Mass Communication
Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://repository.aab-edu.net/handle/123456789/52
The Mass Communication community showcases scholarly publications and research outputs authored by faculty and researchers in the Faculty of Communication. This collection includes journal articles, working papers, conference proceedings, and other academic works that contribute to the understanding of theory, policy, and practice. It aims to promote open access to high-quality media and communication research conducted within the institution.
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Item Navigating media literacy in the AI era: Analyzing gaps in two classic media literacy books(AAB College, 2025-07-15) Saliu, HasanThe migration of the public into online platforms, the full mediatization of everyday life, the transformation of individuals into media entities via social media, the emergence of new forms of bottom-up censorship, and the involvement of non-human actors (such as AI) as media communicators and producers, have profoundly reshaped contemporary society. For these reasons, this study aims to analyze these pivotal transformations and assess how effectively they are addressed by two seminal media literacy texts, which have dominated the 21st century with media literacy editions, one by author James Potter and the other by Stanley Baran. Utilizing a problematization methodology, the research identifies gaps in these texts’ coverage of contemporary media phenomena and concepts. These two classic texts lack concepts that are very influential in today’s online life, such as mob censorship, social media literacy, post-truth and the role of AI in online communications. Moreover, integrating artificial intelligence into media production necessitates a practical approach to media literacy. This paper advocates for a holistic approach to media literacy education that equips learners with the skills needed to navigate and critically engage with today’s media landscape effectively.Item Gutenberg’s death in the Balkans: news values in Kosovo and Albania(AAB College, 2025-07-15) Saliu, Hasan; Izmaku, XhevahireWhen the audience shifted online in the age of social media and platformization, the gulf amongst journalists on what constitutes news today grew. Television journalists and editors continue to feel that the public should be provided with the information they need, i.e. the elite-centric method, whereas digital journalists and social media managers believe that the public should be presented with what the public wants, i.e. the popular-centric approach. As a result, the aim of this article is to investigate the news values considered by journalists and editors in Kosovo and Albanian media. The results of in-depth semi-structured interviews with journalists, editors, and social media managers demonstrate that Kosovo, which has the youngest population in Europe, has no paper press since the beginning of 2020, although the press in Albania survives for traditional third-age readers. Televisions are elite-focused; however, in Kosovo, televisions adapt items for social media, aimed at a younger audience. In both countries, digital journalism is increasingly audience-focused, with sensation, entertainment, and conflict as the primary news values. Regardless of the standardized methods, the article proposes that different countries be evaluated for newsworthiness based on their political and socioeconomic environments.Item Gaps in Public Diplomacy: Analyzing the Approaches of Veteran Authors(AAB College, 2025-07-15) Saliu, HasanThis is a review of A research agenda for public diplomacy, by Eytan Gilboa (Ed.) (Edward Elgar Publishing).Item Newsworthiness for Television and Digital Journalism in Kosovo(AAB College, 2025-07-15) Saliu, HasanToday’s public has mostly moved online, but the media has also moved there to reach this audience. News organizations as well. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to explore what television journalists and digital journalists in Kosovo consider news. Using semi-structured interviews with 18 television journalists and internet journalists, the paper explains the news values that journalists in Kosovo now consider. The study concludes that, while digital media journalists believe they are providing the public with more clickable or desirable news, television journalists continue to provide the public with what they believe to be essential subjects about which the public should be educated.Item The Return of Media Diplomacy: Examples from Kosovo(AAB College, 2025-07-15) Saliu, Hasan; Abrashi, GazmendAfter the Cold War, states focused their campaigns on self-promotion on the global stage, so media diplomacy has been pushed to the periphery, hence not being a central research theme. However, the geopolitical clashes over Kosovo and the war in Ukraine have repositioned the role of media diplomacy in international politics. This paper aims to analyze Kosovo's media diplomacy in the following key moments: at the time of the declaration of independence (2008), and during the Russian aggression in Ukraine (2022). Data were collected from global media such as CNN, Al Jazeera, Reuters, and The New York Times, which have given space to Kosovo’s political actors and influential global politicians. The US president Bush was the example of the enormous media coverage in 2008. Messages of these communications were analyzed using the framing method. The results show that media diplomacy revived in three cases: before and after Kosovo's declaration of independence in 2008, and again in 2022, with the fear that the Russian scenario for Ukraine would be followed by Serbia against Kosovo. Also, media diplomacy today establishes communications between countries with no diplomatic relations and even between countries with strained relationships.Item REVISITING HALLIN AND MANCINI'S MEDIA MODEL: ALBANIA AND KOSOVO(AAB