"This book discusses the extent to which the theoretical relevance and analytical rigor of the concept of the public sphere is affected (or undermined) by current processes of transnationalization. The contributions address fundamental questions concerning the viability of a socially and politically
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effective public sphere in a post-Westphalian world. To what degree are the theoretical presuppositions regarding the critical function and democratic quality of public deliberation still valid in contemporary societies that adhere decreasingly to the Westphalian logic of closed national political communities and modes of communication? Under what conditions is the critical impetus of the public sphere still applicable in a world that, in Europe and beyond, is increasingly responding to processes of trans-border interaction and communication?" (Publisher description)
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"This article considers research approaches often associated with media and journalism studies as complementary assessment strategies to inform decisions associated with evaluating foreign aid. In order to do so, the case of British foreign aid towards Colombia in the context of the War on Drugs is
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examined as a case study. The authors explore the relationship between aid giving and the receipt of aid by focusing on how the media can be used as a peacebuilding indicator. There is a dearth of academic inquiry into these issues. This article attempts to flesh out some future lines of scholarly enquiry using the UK–Colombia case study example. It uses research interviews with state officials, multilateral organizations and NGO representatives as well as a review of press coverage in Colombia over a two-year period. The article argues that media could potentially be used as an important indicator of peacebuilding success and failure in the context of aid giving and receipt but that to achieve that there are specific pre-conditions and issues to be addressed by the different parties." (Abtrtact)
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"The first decade of the 21st century has seen a proliferation of North American and European films that focus on African politics and society. While once the continent was the setting for narratives of heroic ascendancy over self (The African Queen, 1951; The Snows of Kilimanjaro, 1952), military o
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dds (Zulu, 1964; Khartoum, 1966) and nature (Mogambo, 1953; Hatari!,1962; Born Free, 1966; The Last Safari, 1967), this new wave of films portrays a continent blighted by transnational corruption (The Constant Gardener, 2005), genocide (Hotel Rwanda, 2004; Shooting Dogs, 2006), ‘failed states’ (Black Hawk Down, 2001), illicit transnational commerce (Blood Diamond, 2006) and the unfulfilled promises of decolonization (The Last King of Scotland, 2006). Conversely, where once Apartheid South Africa was a brutal foil for the romance of East Africa (Cry Freedom, 1987; A Dry White Season, 1989), South Africa now serves as a redeemed contrast to the rest of the continent (Red Dust, 2004; Invictus, 2009). Writing from the perspective of long-term engagement with the contexts in which the films are set, anthropologists and historians reflect on these films and assess the contemporary place Africa holds in the North American and European cinematic imagination." (Publisher description)
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"Premiering in 2006, Ugly Betty, the award-winning US hit show about unglamorous but kind-hearted Betty Suarez (America Ferrera), is the latest incarnation of a worldwide phenomenon that started life as a Colombian telenovela, Yo soy Betty, la fea, back in 1999. The tale of the ugly duckling has sin
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ce taken an extraordinary global journey and become the most successful telenovela to date. This groundbreaking book asks what the Yo soy Betty, la fea / Ugly Betty phenomenon can tell us about the international circulation of locally produced TV fictions as the Latin American telenovela is sold to, and/or re-made-officially and unofficially-for different national contexts. The contributors explore what Betty has to say about the tensions between the commercial demands of multimedia conglomerates and the regulatory forces of national broadcasters as well as the international ambitions of national TV industries and their struggle in competitive markets. They also investigate what this international trade tells us about cultural storytelling and audience experience, as well as ideologies of feminine beauty and myths of female desire and aspiration. TV's Betty Goes Global features original interviews with buyers and schedulers, writers, story editors and directors, including the creator of Yo soy Betty, la fea, Fernando Gaitan." (Publisher description)
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"This report documents and analyzes coverage of the Afghan Conflict and related issues in six mainstream Pakistani news outlets [from May1, 2012 to August 31, 2012]. The following sub-themes have been tracked for monitoring and analysis: Terrorism in Afghanistan – Drone Strikes – Cross Border At
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tacks and Incursions – NATO Supply Lines – NATO Pullout and Afghan Peace Process – Pak-Afghan and Pak U.S. Relationship." (Pages 2-3)
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"Since China implemented animation control policies in 2004, foreign animation programmes have almost disappeared from Chinese television. At the same time, the Chinese government has invested enormous amounts of money in developing the animation industry as a creative industry. A questionnaire surv
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ey was conducted to explore how the Chinese audience views domestic and foreign animation programmes. The results indicate that pirated Japanese animation is widely viewed via the Internet by adolescents; on the other hand, domestic animation is popular only among children. Preferences for domestic animation correlate positively with age and patriotism but negatively with Internet use, while preferences for Japanese animation correlate negatively with age and patriotism but positively with Internet use. These results show that nationalistic sentiments are associated with preferences for either domestic or foreign animation programmes. However, preferences for Japanese animation are not significantly associated with anti-government attitudes." (Abstract)
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"Findings of this research offer new evidence on the extensive campaign of violence and intimidation against journalists in Somalia, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Sudan and South Sudan. At the same time, it also recalls exiled journalists’ commitment to freedom of the press and freedom of expression despite
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harsh life conditions, borderless surveillance and very little perspective of improvement." (Key findings, page 10)
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"This cultivation study examined the effects of South Korean soap operas on Vietnamese female audiences. It also assessed cultivation effects in combination with the theory of reasoned action. Based on a survey of 439 female viewers, it explicated the link between South Korean soap opera consumption
