Attila Gáspárik

A TV is a TV is a TV

The author presents the changes in the role and the impact of television during the last century, with basic data referring to the audiences and to the most important institutions. Evaluating the Romanian situation he notes the strong connections between the political sphere and the media and the growing interactivity of the programmes.

Boglárka Nagy Gy.

Talking through Borders: Afternoon Talk-shows

The article presents the role of afternoon talk-shows in present-day commercial televisions. The analysed programs are Mónika Show and Balázs Show from Hungary and Teo Show from Romania. The author shows how they try to reach different segments of the audience focusing on the figure and role of the „star” of the currently successful talk-shows.

Júlia Sonnevend

Terri Schiavo, the Hungarian Hero

The paper presents the impact of the Terri Schiavo case on the Hungarian media and public sphere. The woman from Florida, laying in coma for a long period became an icon of defencelessness, the case raising also legal questions. The situation of Terri Schiavo was often judged by the viewers by different standards and different systems of law, regardless of those valid in Florida. The public is interested in the individual story itself, not in the abstract legal questions, but this kind of publicity has the potential to become a starting point also for professional debate.

Jenő-László Vargha

The Foam of the Hospital Soap: TV Serials in a Hospital Setting

The article explores how serials set in a hospital environment tend to be succesful among tv viewers, and what kind of impact they have as far as the public knowledge about health issues is concerned. The author shows that the audience of these productions generally think that they become much more informed after viewing such serials, thus the producers of such programmes have a greater responsibility.

Andrea Virginás

Television and Interaction, Or What Do We Participate In?

The text is founded on the premise that interactivity – or user-friendliness – is a feature that consumer society lays claim to with respect to communicational technologies as well. After comparing the use of television to internet usage – with reference to Romanian/post-communist practices – it concludes that television needs to enhance its capacities by interactive characteristics if it wishes to maintain its hold in a digital era. Finally, the case of music television is presented – a television form emerging together with the internet in the early 1980s –, seemingly capable to (re)create interactivity on a higher level than classical television.

Péter Virginás

The Trianon-event: Media Discourses

The study attempts to analyse a talkshow broadcast of the Romanian Antena 1 commercial tv-channel, the topic of which was the reception of the semi-documentary film entitled ‘Trianon’. The participants in the show (director of the film, historians and political analysts both from Hungary and Romania) applied opposing interpretation contexts regarding the film and its effects. The study deals with their communication and media-conscious strategies, and related issues like historical and collective recollection.

Erika Zsizsmann

Narrative Elements in the Music Video – An Insight to the Music Video Culture in Romania

The music video differs in many aspects from the fiction film, but still, using stereotypes and cultural symbols, it can build a narrative. The article analyses the visual symbols and stereotypes adopted from the American pop culture and promoted by MTV in a few Romanian music videos, including a specific music style, the „manele”.