Participation or New Media Use First? Reconsidering the Role of New Media in Civic Practices in the Czech Republic

MACEK, Jakub, Alena MACKOVÁ and Johana KOTIŠOVÁ. Participation or New Media Use First? Reconsidering the Role of New Media in Civic Practices in the Czech Republic. Medijske Studije. 2015, vol. 6, No 11, p. 68-83. ISSN 1847-9758.

Basic information

• Original name: Participation or New Media Use First? Reconsidering the Role of New Media in Civic Practices in the Czech Republic
• Authors: MACEK, Jakub (203 Czech Republic, guarantor, belonging to the institution), Alena MACKOVÁ (203 Czech Republic, belonging to the institution) and Johana KOTIŠOVÁ (203 Czech Republic, belonging to the institution).
• Edition: Medijske Studije, 2015, 1847-9758.

Other information

• Original language: English
• Type of outcome: Article in a journal
• Field of Study: Literature, mass media, audio-visual activities
• Country of publisher: Croatia
• Confidentiality degree: is not subject to a state or trade secret
• WWW: Full paper
• RIV identification code: RIV/00216224:14230/15:00080830
• Organization unit: Faculty of Social Studies
• UT WoS: 000359782800007
• Keywords in English: civic practices; diffused audience; new media; traditional media; Czech Republic
• Tags: International impact, Reviewed

Abstract

The article discusses qualitative research on the mundane civic practices of some Czechs, with a specific focus on the role of new media. It works with a context-oriented approach in order to avoid media-centrism. Our research is focussed on the ways in which civic practices are structured by immediate and wider social and political contexts and how they are experienced by post-socialist citizens from villages and large cities. The role of new media and the place of civic practices in everyday life is analysed with respect to these contexts. The research based on semi-structured in-depth interviews with 22 politically and publicly active citizens indicates that Czechs experience a similar crisis in relation to institutional politics as their counterparts in long established democracies and it reveals tell-tale differences between the social spaces of villages and cities both in participatory practices and in civic uses of new media. However, the study does not indicate a radical, new media-driven transformation of citizenship, rather it suggests subtle shifts in practices and a pragmatic mixing of face-to-face communication and traditional media (print, public address systems, noticeboards) with new communication technologies.

Links

• EE2.3.20.0184, research and development project: Name: Vytvoření interdisciplinárního týmu v oblasti výzkumu internetu a nových médií
• GP13-15684P, research and development project: Name: Nová a stará média v každodenním životě: mediální publika v čase proměny mediálních praxí

Investor: Czech Science Foundation, New and old media in everyday life: media audiences at the time of transforming media uses

• MUNI/A/0903/2013, interní kód MU: Name: Proměna veřejné a politické participace v kontextu měnících se mediálních technologií a praxí

Investor: Masaryk University, Category A

• MUNI/A/1342/2014, interní kód MU: Name: Aktuální problémy politologického výzkumu

Investor: Masaryk University, Category A