"The question at the core of this discussion paper is what are the implications for African journalism schools of the international crisis facing journalism and the specific needs of local audiences? More specifically, what are the implications in terms of curriculum, target groups and modalities? O
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r more simply put: what, who and how should journalism schools teach in order to remain relevant? The paper will then take a step further and consider the argument for journalism schools taking on a wider view of their function. Are there additional roles they can or should play in safeguarding and building healthy public information systems, beyond the traditional function of producing the next generation of journalists? In countries where there are few active media institutions, those that do exist would seem to have a particular responsibility to look beyond their comfort zones. That becomes especially necessary where those comfort zones are in decline." (Introduction)
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"In this article, I examine the development of journalism in Vietnam by exploring documentation from two media aid projects carried out by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) from 1993 until 2007. The project documents contain fieldnotes, evaluations and reflections from
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the trainers who were recruited from Swedish media houses to conduct training in Vietnam. A qualitative document analysis was used to examine the content with a conceptual framework built on notions of comparative media systems, global media ethics and the salience of social connections in Vietnam. The findings explore how the Swedish media aid intervened in the Vietnamese media by contributing to a technological transition of journalism although the training in newsroom management and media ethics were challenged by conflicting journalism ideology and social norms. The article contributes to the existing research on media development, reflections on media aid and the development of Vietnamese journalism by analysing project documents that provide first-hand information from a period when Vietnamese journalism underwent a dramatic transition towards the digitalized media system existing today." (Abstract)
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"Peace journalism (PJ), originally proposed by Johan Galtung as a set of ideational distinctions in representations of conflict, has served as the organizing principle for both scholarly research and practical application. Much of the latter has come through media development aid, generally taking t
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he form of professional training courses for editors and reporters. The effectiveness of such schemes depends on activating and galvanizing journalistic agency to change the content of reporting. This highlights a paradox: PJ is the policy response to Galtung’s landmark 1965 essay, published with Mari Holmboe Ruge, ‘The structure of foreign news’, which, instead, attributed the chief influences on news content to the political economy of media. This article presents and considers two sets of data. One comes from interviews with sixteen alumni of PJ training courses, in which they disclose which aspects proved most readily applicable in their work. The other is based on a survey of 55 articles from The Peace Journalist, a biannual magazine published by the Global Peace Journalism Center at Park University, Missouri, which, between them, report on training courses in 33 countries over ten years. It shows which aspects of PJ are most often emphasized in such initiatives, and in what kind of conflict contexts. The two data sets are then compared and cross-referenced to show how both trainers and trainees set out to supplement and circumvent structural constraints and thus overcome the PJ paradox." (Abstract)
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"Drawing on the author’s and other media trainers’ experiences over a 25-year period, this book provides important insights into tailoring training programs to specific regions and countries. Case studies describe training in radio and television management, broadcasting, and media sustainabilit
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y, and are contextualized against the cultural and historical backgrounds of each region." (Publisher description)
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"Training can take different forms. It can be carried out as a one-off exercise, or can be combined with other types of support, such as coaching or mentoring. The most well-known model for monitoring and evaluating training is the Kirkpatrick model, developed in the 1950s. A number of other models
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are also used by CSOs. Most of these are variants of the Kirkpatrick model." (Introduction)
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"Après l’ingénierie, les équipements et la fourniture des programmes, la formation professionnelle est le troisième axe de la coopération des pays africains avec les pays occidentaux. L’assistance des pays ou d’agences étrangères a permis de créer des centres de formation dans certains
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pays, souvent au sein d’universités locales. Ces centres ont connu plus ou moins de succès selon les conjonctures politiques ou économiques. Cependant, des centres de formation régionaux (Cameroun, Sénégal) ou nationaux (Côte d’Ivoire, Tunisie) continuent à attirer les étudiants des pays voisins. « Le financement de structures de formation est complexe et englobe diverses participations: celle des gouvernements locaux et étrangers, des fondations, des organisations internationales, etc. En fait, la formation est un champ d’action typique pour la coopération au développement en matière de médias (notamment en provenance de la France, du Canada, de la Belgique, et de la République fédérale d’Allemagne).» (Page 325)
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"This report offers an overview of journalism training and education centres in sub-Saharan Africa, focusing on 10 countries. Although the primary emphasis of this research was on institutions such as universities, schools, colleges and institutes, we took a loose definition of ‘centres’ to incl
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ude some initiatives in the non-profit sector, as well as those closely aligned to the commercial media. The purpose was to try to identify trends in journalism education and training in sub-Saharan Africa, challenges and areas of creativity and teaching, and what we called ‘centres responding to a changing environment’. The last mapping study of journalist training centres across the continent appears to have been done over 10 years ago by Unesco, although country-specific studies have subsequently emerged. Journalist training needs are also currently being researched in at least two new studies that are likely to appear soon. This report then should be read in the context of these studies." (Page 8)
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"A dual training programme for professional journalism, as has long been practised in various European and non-European countries, does not yet exist in Afghanistan. It aims to combine theory and simulation of practice at institutes of tertiary education through a vocational training course with an
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integrative design but which is completed externally in an editorial office (following the model of journalism programmes, for example, at German universities). This dual training programme aims to qualify as an academically certified journalist, recognised by professional associations and media fields. The proposal also set out to recommend further academic qualifications for journalism lecturers and professional training for practising journalists in Afghanistan, as well as recommendations for the legal, administrative and practical and/or administrative steps required for the medium-term establishment and trials of the model." (Preface)
