has abstract
| - The term transformation (also "transition" or "system change") in the field of mediated cross-border communication refers to a media system's change from for instance authoritarian or communist structures to a new media system with different structures and control mechanisms. Compared to the studies of media systems, transformation research is focused on the collective and individual actors who "demand, support, and manage change". They can be found in governments, parties, NGOs, civil society organizations or interest groups. To the largest extent, transformation research addresses change from authoritarian to democratic media systems. Since transformation processes in media systems are always linked to the political and socioeconomic development, transformation research is not solely focused on the transformation of the media systems, but also on sectors like politics, economy, society, or culture. Transformation research is a comparative approach, since processes in different stages of the political or media system are compared. The approach is highly complex, because it combines comparison with the dimension of space and time, for instance by analyzing similar change processes of media systems in different world regions and times in history. This causes problems, because the changing systems can exhibit considerable differences between one another. Although there are differences between them, transformation processes often occur at the same time and significant similarities between the resulting patterns can be observed. (en)
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