The author concluded that Polish media studies had its symbolic beginning in the last years of the 18th century. In the next century, the media were the subject of numerous studies conducted by representatives of the older disciplines of the humanities and social sciences. Polish media studies, going through a descriptive and cumulative period, developed its first paradigm in the 1960s. In the next decade, this paradigm began to apply not only to the media, but also to social communication. A characteristic feature of Polish research on social communication and media is their interdisciplinarity and reference to other specific disciplines, both in the field of social sciences and the humanities. The rapid development of contemporary media also causes media scholars to expand their technical competences. The multiplication of theoretical approaches forces media scholars to be interdisciplinary, and at the same time makes their research very paradigmatically diverse.

A new set of tools in the research of media communications presents an opportunity for a full and more reliable analysis of many phenomena in this domain. Modern instruments Klaudia Cymanow-Sosin, Piotr Cymanow 28 and methods of study can be implemented to expand the well-known and consolidated methods including a number of scientific disciplines. The correlation of these methods means familiar categories can be ordered more precisely than before the digital era. Secondly, the studies can produce new results. The description of individual research stages and the possibility to implement them in the current academic research with reference to the analysis of media communications highlights the complementary value inherent in interdisciplinary procedures. The application of the described tools, including those related to neuroscience, enables better recognition and falsification of the impact of media communications on the complex mental and emotional sphere. The indicated methodological approach reduces the risk of subjective evaluation of phenomenon, which is significantly greater when a strictly interpretative approach is adopted. Combining the described methods in a process of reaching unambiguous conclusions and selecting appropriate tools is a skillset created on the basis of the author’s own academic work and may be of great help in the analyses of the related subject matter.

The aim of the study is to discuss differences in defining the phenomenon of binge watching, and evolution of this process, considering research perspectives and problems explored by the authors. The in-depth literature analysis of 125 academic publications for the years 2014–2021 revealed the definition most often applied in the studies. Evolution of the interpretation of the binge watching term is also offered, related to increase of knowledge of motives, modes, and effects of binging, and finally, a proprietary definition of the phenomenon was proposed.

The article determines whether media technology management strategies are being implemented in the homes of Polish families, and what effects they may have. A total of 94 families were examined through four research methods: in-depth interviews with all family members, family diary protocols, individual interviews, and an online questionnaire survey of family representatives. The families were placed into four categories according to their attitude to technology management and daily practices: unconscious and passive, conscious and passive, conscious and ineffective, and conscious and effective. Four main types of media technology management strategies were considered: technology oriented, media content oriented, time oriented, and usage mode oriented. Most surveyed families do not manage to achieve high digital well-being due to a lack of awareness and/or willingness to manage technologies at home, or the ineffectiveness of attempts to reduce them. Conscious and effective families, being minority, consistently pursue diverse and mixed media management strategies.

The aim of the study is to empirically verify the COVID-19 topics that were most frequently shared on Facebook by multicultural audiences. The author collected news published between 1st January and 30th April 2020 on the websites of CNN International (USA), BBC World (Great Britain), Deutsche Welle (Germany), RT (Russia), France24 (France), EuroNews (France/Europe), Al-Jazeera (Qatar), and shareability score data by using BuzzSumo’s platform. This study combines various methods, including content analysis based on quantitative and qualitative approaches, topic modelling, and NLP (natural language processing). It was observed that globally, audiences paid attention to other topics despite the global threat. Significant differences were also noted in how news was shared.

The purpose of this study is to present the results of the analysis of the content of Newsweek Polska weekly magazine. In the face of the new global virus as well as the growing amount of information in the media and media-related discourse, the issue of how to present the topic of the coronavirus pandemic in the socio-political weekly remains to be resolved. The analysis focused on the frequency of the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 pandemic coverage in the magazine during the five months of its duration. The study showed that the interest of Newsweek in COVID-19 topics is closely correlated with the date of publication of the first information on the infection of a Polish patient. A significant part of the publication also concerned the effects of the epidemic as well as reflected the situation in Poland and in the world at that time.

