Applied Media Studies Journal

Social Media and the Deliberative Disintegration of Political Communication: Citizen-Candidate Dynamics on Facebook During Electoral Campaigns

Adriana Ștefănel — 2025-07-01

This study explores the dynamics of citizen-candidate communication on Facebookduring the 2024 local elections in Bucharest, focusing on how digital platformsshape political discourse and civic engagement. Using content analysis, it examinesthe campaign strategies of three major contenders—Nicușor Dan, Gabriela Firea,and Cristian Popescu-Piedone—highlighting patterns of policy framing, negativecampaigning, populist rhetoric, and the interplay between emotional and factualappeals. In parallel, the analysis investigates voter interactions, assessing engagementintensity, discursive diversity, incivility, and ideological polarization. Findings revealthat instead of fostering inclusive deliberation, Facebook acted as a catalyst fordeliberative disintegration, amplifying fragmentation, reinforcing echo chambers, andundermining democratic resilience. The results raise important questions about theplatform’s role in shaping public discourse and the quality of electoral communicationin algorithmically curated environments.

Gerovital: A Case Study of Revitalizing an Iconic Romanian Brand through Media Representation of Cultural Heritage

Mara Georgia Lixandru — 2025-07-01

The following study examines the revitalization of Gerovital, an iconic Romanianbrand, through strategic media representation of cultural heritage. Gerovital, renowned for its anti-aging skincare products, carries a legacy of scientific innovation initiated by Ana Aslan (1897–1988). This research investigates how the brand has reinterpreted its historical significance, positioning itself as a symbol of Romanian ingenuity andresilience, a concept explored by Torelli et al. (2010) in their study on cultural brand meanings.

To analyze Gerovital’s brand revitalization, this study employs a mixed-methodsapproach. A quantitative content analysis, based on the framework of Gibson and Ward (2000) and adapted by Filipescu (2020), evaluates the structure and messaging strategies of the Gerovital-Farmec website and its official social media pages. By measuring the frequency of heritage-related themes and user interactions, the study assesses how digital communication reinforces brand identity and engagement. In parallel, a qualitative audiovisual analysis of YouTube content follows the methodology outlinedby Kozinets (2010) for studying digital narratives, exploring how Gerovital integrates historical storytelling with modern marketing strategies to maintain relevance. Findings reveal that Gerovital successfully leverages nostalgia, national pride, andauthenticity to foster emotional connections with consumers, a phenomenon well-documented by Hartmann and Brunk (2019) in their work on nostalgia marketing. Digital storytelling, visual imagery, and social media engagement serve as key pillars in revitalizing its identity while appealing to both domestic and international audiences. As Wilson (2018) emphasizes, the power of storytelling in brand management plays acrucial role in sustaining consumer interest and loyalty.

By balancing heritage with contemporary branding tactics, Gerovital exemplifies how legacy brands can thrive in evolving markets. This case study highlights the role of media representation in shaping consumer perceptions of heritage brands, offering insights into effective revitalization strategies. It underscores the importance of integrating historical narratives with digital engagement to sustain brand longevity in a competitive landscape.

Poster Analysis during Student Protests in Niš: A Case Study of the Instagram Profile Filfak Blokada

Neven Obradović — 2025-07-01

This paper analyzes posters from the Instagram profile Filfak Blokada related to the student protests in Niš during 2024/2025. The goal is to identify the dominant function from the perspective of political communication and analyze the linguistic meansused to convey it. The corpus includes 17 posters collected from this profile between December 27 and February 6. The findings indicate that the predominant function is informational, while a notable number of posters also combine informative and persuasive elements, especially following significant events.

What Does Love Have To Do With This: Gendered Representation of Writers and Their Creative Process in Different Cinema Productions

Nataša Simeunović Bajić — 2025-07-01

The research addresses in what way romantic films manage to display the bondthat exists between love and writing. This thematic representation brings additional information to current literature on movie narratives and emotional experience sextending knowledge about depiction of these issues on a screen. The research is based on media, narratives and semiotics. This perspective plays an important role in dealing with the problems of formation and the purpose within the structure of film narrative, which provides a reliable framework for the study. The paper examines how the writers relate to their subjects in different types of world cinema. It explores how these relations have been dealt with in different societies and contains both general ideas and more specific cultural aspects. Such a study is important for the view-making of the issue of creativity in the structure of cinematic storytelling.

