"The three case studies in this report are examples of what can be achieved when the media are used creatively towards positive outcomes. They offer lessons from experience that will be of value to people everywhere who are interested in harnessing the power of the mass media to help in the response
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to AIDS." (Foreword)
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"En los doce primeros capítulos se describe cómo a partir de la utilización de la radio para la educación básica de los campesinos adultos, se construyó un sistema de medios masivos reforzado por materiales escritos y con el apoyo de comunicadores comunitarios, que fue ampliamente analizado po
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r diferentes instituciones internacionales y monitoreado en sus procesos de organización y cumplimiento de sus objetivos institucionales. Se hace especial énfasis en la descripción de un movimiento social de base, que surge como resultado de la acción educativa de los medios. Los capítulos 13 al 18, tratan de documentar y analizar la extensión de los dualismos que fueron característicos en la construcción del sistema y cómo las contradicciones a que dieron lugar, no pudieron solucionarse. La radio y los demás medios de comunicación, constituyen un poder social. El tema crucial es quién maneja o de cuál de las instituciones sociales depende dicho poder, especialmente cuando llega a adquirir las características de extensión y masividad que tuvo Radio Sutatenza. El capítulo 19, con intencionalidad prospectiva, resume las principales lecciones aprendidas y trata de señalar cómo aprovecharlas para construir una nueva acción cultural popular, de acuerdo con las características del actual contexto social." (Introducción)
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"The report has two parts. The first, devoted to outbreak experience, describes the special case of outbreaks and the many difficult challenges they present for communicators. It also summarizes presentations during the consultation that looked at recent outbreaks in terms of what they have to say a
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bout effective communication and the consequences of certain errors. The second part translates these experiences into best practices for communication during an outbreak. Contents are organized around five essential practices for effective outbreak communication identified during the consultation: build trust, announce early, be transparent, respect public concerns, and plan in advance." (Page 3)
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"The work in this report and that found in the International Woman’s Media Foundation / Africa Woman’s Media Centre report, Deadline for Health (2004), provide us with the only insight into malaria reporting in African contexts. Both are baseline studies made prior to journalists training interv
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entions and draw similar conclusions about the priority placed on HIV/AIDS reporting to the detriment of malaria coverage. This report goes beyond the work of the IWMF / AWMC to include the perspectives of malaria professionals and an examination of the rhetorical devices used in malaria reporting. This report outlines the results of a survey of a sample of journalists, chief editors, managing directors of major media houses and experts involved in malaria control in Kenya and the Gambia in 2005. A qualitative study of six months of newspaper reporting in three main papers in Kenya was also undertaken and the results discussed in relation to the survey results. The survey found that media professionals recognise malaria as an important health topic worthy of media attention. The majority of Gambian journalists, chief editors and MDs ranked malaria first followed by HIV/AIDS. In Kenya media personnel selected HIV/AIDS as the health issue that deserved most media coverage followed by malaria. Media people in both countries stated that HIV/AIDS dominates reporting and that malaria deserves more attention than it currently received. Issues such as maternal child health and TB received a relatively low rating in comparison. There is strong media commitment to malaria reporting as shown by the survey, however stories and programmes on the subject are usually the product of a journalists own interest, rather than a concerted effort on the part of editors and reporters. Malaria stories compete for space and time with the other issues of the day. No media houses have designated health desks, specialised health reporters or supportive editorial policy. Documented evidence of editorial guidelines was found for only one media house in Kenya." (Executive summary)
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"During the last decade, development partners around the globe have gained rich experience and knowledge about the application of ICT for poverty reduction and its value for reaching the Millennium Development Goals and the goals of Poverty Reduction Strategies. But scaling up the results of success
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ful projects into programmes and policies that lead directly to poverty reduction on a country-wide scale is still a challenge. Lessons learned from experience so far can be summarised around the following themes: Prioritising poverty reduction; creating an enabling ICT policy environment; appropriate technology choices; local content development and the role of the media; mobilisation of financial resources and the role of microcredit." (Page 3)
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"Over the last two years, the Initiative for Policy Dialogue and Revenue Watch, working with local partners and other sponsors, have organized workshops for journalists in the oil-exporting countries of Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, and Nigeria on the subject of “Covering Resource Wealth.” This book i
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s a result of those workshops, in which journalists expressed a great need for more information to help them understand the petroleum industry and the impact that petroleum development and export may have on their countries [...] [htis book] will provide journalists with practical information in easily understood language about the petroleum industry and the impact of petroleum on a producing country. The report contains tip sheets for reporters on stories to pursue and questions to ask. Sample stories are also included. A resource section recommends further reading. A glossary defines key financial, geological, and legal terms that can improve reporters’ understanding of the literature on petroleum development. We hope that this book will give journalists the background information they need to write in-depth, analytical, critical, and informative pieces on energy and development—a subject affecting millions of readers around the world." (Foreword, page 7-8)
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"The book opens with a review of the key issues in using media for education. It then proceeds through five country studies, written by highly qualified and experienced policy-makers and practitioners of educational media. The country studies are followed by research reviews that synthesise the majo
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r findings of evaluations. A final section presents several case studies on harnessing technologies for distance-learning initiatives. The book is designed to serve as both a resource and a guide. It provides valuable background and the insights of leading academics, practitioners, researchers and students of educational media - while also offering a unique platform from which, it is hoped, new ideas and further developments will be stimulated." (Publisher description)
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"Research on the effect of suicide stories in the media on suicide in the real world has been marked by much debate and inconsistent findings. Recent narrative reviews have suggested that research based on nonfictional models is more apt to uncover imitative effects than research based on fictional
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models. There is, however, substantial variation in media effects within the research restricted to nonfictional accounts of suicide. The present analysis provides some explanations of the variation in findings in the work on nonfictional media. Logistic regression techniques applied to 419 findings from 55 studies determined that: (1) studies measuring the presence of either an entertainment or political celebrity were 5.27 times more likely to find a copycat effect, (2) studies focusing on stories that stressed negative definitions of suicide were 99% less likely to report a copycat effect, (3) research based on television stories (which receive less coverage than print stories) were 79% less likely to find a copycat effect, and (4) studies focusing on female suicide were 4.89 times more likely to report a copycat effect than other studies. The full logistic regression model correctly classified 77.3% of the findings from the 55 studies. Methodological differences among studies are associated with discrepancies in their results." (Abstract)
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"This report is an introduction to establishing a Participatory Monitoring and Evaluation (PME) process to assist in the measurement of Communication for Social Change (CSFC) initiatives [...] The report's primary purpose is to support communication strategies based on CFSC principles when applied t
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o critical issues such as HIV/AIDS prevention and care. Yet the information contained in this report has broader applications to a variety of development concerns. After defining CFSC and the broad purpose of monitoring and evaluation, the report explains why a participatory approach to monitoring and evaluating CFSC is useful. It goes on to discuss key PME principles and "moments" or steps in establishing a PME process. Two "tools" are offered to help readers learn more about and discuss: (1) potential monitoring and evaluation questions and indicators; and (2) PME data collection techniques." (Summary).
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"This article describes the evaluation of the HIV/AIDS communication aspect of the multi media Soul City health promotion intervention in South Africa. The intervention consists of a television and radio drama and print material. The evaluation was multifaceted with a before and after national surve
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y and a national qualitative study. In the before and after survey change was measured and then multiple regression analysis was performed to assess the variables associated with the change. The qualitative study consisted of focus group discussions, which were analysed thematically. The studies show that there are numerous instances of community change and how the change is mediated at the community level. The studies also describe the change at a number of levels of the described behaviour change model for individuals." (Abstract)
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