Canadian Journal of Communication (CJC)
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Public Opinion: Construction and Persuasion
No full textAbstract: This paper reports on a study of journalists' conceptions of public opinion. It is based on interviews conducted with 26 journalists working in Montreal, Quebec City, and Ottawa. Public opinion is fraught with ambiguity in daily life as well as scholarly debate. The very same ambiguity was reflected in the journalists' responses. Some of them gave simultaneously contradictory definitions of public opinion, which can be explained by the concept of "doublethink.'' For the most part, public opinion is not conceived of as the aggregate of individual opinions on a public interest issue. Rather, it is thought of as a social construction and political persuasion plays a major role in its definition. Résumé: Cet article rend compte d'une recherche sur l'opinion publique menée auprès de vingt-six journalistes de Montréal, Québec et Ottawa. L'opinion publique est un concept profondément marqué par l'ambiguïté à la fois dans l'acception courante et dans les débats savants. Les journalistes n'échappent pas à cette ambiguïté et certains ont donné simultanément des définitions contradictoires de cette notion, ce qui peut s'expliquer par le concept de la "doublepensée". L'opinion publique n'est pas majoritairement perçue comme l'agrégation des opinions individuelles sur un sujet d'intérêt public. Ce qui ressort des entrevues concerne plutôt l'aspect construit de l'opinion publique de même que son rôle dans le phénomène de persuasion politique
Negotiating International Communications: Structure and Infrastructure
No full textAbstract:
Negotiations in international telecommunications policy are characterized by a myriad of structures as well as new emerging actors ranging from bilateral framework talks between nation states and corporations, plurilateral and regional talks by the Group of Seven or Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development countries, as well as multilaterally at the International Telecommunication Union and within the World Trade Organization (former GATT) context. This paper highlights particular developments within the World Trade Organization in the area of telecommunications services while underscoring their relevance to the concept of "universal service.'' A further effort is made to examine the
nature of competition as well as to draw attention to the need to re-think the decision-making structures within the international telecommunications regime if we are to achieve the purported goal of a truly "Global Information Infrastructure.'