Representing Old Age and Aging in Serbian Press

Jovana Trajković — 2025-07-01

Demographic data clearly indicate that the global population of older individuals is reaching unprecedented levels in human history. Nevertheless, negative attitudes and stereotypes toward the elderly remain persistent. Old age is a socio-historical and cultural construct, imbued with meanings attributed to it by society. Consequently, the role of the media in shaping and reproducing representations of older people is of considerable importance. This paper examines the manner in which the topics of aging and old age are represented, as well as the portrayal of older individuals in the Serbian press on October 1st, the International Day of Older Persons. Furthermore, theaim is to determine the extent of media coverage devoted to these topics in the Serbian daily press. The analysis encompasses four daily newspapers published in Serbia: theserious informative press (Politika and Danas) and the semi-tabloids (Večernje novosti and Blic). The study includes regular issues and special supplements published on October 1st from 2019 to 2024. The findings reveal that the topics of aging and old age are marginalized; while the coverage in serious newspapers is generally professional, a sensationalist approach is evident in the semi-tabloids.

Beyond Hashtag Activism: Exploring Cancel Culture on Social Media

Marija Đurđević — 2025-07-01

Cancel culture is a new phenomenon which refers to online public shaming based on perceived moral transgressions of a well-known or anonymous individual that can result in their social expulsion from the public sphere, professional circles or community. This contemporary form of ostracism typically bypasses traditional institutions showing thepower of social media to influence public opinion and pass judgement. Cancel culture is thought to have originated from the #MeToo movement, an online campaign led on social media against sexual harassment. The aim of this paper is twofold. Firstly, we shall try to demonstrate the importance of social movements such as #MeToo due to their power to break the infamous spiral of silence. Secondly, our objective is also to explore cancel culture that arises as a consequence of social media activism as well as certain alternatives to it that have emerged recently.

The Interdependence of Artificial Intelligence and Global Media Ethics

Aleksa Mitić — 2025-07-01

The contemporary era is characterized by the rapid development of artificial intelligence and its subsequent impact on various aspects of everyday life. Through the application of artificial intelligence across diverse fields and the examination of its implications from multiple standpoints, researchers have identified numerous ethical dilemmas and concerns related to its utilization. Concurrent with the emergence of artificial intelligence in the early years of the twenty-first century, a novel concept of media ethics has emerged: global media ethics. A central element of this emerging field is the regulation of online communication, encompassing social networks and various media platforms. Based on two seminal ethical theories – deontology and cosmopolitanism, global media ethics elucidates issues in the new environment of media, which traditional media ethics did not examine. In this paper, the analysis starts from the hypothesis that adherence to deontology and cosmopolitanism would bring benefits to society in the context of using artificial intelligence. In this study, we methodically examine advantages and disadvantages of global media ethics, the benefits of artificial intelligence, and its drawbacks in the domain of journalism and social platforms utilized for journalistic activities, including the emergence of citizen journalism. The conclusion drawn from this analysis is that global media ethics aspires to enhancethe media environment, and that artificial intelligence, when used responsibly, has the potential to contribute to this enhancement. Furthermore, it has been demonstrated that significant responsibility lies with social media users, who have emerged as pivotal actors in media communication due to their role as media content producers.

The Evolution of Electronic Media Legal Regulation in the European Union

Andrej Blagojević — 2025-07-01

It is widely recognized that the effective legal regulation of electronic media is essential for a diverse, accessible, and responsible media landscape. Within the European Union, this regulation has evolved significantly over time, reflecting the dynamic nature of the media environment. This paper examines the evolution of legal regulation of radio and television in the European Union, charting its course from the foundational Television Without Frontiers Directive (1989) and the Satellite and Cable Directive (1993, revised 2019), to its current cornerstone, the Audiovisual Media Services Directive (AVMSD, 2010, revised 2018). The paper primarily focuses on the AVMSD as the most significant legal act shaping the EU’selectronic media landscape. Furthermore, it analyzes the impact of recent legal frameworks—the Digital Services Act (2022), the Digital Markets Act (2022), and the European MediaFreedom Act (2024)—demonstrating how these regulations, while not primarily designed for traditional electronic media, nonetheless have a significant impact on them. Through an analysis of these legislative developments, the paper explores how the EU’s approach has evolved over the years in response to technological advancements, market competition, media freedom challenges, and the regulation of digital platforms and streaming services.