Emile Kossen | University of Groningen (original) (raw)
Papers by Emile Kossen
During times of economic hardships and rampant competition, the relatively expensive genre of for... more During times of economic hardships and rampant competition, the relatively expensive genre of foreign news has been one of the main victims in the American media market. These developments bring up concerns about the American media’s capacity to adequately explain the complexities of today’s global world to its readers and viewers. Not all the news on foreign reporting is bad though. This paper looks at how GlobalPost, a recent initiative that focuses solely on foreign reporting, covered the recent typhoon that struck the Philippines. Even though coverage of GlobalPost makes use of national frameworks and targets an American audience, elements of a global news style can also be identified, and as the website tries to adapt the genre of foreign corresponding to the changing needs of a globalized sphere, it can provide a valuable contribution to the reporting of world news.
While it is true that Franklin D. Roosevelt was a highly talented radio broadcaster, aptly spread... more While it is true that Franklin D. Roosevelt was a highly talented radio broadcaster, aptly spreading a message of hope to millions of depression-stricken Americans, it is too simplistic to argue that he swayed the entire nation with his voice. This essay looks into audience reception and suggests that communication between the President and the American people was not of a symmetrical kind where listeners passively believed everything the President told them, as there was the possibility of negotiating the meanings of Roosevelt’s messages. Thanks to the President’s unfiltered radio addresses and to the possibility of interacting with the White House through letters, active media publics as well as counterpublics emerged, and, reshaping Benedict Anderson’s theory on imagined national communities, it made possible the creation of multiple, politically diverse, imagined communities of listeners, causing a growing part of the American people to start feeling personally and collectively connected to political life.
Al Capone has been the subject of and inspiration for an endless range of books, TV series and mo... more Al Capone has been the subject of and inspiration for an endless range of books, TV series and movies, and has subsequently been framed as one of the most notorious criminals of all time. Considering the wide range of illegal activities Capone participated in as well as his controversial methods to achieve success that particular depiction seems understandable, but in many stories about Capone there is a sense of romanticism present as well. When writer Edward Dean Sullivan in 1929 dryly remarked that “[p]eople either like him very much — or want to kill him,” it becomes clear that at that time people also defined Capone in contradictory ways. The curious cultural, socio-economic and political climate of the Prohibition Era did not just open up the way for Al Capone to create his successful and powerful crime syndicate in Chicago, it also caused a split in public opinion to emerge as Capone was simultaneously being described as a violent gangster who disregarded the law and bribed his way to political power, and as an inspiring example of an Italian-American businessman living the American Dream.
The Sixties is often described as a decade of tumult and change, and in many ways it was. Not eve... more The Sixties is often described as a decade of tumult and change, and in many ways it was. Not everyone liked all the changes they saw happening around them though, and as time progressed, more and more people started denouncing these protest movements and ordinary politics. In this essay the growth of the 'silent majority' is shown through the race for governor of the state of California. as Ronald Reagan tried to be elected governor on a platform largely similar to that of Barry Goldwater only two years earlier. Whereas Goldwater suffered a big defeat in 1964, Reagan won his race, and it can be argued that eye-opening events during the second part of the 1960’s such as student protests caused a shift in public sentiment with regard to social change, which was followed by a shift in politics shortly after.
Using Banwart's and McKinney's theory of Gendered Adaptiveness, in this essay I analyzed the 2008... more Using Banwart's and McKinney's theory of Gendered Adaptiveness, in this essay I analyzed the 2008 Vice-Presidential debate between Joe Biden and Sarah Palin to see whether the two candidates used debate strategies normally ascribed to the opposite gender. In this way it can be concluded whether or not a situation of gender adaptiveness is created, where neither masculine nor feminine strategies are dominant.
In the United States there has traditionally been an obsessive focus on just two political partie... more In the United States there has traditionally been an obsessive focus on just two political parties, which is also visible when looking at Presidential Debates. The Commission on Presidential Debates is in charge of hosting these debates since 1988 and from the start this group of people intended to keep out third party candidates, arguing that more candidates would create a situation where 'the educational functions are in jeopardy." In this essay a versatile Dutch general election debate is analyzed in order to see whether debates with more than two candidates can still inform the audience in significant ways, and to see if elements of these debates can be used in the US debates as well.
In this essay, I attempted to get a better understanding of the ideology of Hugo Chávez Frias, th... more In this essay, I attempted to get a better understanding of the ideology of Hugo Chávez Frias, the current President of Venezuela. By closely looking at the Venezuelan side of the story, I hoped to find out what Venezuelans really wanted, and about the real reasons behind American policy of 'bringing freedom'.
