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Chouliaraki (2008) The symbolic power of transnational media : Managing the visibility of suffering

Explicitly theorizes the link between circulation and image content, providing a somewhat critical perspective on the media on which visual artefacts depend.

This article explores systematic patterns in the visibility of suffering in satellite
news, from the footage of 11 September 2001 to citizen-generated content from
the 2007 anti-government demonstrations in Myanmar (Burma), so as to illustrate
the role of transnational media as agents of symbolic power. It argues that
the symbolic power of transnational broadcasting consists primarily in its capacity
to manage the visibility of suffering so as to reproduce the moral deficiencies of
global inequality. However, under certain conditions, technological as well as
symbolic, satellite news stories might be able to produce a sense of moral agency
that transcends geographical and cultural boundaries, thereby constituting
cosmopolitan communities of emotion and action.

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Chouliaraki, Lilie (2008) - The Spectatorship of Suffering.pdf2.56 MB

Methods: Method 1: Visuality

Publications: Journal articles

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12 September 2011 (All day) - 13 September 2011 (All day)
International workshop on collective writing
3 March 2011 (All day) - 4 March 2011 (All day)
Training School on Critical Methods for Security Studies
25 February 2010 (All day) - 26 February 2010 (All day)
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