"Communication is a prerequisite for better, more transparent and accountable governance, and for wealth creation and economic growth. It underpins all the MDGs and is arguably as central a need of human beings as food, shelter, health and security. Governments and development actors need to recogni
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se the central role of information and communication in development - especially the importance of strengthening the capacities of poor and marginalised people to participate in political and development processes. Addressing the challenge of communication is urgent. New ICTs can expand opportunities for poor and marginalised people to participate - but strategic support is needed to ensure that ICTs fulfil their development potential rather than widening the wealth gap between rich and poor. The establishment and maintenance of diverse, dynamic and free media is also vital to successful development. The importance of getting the media 'right' is especially great in young democracies, as media play an important role in forming the nature of society." (Conclusion, page 59)
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"The aim of this paper is to examine the role (both positive and negative) that communication plays in promoting good governance by analysing available evidence and highlighting specific case studies, evaluation reports and academic articles detailing the impact of communication on governance. The p
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urpose is to move beyond anecdote and conjecture, to review the evidence and provide a reliable basis for policies and programmes on communication for good governance. This paper is structured as follows: Section Two provides an analysis of the relationship between governance and communication. Section Three reviews the kinds of evidence available and warns about the difficulties of establishing a causal link. Based on available evidence, Section Four provides an overview of the role of communication in government capability, accountability and responsiveness using a range of empirical data (where available) but relying heavily upon peer reviewed case studies. Section Five concludes with a summary of findings about the role of communication in good governance and identifies the factors which can encourage or impede a direct causal link." (Introduction, page 2)
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"Enhancing citizen voice and accountability has increased in importance for donors since the 1990s. This paper reviews existing literature and the strategy and policy documents of seven DAC donors in order to contribute to the design of an evaluation framework to assess the effectiveness of these do
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nors’ voice and accountability interventions." (Executive summary)
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"Investigating a vibrant audio-recording industry in southern Yemen, The Moral Resonance of Arab Media shows how new forms of political activism emerge through sensory engagements with Arabic poetry and song. From the 1940s onward, a new cadre of political activists has used audio-recording technolo
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gies, especially the audiocassette, to redefine traditional Muslim authorship. Cassette producers address conflicted views about the resurgence of tribalism by showing Yemenis how to adapt traditional mores toward more progressive and pluralistic aims. Skilled bards continue to perform orally marked tribal verse. As Miller demonstrates through an analysis of several centuries of changing media ecology, however, oral performance is anything but static. Much of the power of orality stems from its relation to writing, print, and audiovisual media that link tribal ideals with metropolitan and national discourses. Through an examination of the lives and works of individual poets, singers, and audiences, Moral Resonance shows how tribalism becomes a resource for critical reform when expressed in tropes of community, place, person, and history. Yemenis' use of audiocassettes turns such tropes into cultural resources for morally evaluating political liberalism." (Publisher description)
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"There is a general consensus that media are an essential element of democracy if they fulfil particular quality requirements in their reporting. Abundant literature deals with media quality from a theoretical perspective, but empirical knowledge on journalistic practice with regard to its role in d
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emocratization is rare, and this is even more so in the case of African countries. First, this article seeks to assess the quality of radio in Liberia, which is the country’s most popular medium. Second, the article tests a specific methodology in order to measure the contribution of radio to democracy. It argues that radio stations in Liberia strongly differ in their quality, each with specific shortcomings. These findings are confirmed by interviews with civil society representatives and by audience research." (Abstract)
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"Liberation and the Media takes a look at the development of the South African daily newspaper market since the end of apartheid. It covers the country's most important political, social and economical developments since 1990 and explains correlations between South Africa's general development and i
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ts newspaper's market between 1990 and 2006. By looking at changes of ownership and new ideas of publishing for a society as divided as South Africa, Liberation and the Media explains what the factors for successful publishing in South Africa are since the end of apartheid, and asks to what extent the market is still influenced by apartheid." (Publisher description)
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"The state of the media report consists of two parts: a media content analysis and a media and civil society organisation (CSO) data survey. The media content analysis deals with news, current affairs, and documentary content produced by a sample of Papua New Guinea (PNG) media organisations that us
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e radio, print and television for the purpose of disseminating content on governance and development. The content analysis involved an intensive three-week period of data collection and coding of material from 23 different media, government departments/agencies and CSOs. The second stream of the project involved a media, government department/agency and CSO data survey of organisations that produce media content on governance and development. This database will provide MDI with information on the capacity of these organisations to produce media content (print, radio, television, video, and online) for governance and development." (Introduction, page 7)
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