Tijdschrift voor Communicatiewetenschap - Volume 38, Issue 1, 2010

Dit nummer van het Tijdschrift voor Communicatiewetenschap bevat vijf artikelen. Het eerste artikel is getiteld: Professionele journalistieke identiteit in een digitale omgeving: Een essay. De overgang van de gedrukte kranten naar digitaal nieuws verandert de journalistiek. José van Dijck analyseert in dit artikel het spanningsveld waarin kwaliteitsjournalistiek zich ontwikkelt en zij presenteert een heuristiek waarmee nieuwsorganisaties zich kunnen positioneren ten opzichte van oude en nieuwe spelers in het multimediale domein.Ook in het tweede artikel speelt de digitalisering van de maatschappij een rol. Dit artikel, Virale commercials: de consument als marketeer, is echter niet gericht op de journalistiek, maar op online reclame-uitingen. Paul Ketelaar, Pleuni Lucassen en Gemma Kregting presenteren de resultaten van een online survey onder jongeren naar de motieven van deze consumenten om ‘virale commercials’ door te sturen. Daarbij gaan ze ook na in hoeverre inhoudskenmerken van virale commercials en de mediumcontext (e-mail of sociale netwerksite) het doorstuurgedrag verklaren.In het derde artikel, Wat is nationaal aan nationale cinema? Het academisch debat in kaart gebracht, gaat Jasmijn Van Gorp in op de verschuivingen in het wetenschappelijk denken over naties en nationale identiteit in relatie tot de filmindustrie. Het concept ‘nationale cinema’ is al bijna 20 jaar onderwerp van discussie en in dit artikel worden de visies van verschillende auteurs geëxpliciteerd. Uit de bespreking van deze visies valt de evolutie in het denken over nationale cinema af te leiden.Het vierde en vijfde artikel hebben betrekking op gezondheidscommunicatie. Sanne Schinkel, Barbara Schouten en Julia van Weert hebben onderzoek gedaan naar de informatie- en participatiebehoeften van huisartspatiënten. In hun artikel Communicatie met Nederlandse en Turkse patiënten in de huisartsenpraktijk: Een exploratief onderzoek naar verschillen in informatie- en participatiebehoeften, bespreken ze de verschillen tussen Nederlandse en Turkse huisartspatiënten. Voor en na een huisartsconsult hebben Nederlandse en Turkse patiënten vragenlijsten ingevuld. Op grond van deze gegevens concluderen de auteurs dat niet alleen de informatiebehoeften tussen Turkse en Nederlandse patiënten verschillen, maar ook dat Turkse patiënten de informatie van de huisarts minder begrijpelijk vinden en dat ze na het consult meer onvervulde informatiebehoeften hebben dan Nederlandse patiënten.

The migration of newspapers to a digital domain

The decline of newspapers has caused academics to study its problematic migration from an analogue to a digital environment. Yet while the need for change has become pressingly urgent, news organizations often tend to focus on dwindling circulation as a mere economic or technical problem, which can only be solved by developing a new business model or by inventing an electronic equivalent of the paper. This article argues that the transformation from print to digital in the news business requires a rather profound analysis of the changing conditions of (independent) journalism. It subsequently offers a heuristic for news organisations wanting to reposition themselves vis-à-vis old players (readers, advertisers) and new players (platform providers, search engines) in the media business. Analysis and heuristic combined should help news organizations to answer the question what kind of organization they want to be and what economic, technical and organizational choices may shape their migration to a digital domain.

Viral commercials: the consumer as marketeer

Research into the reasons why consumers pass along viral commercials: their motives, the content characteristics of viral commercials and the medium context in which viral commercials appear.Based on the uses and gratifications perspective this study has determined which motives of consumers, content characteristics of viral commercials and medium context explain the passing along of viral commercials. Diffusion theory has been used to determine if viral mavens and infrequent senders differ regarding their reasons to pass along viral commercials and their demographic characteristics.An online survey was held among 510 youngsters. After viewing four viral commercials, they answered questions about passing along viral commercials (motives, content characteristics and medium context) and demographic variables.The study shows that youngsters pass along surprising and entertaining viral commercials more often than viral commercials that are sexually oriented and shocking. Possibly they do not want to be associated with these controversial virals. Youngsters pass along viral commercials through e-mail and in a lesser extend by social networks. Males pass along viral commercials more often than females.

What is national about national cinema? The academic debate unravelled

The concept of national cinema has been the subject of a heated debate in film studies for almost 20 years. In this article it is argued that the debate should be seen in the light of the discussion on the concepts of nation and national identity. The starting point is Higson’s pioneering article ‘The Concept of National Identity’ (1989), identifying four views on national cinema (i.e., art cinema, textual, productional and consumptional approach). A fifth approach is being formed by the antipode of national cinema: post- or transnational cinema.

Communication with Dutch and Turkish general practitioner patients: an exploratory study on differences in information and participation preferences

Intercultural doctor-patient communication is often less adequate than intracultural communication. In order to explore this problem, differences were studied between Dutch and Turkish patients in their information and participation preferences. Six general practitioners and 62 patients participated in the study (35 Dutch, 27 Turkish). Two surveys were used: one directly before and one after the consultation. Results show that both groups report high information preferences, but the groups differ in sort of preferred information. Additionally, the discrepancies between information preferences and the actual information provision during the consultation were found to be larger in the Dutch group than in the Turkish group. However, Turkish patients report lower comprehensibility of the information and higher additional information needs after the consultation. Participation preferences are almost similarly low in both groups. These results stress the importance of further research on information and participation preferences of ethnic minority patients and of enhancing doctors’ intercultural competencies.

Ask your doctor: From prescription drug advertising to physician’s prescription

Ongoing proposals by the European Commission to adapt the current ban on direct-to-consumer advertising of prescription drugs (DTCA) are generating much public debate. This article reviews the –mainly US based– empirical evidence for the effects of DTCA on a) consumers’ exposure, b) consumers’ requests for advertised drugs, and c) physicians’ reactions to these requests, and discusses how the Dutch and broader European context can impact upon these effects. It is concluded that there is empirical evidence for DTCA’s impact on American consumers and physicians, but also that the European context is likely to reduce the strength of these effects.