to further promote the brand in Hong Kong, Nike must sponsor sports events, make him the brand ambassador and must give products manufactured by the company to the captain to market the brand further.

Major Contact Points
Besides manufacturing the products, Nike also owns retail chains where it sells its products. Moreover, in order to reach the consumers, Nike uses various methods to convey its message. For instance, it uses media channels where ads are shown such as on the television and in the newspapers and magazines. Other than this, Nike also has its own studios where the customers can choose the design and color of the product they want to buy.

For the future, Nike can come up with some more attractions such as by creating Nike theme park where the consumers can come and test their products free of cost and they can enjoy playing sports wearing Nike shoes and using their equipment.

Despite of the fact that Nike is doing well, there are still some areas that Nike needs to work on. Communication plays a very vital role for the success of any organization and so does it for Nike. Therefore, it is extremely important for the company to have an effective communication system as well as to manage communication well in the organization. Communications management basically refers to the planning of the various channels of communication that is being done in an organization but besides planning, it also includes the implementation of communication programs and the way in which it is monitored. Besides this, it also includes the way in which the flow of information is handled and the new technology used for communication.
             
The three most important and immediate changes that can help fulfill ccorporate objectives and the execution sequenceat Nike are mentioned below.

To take care of the labor that is employed to manufacture the goods sold by Nike as previously, Nike has already been involved in an issue that it was hiring child labor for the production of sports goods.

Nike must ensure that it markets its products in different countries according to the culture of that country and its values or else, it will not just give a bad name to the company but it will ruin its goodwill as well.
Nike should also practice corporate social responsibility and it should do something good for the society and the people as well. Since it is the people who buy their products and makes the company earn revenues, it is their right to get something in return. Moreover, they will also get inclined to buy the products of Nike when they will know that the company cares for the well being of the society.