commbox Political Communication, Democracy, Elections

"New fields of action have emerged for those working in Germany’s development cooperation activities that are focused on media. Development cooperation can help new media become an established instrument used by civil society actors who are informed and monitoring political developments. This form ... more

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Medios a la vista 2: Análisis sobre el derecho a la información y la comunicación y el periodismo en Bolivia 2009-2011

La Paz: Fundación UNIR;Observatorio Nacional de Medios (ONADEM) (2011), 262 pp.

"Contiene, además de un apartado dedicado a revisar los seis años de recorrido del ONADEM, cuatro grandes secciones que cubren las áreas de trabajo del Observatorio en los últimos tres años: el Derecho a la Información y a la Comunicación, el análisis de la calidad de la información period� ... more

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A New Frontier, an Old Landscape: A Report for the Ford Foundation About the Impact of Digital Communications on Media and Communications, and on Human Rights

Andrew Puddephatt, Dixie Hawtin, Laura Zommer, João Brant, Lina Attalah, Nagla Rizk, Ramnath Bhat, Merlyna Lim, Grace Githaiga, Rebecca Zausmer

London: Global Partners (2011), 270 pp.

Examines the impact that the rise of digital communications is having on the media, and on human rights activism. The report goes on to explore the main policy issues which must be addressed at the national and international levels to shape an enabling environment. The report combines global level a ... more

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The Transformative Egyptian Media Landscape: Changes, Challenges and Comparative Perspectives

Sahar Khamis

International Journal of Communication, volume 5 (2011), pp. 1159-1177

"This article analyzes the transformative Egyptian media landscape that shaped and reflected the equally transformative political landscape that led to Egypt’s historical revolution. It provides an overview of Egyptian media and discusses how that eclectic scene exhibited many paradoxes. It analyz ... more

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Can it Tweet its Way to Democracy? The Promise of Participatory Media in Africa

Abiye Megenta

Oxford: Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism (2011), 103 pp.

Offers a policy-focused overview of the state of online political participatory media in Tunisia, Egypt, Ethiopia, Eritrea and Uganda.

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Human Rights and African Airwaves: Mediating Equality on the Chichewa Radio

Harri Englund

Bloomington: Indiana University Press (2011), x, 294 pp.

"Focuses on Nkhani Zam'maboma, a popular Chichewa news bulletin broadcast on Malawi’s public radio. The program often takes authorities to task and questions much of the human rights rhetoric that comes from international organizations. Highlighting obligation and mutual dependence, the program ex ... more

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Medienmonopole in defekten Demokratien: Media Governance und die Aushandlung von Pluralismus in Italien und Mexiko

Ulrike Klinger

Baden-Baden: Nomos, Ed. Fischer (2011), 303 pp.

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Pera Natin ‘To! Citizen Action for Good Governance

Red Batario (ed.)

Quezon City: Philippine Public Transparency Reporting Project (PPTRP) (2011), 154 pp.