College, 2025-07-15) Saliu, Hasan; Abrashi, GazmendThis study aims to examine the professional standards of journalists in Albania and Kosovo to determine the relevance of Hallin and Mancini's media system in the age of digital journalism and social media. This is because the media system continues to be an important analytical tool for understanding the fundamental characteristics of national media and comparing media sectors across countries. A qualitative method was utilized to elucidate this, with semi-structured interviews performed with 22 television and digital journalism editors and journalists, as well as social media managers in Albania and Kosovo. The findings indicate that although television stations continue to target traditional audiences using professional journalism standards, journalists in digital journalism and social media compromise on professional standards to give the public what they want. Although Hallin and Mancini’s media system as an analytical framework for evaluating media models remains useful, the criteria for evaluating them should be changed in light of changes in the media environment over the last two decades.Item Narratives of Public Diplomacy in the post-Truth Era: The decline of Soft Power(AAB College, 2025-07-15) Saliu, HasanThis article aims to build a better understanding of today’s communicative changes of public diplomacy in the post-truth era. Today, our communication environment has changed compared to decades ago: about 5 billion people communicate online and compete among themselves through their social media narratives, which are the main platform for the distribution of fake news in the post-truth era. The question posed here is: what are the winning narratives in the complex global environment of public diplomacy? Through problematizing review, this article analyses the sources of soft power which were described at the end of the Cold War, and which remain effective even in today’s communication environment. Also, the purpose and influence of public diplomacy has been problematized, analysing how to influence foreign government by influencing its citizens. The paper concludes that the values of soft power described three decades ago only have limited and specific effects on non- European publics, but not on European ones. Additionally, it is impossible to influence European governments by influencing their publics through public diplomacy because the context has changed and the values of soft power in these countries no longer have the former distinctive gap between them.Item EXPERIENCES WITH AND RISKS OF INTERNET USE AMONG CHILDREN IN KOSOVO(AAB College, 2025-07-14) Saliu, Hasan; Rexhepi, Zija; Shatri, Saranda; Kamberi, MimozaThis paper aims to explore the use of, experiences with, and risks of internet among children in Kosovo. This country has never been involved in the European project called Kids Online. Through a survey based on the Kids Online questionnaire, 437 children aged 11-16 were surveyed in 34 schools across the country. The results show that over 90% of children of this age stay online from one to six hours; YouTube and Instagram are the most preferred platforms; over 90% of them own smartphones. Conversely, many parents have admitted to being less knowledgeable about technology than their children. Parental mediation and schooling remain important, and the paper recommends the introduction of Media Literacy as a separate subject in pre-university education in Kosovo.Item PUBLIC DIPLOMACY OR PUBLIC GLOCALIZATION? RETHINKING PUBLIC DIPLOMACY IN THE POST-TRUTH ERA(AAB College, 2025-07-14) Saliu, HasanPublic diplomacy is the communication of state and non-state actors with foreign publics for beneficial objectives. Nowadays, in this connected world, public diplomacy activities have changed. Scholars are divided into two main groups regarding these activities: the first group rates listening as the most important dimension of public diplomacy, whereas the other group considers information management to be its main activity. The choices of both groups, however, are based on the communication period before the emergence of social media, deep mediatization, fake news and the post-truth era. Therefore, this article aims to review the hierarchical taxonomy by analysing new communication considerations. It concludes that in the post-truth era, with 4.5 billion of the world population using online platforms and with a billion messages sent every day, listening no longer serves as the main dimension of public diplomacy. Information management now serves as the main form of communication, whereas public diplomacy has become public glocalization.Item RETHINKING MEDIA DIPLOMACY AND PUBLIC DIPLOMACY TOWARDS A NEW CONCEPT: DIGITAL MEDIA DIPLOMACY(AAB College, 2025-07-14) Saliu, HasanModern digital media have enabled the president of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, to talk to foreign parliaments while his country is at war. Zelensky’s virtual communications are not aimed at enhancing Ukraine’s international image, as in traditional forms of public diplomacy; rather, they seek to obtain military assistance and reach a mutually beneficial outcome for his country. These, however, are activities of media diplomacy, a concept that scholars have abandoned over the last two decades in favour of public diplomacy. Through a critical review, this study examines the division between these concepts and other related concepts and analyses the role of the media in international communications, including those in times of war. The widespread use of technology and social media, as well as the specific diplomatic communications that have allowed Zelensky to talk to the world, have led to the conclusion that the current concepts of media diplomacy, public diplomacy, and digital diplomacy are not appropriate in the current circumstances. Therefore, a new concept is proposed: digital media diplomacy.