During times of economic hardships and rampant competition, the relatively expensive genre of for... more During times of economic hardships and rampant competition, the relatively expensive genre of foreign news has been one of the main victims in the American media market. These developments bring up concerns about the American media’s capacity to adequately explain the complexities of today’s global world to its readers and viewers. Not all the news on foreign reporting is bad though. This paper looks at how GlobalPost, a recent initiative that focuses solely on foreign reporting, covered the recent typhoon that struck the Philippines. Even though coverage of GlobalPost makes use of national frameworks and targets an American audience, elements of a global news style can also be identified, and as the website tries to adapt the genre of foreign corresponding to the changing needs of a globalized sphere, it can provide a valuable contribution to the reporting of world news.
While it is true that Franklin D. Roosevelt was a highly talented radio broadcaster, aptly spread... more While it is true that Franklin D. Roosevelt was a highly talented radio broadcaster, aptly spreading a message of hope to millions of depression-stricken Americans, it is too simplistic to argue that he swayed the entire nation with his voice. This essay looks into audience reception and suggests that communication between the President and the American people was not of a symmetrical kind where listeners passively believed everything the President told them, as there was the possibility of negotiating the meanings of Roosevelt’s messages. Thanks to the President’s unfiltered radio addresses and to the possibility of interacting with the White House through letters, active media publics as well as counterpublics emerged, and, reshaping Benedict Anderson’s theory on imagined national communities, it made possible the creation of multiple, politically diverse, imagined communities of listeners, causing a growing part of the American people to start feeling personally and collectively connected to political life.
Al Capone has been the subject of and inspiration for an endless range of books, TV series and mo... more Al Capone has been the subject of and inspiration for an endless range of books, TV series and movies, and has subsequently been framed as one of the most notorious criminals of all time. Considering the wide range of illegal activities Capone participated in as well as his controversial methods to achieve success that particular depiction seems understandable, but in many stories about Capone there is a sense of romanticism present as well. When writer Edward Dean Sullivan in 1929 dryly remarked that “[p]eople either like him very much — or want to kill him,” it becomes clear that at that time people also defined Capone in contradictory ways. The curious cultural, socio-economic and political climate of the Prohibition Era did not just open up the way for Al Capone to create his successful and powerful crime syndicate in Chicago, it also caused a split in public opinion to emerge as Capone was simultaneously being described as a violent gangster who disregarded the law and bribed his way to political power, and as an inspiring example of an Italian-American businessman living the American Dream.
The Sixties is often described as a decade of tumult and change, and in many ways it was. Not eve... more The Sixties is often described as a decade of tumult and change, and in many ways it was. Not everyone liked all the changes they saw happening around them though, and as time progressed, more and more people started denouncing these protest movements and ordinary politics. In this essay the growth of the 'silent majority' is shown through the race for governor of the state of California. as Ronald Reagan tried to be elected governor on a platform largely similar to that of Barry Goldwater only two years earlier. Whereas Goldwater suffered a big defeat in 1964, Reagan won his race, and it can be argued that eye-opening events during the second part of the 1960’s such as student protests caused a shift in public sentiment with regard to social change, which was followed by a shift in politics shortly after.
Using Banwart's and McKinney's theory of Gendered Adaptiveness, in this essay I analyzed the 2008... more Using Banwart's and McKinney's theory of Gendered Adaptiveness, in this essay I analyzed the 2008 Vice-Presidential debate between Joe Biden and Sarah Palin to see whether the two candidates used debate strategies normally ascribed to the opposite gender. In this way it can be concluded whether or not a situation of gender adaptiveness is created, where neither masculine nor feminine strategies are dominant.
In the United States there has traditionally been an obsessive focus on just two political partie... more In the United States there has traditionally been an obsessive focus on just two political parties, which is also visible when looking at Presidential Debates. The Commission on Presidential Debates is in charge of hosting these debates since 1988 and from the start this group of people intended to keep out third party candidates, arguing that more candidates would create a situation where 'the educational functions are in jeopardy." In this essay a versatile Dutch general election debate is analyzed in order to see whether debates with more than two candidates can still inform the audience in significant ways, and to see if elements of these debates can be used in the US debates as well.
In this essay, I attempted to get a better understanding of the ideology of Hugo Chávez Frias, th... more In this essay, I attempted to get a better understanding of the ideology of Hugo Chávez Frias, the current President of Venezuela. By closely looking at the Venezuelan side of the story, I hoped to find out what Venezuelans really wanted, and about the real reasons behind American policy of 'bringing freedom'.