"The starting point of PPTRP has been that real and lasting transparency and accountability are best built from the ground up piece by piece and by ordinary people taking their responsibilities as citizens seriously. It is one of the reasons we subtitled the project and website “Pera Natin ‘to!� ... �� (It’s Our Money!). We wanted to help build public ownership in the issue. Our concern was – and remains still today – that changes introduced at the top by one administration – can so easily be taken away by another unless that change is deeply rooted in the ground and in its people. So we believed- and still believe – that real sustainable change in governance comes only from active and continual participation of citizens. It needs action and engagement at both the national and local level. It needs groups, sectors and communities finding new ways of coming and working together to develop new ideas and build new constituencies and avenues for change. It needs to involve and energise all those hundreds of thousands of honest and professional civil servants across the country who for way too long have quietly despaired going to work each day given the failure of leadership in their own departments and agencies. All this required and still requires a combined response that uses new thinking and approaches. It required first and foremost the start of a public literacy campaign around public finances since citizens cannot ever hope to adequately monitor or engage in things that they don’t understand. So it was that we built our project equally around information, education, training, capacity building, networking, advocacy and campaigns. So it was that we worked with people’s organizations, civil society groups, media and ordinary members of the public at one and the same time. We figured that everybody had a role to play in building and securing transparency and accountability – and so everybody should get involved. We started work on a website full of the basics – (www.transparencyreporting.net) accessible and easy to understand information about all aspects of public finance. We assumed little – partly because we knew little ourselves and were learning on the job as we went. We wrote, commissioned and edited material designed to give readers a sense of understanding about how public finances, systems and cycles worked and what kind of issues and problems there were. We tried to identify how and where money was raised and how it was allocated and spent and why and by whom. Invariably it comes down to money. If you can follow the money, you can find the problems and perhaps even help suggest some solutions. We developed training modules too – modules aimed equally at journalists and activists and ordinary members of the public. And we toured around the Philippines going north and as far south as Tawi-Tawi where we were told few groups ever venture. We encouraged people to report allegations of corruption – but equally we sought out instances of where government was working well and deserved highlighting. It is easy to be negative – but far better to be critically constructive. We received many more allegations than we could investigate – in large part because sources were scared even to follow up and meet with us in confidence. Protection for whistle-blowers remains very much a pressing issue today that needs sorting ... While all projects must by necessity always remain above the political fray, we were naturally delighted that as things turned out, the new incoming administration made improving transparency and accountability a primary goal. When an initiative finds itself working in support of government policy, it is always easier. So we were delighted to see the issue of political abuse of public projects taken up as were the appointment of some leading proponents of open government to key positions in the administration. We were very fortunate also for the chance to work closely with officials in several key departments and on various initiatives linked to the national budget. [...] Perhaps one key achievement we might be remembered for, alongside the website which will remain as hopefully a useful resource for those wanting to learn more about public sector finances -- is having set up four local citizen watchdog groups that demonstrate how easy and important it is for ordinary people to get involved and play their part. We hope more groups can follow their lead. People power needs to be much more than a slogan and become a way of life." (Introduction, page 16-19) more

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Ethics and International Propaganda

Philip M. Taylor

In: The Handbook of Global Communication and Media Ethics

Robert S. Fortner; Mark Fackler (eds.)

Chichester: Wiley Blackwell (2011), pp. 912-932

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Political Economy of Media Transformation in South Africa

Anthony Olorunnisola, Keyan G. Tomaselli (eds.)

Cresskill, New Jers.: Hampton Press (2011), ix, 304 pp.

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The Press and the Political Restructuring of Ethiopia

Nicole Stremlau

Journal of Eastern African Studies, volume 5, issue 4 (2011), pp. 716-732

"Divisive debates on what constitutes the Ethiopian nation, how the state should be structured and how power should be devolved, have dominated Ethiopia’s private press since the ruling party, the Ethiopian Peoples Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF), came to power. The press has served as both ... more

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Central and Eastern European Media Under Dictatorial Rule and in the Early Cold War

Olaf Mertelsmann (ed.)

Frankfurt am Main et al.: Peter Lang (2011), 233 pp.

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Media Nations: Communicating Belonging and Exclusion in the Modern World

Sabina Mihelj

Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire; New York: Palgrave Macmillan (2011), ix, 220 pp.

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Comunicación, desarrollo y cambio social: Interrelaciones entre comunicación, movimientos ciudadanos y medios
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José Miguel Pereira, Amparo Cadavid (eds.)

Bogotá: Pontificia Universidad Javeriana;Corporación Universitaria Minuto de Dios (Uniminuto);UNESCO (2011), 522 pp.

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People's Power: The Arab World in Revolt

Perspectives (Heinrich Böll Stiftung), issue 2 (2011), 262 pp.

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Election Coverage from a Gender Perspective: A Media Monitoring Manual

Beatriz Llanos, Juana Nina

Stockholm; Lima: International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (International IDEA) (2011), 51 pp.

"In order to determine whether men and women have equal opportunities to get their messages across through the media, as they are reflected during the election campaign and the importance attributed to gender equality in the news agenda, a series of quantitative and qualitative variables will be pre ... more

Comunicación, desarrollo y cambio social: Interrelaciones entre comunicación, movimientos ciudadanos y medios Top Insights

Comunicación, desarrollo y cambio social: Interrelaciones entre comunicación, movimientos ciudadanos y medios
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