Gender, transition and media
1. "Engedering transition: A textual analysis of portrayals of female politicians in the Bulgarian press", Elza Ibroscheva, Ph.D. Assistant Professor, Department of Mass Communications, Southern Illinois University and Maria Raicheva-Stover, Ph.D.Assistant Professor, Mass Media Department, Washburn University This paper examines how the changes after the fall of the Berlin Wall have affected the presentation of female politicians in Eastern Europe. Textual analysis of the highest circulation daily in Bulgaria was used to examine how female politicians were portrayed during the 2005 parliamentary elections. The results unequivocally indicate that portrayals of women politicians are refracted through the prism of gender stereotypes. The overall conclusion is that gendered media portrayals of women politicians lead to the creation of a social climate tolerant towards and in fact, encouraging, of sexism in every aspect of life. 2. "You'll See, You'll Watch: The Success of Big Brother in Postcommunist Bulgaria", Maria Raicheva-Stover, Ph.D.Assistant Professor, Mass Media Department, Washburn University Henderson Learning Center Paper submitted to the International Division of the Broadcast Education Association Conference in Las Vegas, April 27-29, 2006. This paper explores the development and growth of the reality television genre in a postcommunist setting. It uses the first reality TV show in Bulgaria, Big Brother, as a case study to show how the reality television format has far reaching social, technological and economic ramifications for the media industry of that postcommunist country. The paper places special emphasis on examining reality television as a global hybrid format, which provides assurance of unprecedented success when introduced locally.
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