"While much research on Arab and Muslim diasporas in the West focuses on the War(s) on Terror, in this article, we explore how two particular diasporic groups, Egyptian and Saudi activists, work to shape public perceptions of the authoritarian regimes in their countries of origin. Contextualizing th
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e efforts of these activists in the post-Arab Spring political and mediated environments, we investigate how these political exiles employ communication to disrupt, expose and resist the resurgent authoritarianism taking root in their countries of origin. Using a comparative framework, we analyse the discourse of two prominent activists, Mohamed Ali and Omar Abdelaziz, to illustrate the larger dynamics of online cyberactivism amongst these diasporic groups. Critically, we argue, the differences in these two activists’ communicative practices demonstrate how ostensibly similar resistance movements may lead to disparate political outcomes, as their calls for change diverge when it comes to issues of reform versus revolution. In doing so, we seek to complicate overly simplistic understandings of Arab anti-authoritarian resistance taking place online in the post-Arab Spring era." (Abstract)
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"This report highlights numerous troubling developments in Turkey’s media landscape. Distrust in the media has reached crisis proportions, with fully 70 percent of Turks viewing the media as dishonest. These doubts have formed the backdrop for rapid shifts in how Turks access political news and in
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formation, as citizens turn toward online outlets and social media platforms that are more independent of government control but are themselves often rife with misinformation. Such changes have created an increasingly fragmented media landscape, in which Turks of different political parties, ages, and regions are consuming news from very different sources. Unfortunately, many of these sources are unreliable, and none enjoys trust across the political spectrum. The political repercussions of these trends will deeply affect both Turkey and its Western allies. Indeed, these same challenges, including distrust of the media and severe political polarization, are afflicting numerous other NATO countries, from Poland to the United States. The growing prevalence of misinformation may further aggravate partisan divides and weaken accountability. Already it has undermined Turkey’s response to the coronavirus pandemic." (Page 16)
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"Brings together diverse issues and expert perspectives of twenty-two notable and accomplished communication scholars, representing eight countries around the world. Together they discuss international communication, public relations and advertising, cultural implications of globalization, internati
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onal law and regulation, transnational media, the shifting politics of media, trends in communication and information technology, and much more. The Third Edition is fully updated to reflect major events that have impacted our global communication environment. Three new chapters on “global journalism” and “gender, ethnicity, and religion,” and “Shifting Politics in Global Media and Communication” have been added to make this volume more comprehensive." (Publisher description)
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"This original new book researches into the praxis of this democracy and its media, delving into Ghana's evolvement, media practice, leadership aspirations, pressure group politics and ethnic and tribal cleavages. Written in accessible language it will provide valuable source material for readers in
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terested in the development of a democratic culture. A rich data source for students, scholars and researchers on both the African continent and in the diaspora, it examines the growing influence of social media in political discourse and provides an insightful analysis on debates surrounding political communication and its implications for strengthening democratic culture. Its intention is to challenge the intellectual rigour of scholars, academics, researchers and students. The analytical frames it offers are to generate intellectual discourses. Provides an overview of the history of the press in Ghana and how that has shaped the current media landscape, and draws attention to the growing influence of social media in political messages and debate. The historical analysis of the political situation of Ghana and its relationship to the press is informative, comprehensive and stimulating to read. Ideas discussed are revealing and relevant to current discussions on the contributions of the media to the growth and development of democracy in Ghana in particular - and in Africa as a whole. The unusual and highly original comparative analytic approach used here is in dealing with the media-democracy paradox through comments and analysis that challenges the orthodoxy of western idealism. The discussion of media and democracy, with private and state media operating side-by-side in a multiparty democratic setting regulated by a constitution, adds significantly to the wider field of knowledge on the media and democracy." (Publisher description)
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"Die standardisierte Inhaltsanalyse stellt ein für die Forschung zur politischen Kommunikation unverzichtbares methodisches Instrumentarium bereit, um die ausufernde Menge an politisch relevanten Mitteilungen im öffentlichen und halböffentlichen Diskursraum systematisch zu beschreiben. Die gegen
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ber dem Untersuchungsmaterial weitgehend non-reaktive Vorgehensweise liefert intersubjektiv nachvollziehbare Befunde. Der Beitrag leistet eine methodologische Auseinandersetzung mit den Grundprinzipien, Stärken und Schwächen der Inhaltsanalyse und ihrem Erkenntnishorizont." (Zusammenfassung)
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"Tenemos que afirmar que, en estos días, está en su casi totalidad, por lo menos cuando nos referimos a los medios de comunicación masivos; permeado y bajo el control de las élites económicas que, además, hay que recordarlo, son en su inmensa mayoría élites masculinas. Esta situación de dom