The article presents the results of the content analysis of TV commercials for pharmaceuticals in the peripheral way of persuasion. The research was based on 4,052 spots broadcast by three TV stations in November 2020 and January 2021. The obtained results showed that, to a large extent, advertisements related to this group of products are not based on references to medicine. The authors of these reports rarely use the image of medical professionals as experts. The analysis also did not show creating a narrative using persuasion tools such as scenes referring to the medical environment and specialized vocabulary. The collected research material has been demonstrated that family members and friends often play the role of authority in advertising OTC drugs, dietary supplements, and medical devices. The most frequently used type of scenes are spaces related to everyday life. Based on the conducted research, new trends were identified in televised Natalia Moczoł 114 advertisements for pharmaceuticals, resulting from both legal conditions and the deepening mediatisation in medicine.

„Raport o stanie świata” is a popular podcast of an informative and journalistic nature, dealing with important international social, political and economic subject matters. It is financed by the so-called patrons via the service Patronite. The author Dariusz Rosiak was awarded the title of the Journalist of the Year in the Polish Grand Press competition in 2020. The aim of the research was to get to know the motivations of the podcast patrons. 80 respondents took part in the conducted survey by the usage of a closed Facebook group gathering subscribers financing „Raport o stanie świata”. The research was carried out from May 10 to May 21, 2021. The Google Forms platform was used to construct and distribute the survey. Four semi-structured interviews with podcast supporters were also organised in order to collect qualitative data. According to the survey results most of the subscribers indicate the quality of the programme, personality of the hosts, interest in the topic and willingness to help journalists as the reasons for financial support. The majority of the participants expressed flattering comments on cooperation in the group of supporters. However, some people noticed the problem of low involvement of the Facebook group moderators.

Populism is a well-known phenomenon, but it took on a new dimension after 2016 with the start of Donald Trump’s presidency. Media (including Polish media) assigned special importance to the 2020 election duel between then-incumbent President Donald Trump and his opponent Joe Biden. The article aims to present how leading online news websites in Poland presented the American presidential campaign in a populism context. The article shows the results of content analysis and comparative studies of texts published by Wirtualna Polska (wp.pl) and Onet, which indirectly/indirectly referred thematically to the electoral campaigns conducted, on the one hand, by the Republican Party candidate, the incumbent, populist, 45th President of the United States in 2017–2021 Donald Trump, and his presidential contender – Joe Biden from Democratic Party. The article discusses the types of indicators of populism concerning the publications of Wirtualna Polska and Onet. It also indicates the characteristics of the narration of the studied websites about both campaigns and refers to whether the studied media conveyed only populist content or built a populist message themselves.

The media, as the media of social communication and policy instruments in the People’s Republic of China, are a frequent subject of research today. The media system is presented in the context of the cultural and geographical specificity of a given country as well as political and civilization conditions that affect the distribution of media messages. The most influential features of the Chinese media system include: a low level of journalistic professionalism or state interventionism. The decisions of the PRC authorities and the programming line of the media in China pose a threat to media pluralism and independence. Literature review, references to scientific texts, translations of websites available on Chinese web browsers and a review of available reports can help spread awareness of censorship and the fight against harmful rhetoric still present in the media.

This article focuses on the presence of politics in entertainment and how the phenomenon known as “Web 2.0” has been used to advance it. The characteristics and habits of the younger generation are not insignificant, as they are the main producers and consumers of internet memes. This younger generation is defined through attitudes, shared experiences, and generational traits – not through age or any other biological factors. The chosen methodology (content analysis utilizing a specially designed categorization key) lets us look in-depth at a representative sample of political memes and analyse them. With this methodology, it is possible to decode the disposition of each meme society and the frequency at which particular political elements appear within the images. The goal of this research is to evaluate whom from the political stage youth are discussing, and in what way they are being discussed using this modern form of communication and civic participation. Through the exploitation of memes, image board Karina Czepiec-Veltzé 172 users show their opinions and attitudes towards current and past political affairs. The power of the images they generate strictly coincides with how intelligently they follow internet trends.