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and the emergent phenomenon of transnational marriages involving Vietnamese women and South Korean men. Cultivation effects were confirmed in an international setting. Results also have important real-world implications." (Abstract)
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"Our findings are based on responses to an online questionnaire completed by 69 Iranian journalists living and working outside Iran. A majority of respondents surveyed left Iran after 2005 and work as journalists for online media outlets [...] Our research indicates that Iranian journalists living a
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nd working abroad remain deeply connected to both the Iranian public and the broader Farsi-speaking diaspora, and believe their most important role is to inform both “publics” about issues not covered in the Iranian domestic news. As such, a majority of respondents surveyed are primarily employed with Farsi-language media outlets, covering Iranian current events and politics, as well as “red-line” topics that journalists inside Iran are forbidden to cover. However—and importantly—our findings show that a majority of respondents do not believe that their role is to act as activists, contributing to the civil society in Iran, but rather to inform the public with objective, fact-based reporting. Respondents in our survey strongly align themselves with public-interest journalism, in which the media’s primary role is to inform the citizenry and serve as a check on political and economic elites." (Summary of key findings, page 4-5)
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"This report has presented a range of findings and insights generated from a consultation with 14 independent exile media organisations in Iran, Myanmar, Sudan, Ethiopia, Belarus, Zimbabwe, Tibet, Uzbekistan, Syria and Zambia. They can be summarised in three key points:
(1) First, this report highli
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ghts the need for the funders and training providers focusing on strengthening organisational journalistic capacity to address both the explicitly expressed individual technical and other training needs, as well as organisational challenges of these exile media. These organisational challenges have significant implications for the ability of these organisations to fulfil their mission, but may not always be linked by these exile media to the training needs and may thus remain unaddressed.
(2) Second, the report highlights that there may be an opportunity for funders and training providers to play a greater role in helping exile media organisations understand the composition and information needs of their audiences. The consultation revealed that the majority of participating independent exile media organisations have a limited understanding of their audiences as well as a limited ability to tailor content for different audience segments.
(3) Third, the reports suggests that funders and training providers may need to do more to understand and help bridge a perceived “disconnect” between donors and those reliant on donor funding. The consultation revealed mixed feelings among participating organisations about the level of perceived donor knowledge of their challenges and training needs. Further exploring and bridging this perceived “disconnect” will help maximise the impact and effectiveness of the training activities across the sector." (Final reflections, page 27)
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"Since the late 1990s South Korea has emerged as a new center for the production of transnational popular culture – the first instance of a major global circulation of Korean popular culture in history. Why popular (or not)? Why now? What does it mean socially, culturally and politically in a glob
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al context? This edited collection considers the Korean Wave in a global digital age and addresses the social, cultural and political implications in their complexity and paradox within the contexts of global inequalities and uneven power structures. The emerging consequences at multiple levels – both macro structures and micro processes that influence media production, distribution, representation and consumption – deserve to be analyzed and explored fully in an increasingly global media environment. This book argues for the Korean Wave’s double capacity in the creation of new and complex spaces of identity that are both enabling and disabling cultural diversity in a digital cosmopolitan world." (Publisher description)
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"Celebrities now regularly engage with human trafficking policy and practice. A “sexy” topic, human trafficking is not only susceptible to alluring, fetishistic, and voyeuristic narratives, but plays into the celebrity-as-rescuer-of-the-victim ideal that receives a huge amount of attention from
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media and the public. As a result, many celebrities now characterize themselves as anti-trafficking activists, with their admiring public viewing their claims as expertise. This article looks at ways in which celebrities, people “known for [their] wellknownness” (Boorstin 1992), and celebrity culture influence legal and policy responses to human trafficking, critiquing simplified, appeal-to-the-masses (and -funders) approaches to human trafficking employed by those who pander to the public’s current obsession with celebrities." (Page 2)
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"This dissertation examines the United States’s elite news media’s hegemony in a global media landscape, and how it can come to stand for the entire American nation in the imagination of outsiders. In this transnational, instantaneous digital media arena, what is created for an American audience
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can fairly easily be accessed, interpreted and relayed to another. How, then, is U.S. international news, which is traditionally ethnocentric and security-focused, absorbed in Afghanistan and Pakistan, two countries where the United States has acute foreign policy interests? [...] There is a widespread, long-standing perception in Afghanistan and Pakistan that American journalists stain the reputation of their nations as failed states. Just as the U.S. exercises global hegemony in a material sense, the U.S. media is powerful in shaping how American and international publics see the world. Yet, while American foreign correspondents are U.S.-centric in their reportage on the Afghan, American and Pakistani entanglement, so too are Afghan journalists Afghan-centric and Pakistani journalists Pakistani-centric. Nationalism is how journalists organize chaos and complexity. While their news stories can represent an entire nation, they are more likely to harden national identities than to broker understanding between nations." (Abstract)
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"Daya Thussu's book rescues the concept of soft power from American hands and applies it insightfully to India, and the concept is made richer and more useful as a result. With its dynamic and prosperous diaspora, the growing global popularity of its spiritual beliefs and practice, its reach as a gl
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obal economic and technological powerhouse, and even its cherished cuisine, India's growing soft power potential is evident. Yet Thussu also takes a hard look at the impediments that stand in the way of India taking full advantage of its soft power appeal." (Steven Livingston, Professor of Media and Public Affairs and International Affairs, George Washington University)
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