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inación supondrá una evidente retroalimentación de conceptos y visiones desde el mundo económico al comunicacional donde, entre otras, será también dominante la visión patriarcal. Pero podemos ir más allá aún y, al hilo de ese sometimiento al poder económico, recuperar la cita inicial que abre esta introducción para entender que el cuarto poder, el mediático, además de estar hoy supeditado a las élites económicas, ante la ausencia de un contrapoder que lo reequilibre y controle en sus actuaciones, no es un poder necesariamente democrático. Sobre todo esto, entre otros aspectos, iremos profundizando en las páginas siguientes y, de alguna forma, en la totalidad de este ensayo. En los últimos capítulos, hablaremos también de ese posible contrapoder que constituiría la comunicación alternativa, comunitaria, basado en la sociedad civil." (Introducción)
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"This book explores the different ways Francophone research on news media has faced the challenges of dependence and independence from three complementary perspectives. The first is economics - how can sustainable business models be developed and to what extent can crowdfunding help to maintain the
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financial and editorial independence of newsrooms? Secondly, in a time where the role of journalism in the public sphere is more questioned than ever, the authors evaluate to what extent news media can embody the needs of their readers. Thirdly, the authors consider the historical and political context of publication in the light of the 'Arab Spring'. This book deals with major, contemporary evolutions of news media, bringing together research that considers the media in France, Canada, and the Arab region (notably Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, and Egypt). Using numerous case studies, this book helps to define how complex the question of independence is today." (Publisher description)
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"The study of public opinion in nondemocratic states has found that people often say they support democracy, yet they show little demand for democratization or regime change. Given this paradox, recent scholarship has shown that these attitudes exist because people who live under the rule of non-dem
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ocratic regimes often misunderstand what democracy is. Individuals in these societies often think that authoritarian ways of governance are fundamental aspects of democracy. In another strain of literature, research has shown that the internet can alter demands for democracy and increase protest activity in non-democracies. Given these findings, this study investigates what impact the internet has on understanding democracy in non-democracies. Using World Values Survey data and employing two different styles of empirical modelling, the study finds that consuming information from the internet leads to a better understanding of essential elements of democracy. The findings also show that the effects are more pronounced in autocracies than they are in illiberal regimes." (Abstract)
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"This edited book aims at bringing together a range of contemporary expertise that can shed light on the relationship between media pluralism in Latin America and processes of democratization and social justice. In doing so, the authors of the book provide empirically grounded theoretical insight in
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to the extent to which questions about media pluralism-broadly understood as the striving for diverse and inclusive media spheres-are an essential part of scholarly debates on democratic governance. The rise in recent years of authoritarianism, populism and nationalism, both in fragile and stable democratic systems, makes media pluralism an intellectual and empirical cornerstone of any debate about the future of democratic governance around the world." (Publisher description)
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"Fieldwork from across Afghanistan allowed Osman to record the voices of Afghan media producers and people from all sectors of society. In this moving work, Afghans offer their own seldom-heard views on the country's cultural progress and belief systems, their understandings of themselves, and the r
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ole of international interventions. Osman looks at the national and transnational impact of media companies like Tolo TV, Radio Television Afghanistan, and foreign media giants and funders like the British Broadcasting Corporation and USAID. By focusing on local cultural contestations, productions, and social movements, Television and the Afghan Culture Wars redirects the global dialogue about Afghanistan to Afghans and thereby challenges top-down narratives of humanitarian development." (Publisher description)
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"Searching for a New Kenya analyses public discussion in urban Kenya, focusing on the gatherings of citizens, both in-person and online, where people discuss issues of common concern to shed light on the role public discussion plays in politics and how social media affects political movements. Throu
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gh rich ethnographic study of politics on the ground and online in Mombasa, Stephanie Diepeveen brings a fresh perspective on the wider challenges and dynamics of negotiating political narratives across protracted historical debates and changing digital media. Based on a critical revision of Hannah Arendt's ideas about action and power, this study explores the different dynamics of public talk in practice. It contributes to wider debates about the place and limitations of the Western canon in relation to the study of politics elsewhere, while also offering a nuanced view of why and how certain terms of debate persist in Kenya, and where the potential for change lies for public talk across changing media." (Publisher description)
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"Die Medien haben in den letzten 10 Jahren in Polen deutlich an Glaubwürdigkeit eingebüßt – gleichzeitig ist in der Bevölkerung das politische Interesse und Engagement gestiegen. Die auseinandergehende Wahrnehmung der Politik in den Bevölkerungsgruppen formt der unterschiedliche Medienkonsum.
