فصلنامه پژوهش های ارتباطی
پیاپی 72 (زمستان 1391)

Postmodernism is said to be a subjective and idealist thought emerging in the late 20th century in enlightened cycles. However, due to the idealism implied in it, this school of thought did not realize in social realities and, hence, started to fade. The present article uses a semiotic analysis of four TV cartoons belonging to two different era, i.e. 1970 and the following decades, to propose that the impact of postmodernism’s various dimensions on cultural products is much more than the perceived extent. The new cartoons, as a category of cultural products addressing children, are full of postmodernism implications including ultra-narrations, essence-rejecting, reality denial, representation denial, subjectivity denial and fragmentation of identity. The final result of the analysis indicates that child has been transformed from an educational object in modern discourse into an entertainment subject in postmodern discourse.

This research aims to examine children’s motivations for, and their extent and manner of, using traditional media (cinema and theater, printed media, etc) and new media (radio, television, satellite, the Internet, etc.) and shed lights on the impacts of such variables as children’s age and gender, their parents’ education, job and accompany with children in using these media. It also tries to determine the relationship between traditional and modern media. The present study employs the two theories of Use and Satisfaction and Media Sociability. It was carried out through a survey of 400 children aged between 5 to 10 from Kurdestan Province Center, i.e. Sanandaj, in summer 1390 (Iranian calendar) using questionnaire as its tool. Research findings show that television is the most widely used media for children and watching TV is one of the most important activities for them in leisure times. Almost half of children watch TV during all days of a week. Parents’ education has a direct relationship with children’s usage of modern media. The more accompany on part of parents for watching TV programs, the more the amount of children viewership.

The present paper aims to investigate the literature and theoretical issues on the challenges and opportunities the Internet creates for young people and this media’s implications with regards to development of this group’s identity. The paper tries to identify some of the most significant questions the future research has to deal with.Building up an unwavering and unswerving identity is the core development of any adolescents. The Internet is one of the media playing a key role in creating opportunities for exploring and trying online identities. Since it is the adolescents and teenagers who construct online content and also make use of other-users-made content, the model of co-construction is used to explain their identity in the Web.The opportunities and challenges the Internet creates in terms of online identities, multiple online identities and transformation of identities under the influence of virtual space are among the issues for further investigation.

The present article aims to shed lights on quantitative qualities of advertising food stuff on television and explain the advertising attractions and themes used in the advertisement which persuade the audience, particularly children and teenagers, to buy and consume the advertised products. Using thematic content analysis, some 308 ads presented between 16 to 23 (Channel one, Two, Three and Five) were selected through purposeful sampling. The selected ads were analyzed and the types of advertised foods and the variables affecting children and teenagers’ nutritious behavior were identified. Findings indicate that 6% of the advertised ads were diary foods, 4.2% were starch-related foods and 10.7% were items without nutritious value. Thematic analysis of the data shows that the implied themes in the ads promoting valueless food are: competition for eating and promoting single-eating; exaggeration in terms of being energy-generating; and changing emotional conditions.

The present research examines the relationship between using information and communications modern media and the multiplicity of young people’s identity. Taking “survey” as its methodological tool, the researcher selected some 400 adolescents and youths, aged between 14-29, from Tabriz city using systematic cluster, random sampling. Research data were processed through the statistical methods of correlation and T-test. Findings indicate that the relationship between the Internet and satellite usage and individual and international identity is a positive one, but the relationship between these media’s usage and national and religious identity is negative. There’s also a positive relationship between mobile phone usage and individual identity, but this relationship with regards to religious, ethnic and familial identity is negative. The relationship between CD and DVD usage with national identity is negative and with global identity is positive.

Children have always been one of the most significant parts of markets across the world. Children could be easily influenced by advertisement messages and they are able to skillfully talk their parents into buying the desired items. Children cognitive limitation and their desire for learning new things make them subject to impressionability. This survey aims to examine the effect of advertisement characteristics on children’s understanding of TV ads’ attractiveness. The research population consisted of all schoolchildren attending Isfahan city schools in the academic year 1388-1389 (Iranian calendar). Some 385 students were selected as samples of the study through three-layered cluster, random sampling. The data were collected using questionnaires and interviews. Research findings show that the model, method of performance, the institute’s fame as well as product’s interesting attributes will affect children’s opinion.

The present paper is based on a case study of the relationship between gender, social adjustment and socio-political attitude of adolescents watching satellite TV in Tehran. The samples consists of 60 female adolescents (30 girls from families holding satellite TV and 30 girls from non-satellite TV households) and 60 male adolescents (30 boys from families holding satellite TV and 30 boys from non-satellite TV households) living in Strict 4 and 16 of Tehran City. To assess the variables, the researcher used questionnaire of California social adjustment and socio-political attitude. Variance analysis shows that the level of social adjustment among satellite-TV holding adolescents is weaker than that of adolescents who watch satellite TV. Multivariate analysis of variance also indicates that there is a significant difference between satellite-watching adolescents and those without satellite TV in terms of obeying social norms and intra-family relations. In other words, using satellite TV in family has a negative relationship with the boys and girls adjustment as well as boy’s socio-political attitude.