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Die Vielzahl unterschiedlicher und widersprüchlicher Informationen in den Medien führt zu einer Erhärtung vorbestehender Meinungen und dem Emporkommen sog. informeller Meinungsführer." (Seite 1)
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"Political posters, banners, and similar objects are extremely common in China. This article uses political design from contemporary China, particularly emphasising the government’s Chinese Dream campaign, to analyze what at first appears to be a paradox. The subjects of the campaigns and the lang
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uage they use are mandated by the central government and promoted through central and local publicity departments. But the graphic aspects of these campaigns, such as the choice of colours, images, layout, and typeface, are much less strictly controlled, and are decided by local governments or authorities. This makes political design in China decentralized. Decentralized design is inconsistent with the principles of global marketing and with the PRC’s reliance on set forms of political discourse, both of which rely on the assumption that uniformity will lead to more effective communication of messages and persuasion of the public. Evidence from local design campaigns indeed shows that Chinese political posters are often designed hastily and without expertise, resulting in strange and unpersuasive images. Despite this, this article shows that decentralized design is not paradoxical. This is largely because the Chinese party-state uses propaganda as a method of “signalling” its overall power, more than as a tool of indoctrination or persuasion about particular topics." (Abstract)
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"Existe-t-il un chemin particulier d’ouverture d’un système médiatique à l’économie, aussi épineux soit-il ? C’est justement le fil rouge de cette monographie, qui examine, sur la base de données empiriques et théoriques, les processus de transformation du journalisme et des médias d
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e masse russes entraînés par un changement des structures économiques et sociales. L’étude analyse les approches russes et étrangères visant à comprendre la dynamique du système médiatique russe, les principaux domaines de ses changements, le rôle des facteurs de nature globale et nationale dans le développement moderne du journalisme national et des médias. L’ouvrage met en exergue de nouveaux enjeux, en analysant l’évolution du modèle des médias russes au sein de l’économie de marché après la chute de l’Union soviétique et la constitution des pratiques médiatiques de consommation en Russie contemporaine." (Dos de couverture)
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"WhatsApp is a key medium for the spread of news and rumors, often shared as images. We study a large collection of politically-oriented WhatsApp groups in India, focusing on the period leading up to the 2019 Indian national elections. By labeling samples of random and popular images, we find that a
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round 10% of shared images are known misinformation and most fall into three types of images. Machine learning methods can be used to predict whether a viral image is misinformation, but are brittle to shifts in content over time." (Abstract)
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"The unique dangers of the new communication revolution fall into several categories: Velocity – The lightning speed of online communication is in tension with democracy because well-timed lies immediately preceding an election can gain a national audience before they can be rebutted; Virality –
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The legacy intermediaries that served to cabin what kinds of speech received a national audience have declined in importance in the internet age. With their decline, virality has become the new coin of the political communication realm. The kinds of speech, strategies, and candidacies most likely to succeed in a regime that places primacy on virality are those that appeal to emotion, especially to outrage. Democratic discourse requires some baseline of reasoned deliberation that is not well-served by a communication system based on virality; Anonymity – Anonymity can be an indispensable protection for dissenters in authoritarian and democratic regimes, alike, but it also gives rise to a range of unaccountable anti-democratic speech. Although hate groups are increasingly willing to march in the light of day, they fester and foster in the anonymity the internet provides. Moreover, the privileging of anonymity is what generates the “bot” problem – in which computer code generates much of online communication that is increasingly indistinguishable from human speech. So too, the problem of foreign interference in election campaigns is facilitated by internet anonymity, because the origin of campaign speech is unknown to the audience and regulator alike; [...]" (Executive summary)
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"This paper explores how Malawian media utilise question time during press briefings to fulfil its watchdog role. Using the concept of ‘journalistic interview’, which treats interviews between journalists and politicians as an encounter of two institutions, each making a claim on its legitimacy,
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this study employed qualitative content analysis of 10 recorded political press briefings held between April 2019 and April 2020, a period dominated by many political press briefings. Malawi conducted tripartite elections in May 2019 and the Constitutional Court annulled the presidential election in February 2020 on grounds of serious irregularities. The analysis is complemented by interviews with 15 Malawian journalists and two major issues emerged. Question time gives Malawian journalists an opportunity to exercise their watchdog role although the occasion is sometimes abused by both parties involved in the interlocution. Secondly, political interests and power disparity between press briefing organisers and journalists compromise the independence of the press and its watchdog role." (Abstract)
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