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"The importance of journalism’s role in society is beyond debate. Particularly in so-called fragile states, the social responsibility of media and journalism cannot be denied. Journalism education must account for the high level of skills required by journalists, and the ‘mediation’ function o
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f journalists in fragile states should be conceptualised. Responding to dynamic developments in the Afghan media landscape and the resulting need for high-quality journalism education, this article proposes a reform model for journalism education on a tertiary level in Afghanistan. Based on research as well as a needs and feasibility assessment following the participatory action research (PAR) approach, target models and an implementation plan for educational reform were developed. This provides a potential blueprint for reforms in journalism education in fragile states, which considers social and cultural values and interests in the local context while drawing on the perspective of the outsider. This article presents the results of a project entitled 'Professionalisation of Journalism Education on a Tertiary Level in Afghanistan', which resulted in a manual." (Abstract)
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"Safety training courses and manuals are designed to provide journalists with guidance to assess and mitigate risk. In this article, we ask whether content of such training and guidance is informed by actual threats and risks relevant to journalists working in the field. Departing from our own previ
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ous research about threats and dangers faced by journalists working in conflict zones or covering dangerous beats, and a review of the literature addressing the issue of safety manuals for journalists, we evaluate the content of five safety-training documents. Of these, two are descriptions of internationally-focused safety courses, two are safety manuals produced for a national audience, and one is a handbook focusing specifically on safety for women reporters in the Arab region. The purpose is to identify various aspects of safety addressed in training and manuals offered to locally and internationally-deployed journalists-and illuminate how they may differ in focus and approach. Through a comparison of the content of the selected manuals and course descriptions, we conclude that these trainings and manuals to some extent address specific variations in context, but that detailed attention towards gender differences in risk and other personal characteristics are not given equivalent weight. The international training focuses excessively on physical environment issues (such as those of a 'hostile environment'), while the manuals with national or regional focus are practice-oriented and largely take a journalistic point of departure. We argue that training and manuals can benefit from considering both these aspects for risk assessment, but recommend that addressing journalistic practice and personal resources is fundamental to all journalist safety training since it is at the personal, practical, and media organisational levels that the mitigation encouraged by these trainings can happen." (Abstract)
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"This paper examines the journalism and media education programs in three countries in the Arab region (Libya, Syria, Yemen) that have been or are still in the throes of civil wars and/or polarization along conflicting political ideologies and control of different geographical zones. Based on an onl
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ine questionnaire distributed among academics affiliated with universities in these three states, results show that the three countries suffer from an extreme lack of proper journalism and media education programs. However, online and blended education can serve as a bridge for these countries to overcome their constraints and challenges, and develop new models for their journalism and media education programs." (Abstract)
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"This book provides exemplars of how the Communication discipline and curriculum are responding to the demands of globalization and contributing to the internationalization of higher education. Communication as a discipline provides a strong theoretical and methodological framework for exploring the
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benefits, challenges and meanings of globalization. The goal of this book, therefore, is to facilitate internationalization of the communication discipline in an era of globalization. Section one discusses the theoretical perspectives of globalism, internationalization, and the current state of the Communication discipline and curriculum. Section two offers a comprehensive understanding of the role, ways, and impact of internationalizing teaching, learning, and research in diverse areas of study in Communication, including travel programs and initiatives to bring internationalization to the classroom. The pieces in this section will include research-based articles, case studies, analytical reviews that exam key questions about the field, and themed pieces for dialogue/debate on current and future teaching and learning issues related to internationalizing the Communication discipline/curriculum. Section three provides an extensive sampling of materials and resources for immediate use in internationalization in communication studies; sample syllabi, activities, examples, and readings will be included. In sum, our book is designed to enable communication curriculum and communication courses in other disciplines to be internationalized and to offer different approaches to enable faculty, students, and administrators to incorporate and experience an internationalized curriculum regardless of time and financial limitations." (Publisher description)
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"Media Audience Mapping & Targeting Techniques in West Africa: 1. Audience measurement and ratings culture: The culture of audience measurement and ratings is still very rudimentary in much of West Africa. Within the current media milieu, where new technologies are yielding new forms of content and
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channels, and given the trends towards multi-media, cross-media and trans-media models, audience insights need to be mainstreamed into the routines of media work by removing the skills deficits and logistics barriers to such effort [...] Media Capacity Building & Institutional Sustainability in West Africa: 1. Journalism professional training: Current journalism training activities have often not been informed by prior diagnosis of particular need, and are not designed to respond to the peculiar realities of the media in West Africa. Training models need to be more customised, coherent and comprehensive by ensuring that beneficiaries go beyond field reporters to include all actors along the value chain; combining a mix of models that are bespoke to particular circumstances; by training and renewing the skills and competences of media practitioners to respond to the digital media ecology [...] Media Ownership Patterns & Implications for Democratic Plurality in West Africa: 1. Regulation of ownership: There are growing concerns about a gradual and insidious hijacking of the media sphere by few dominant private owners and political patrons. Such an outcome raises the spectre of substituting state monopolies with private monopolies. There is a need for regulatory reforms to ensure that pluralism of ownership and diversity of interests are protected and promoted. This could include regulatory restrictions on multiple ownerships, mergers and network affiliations. There must also be transparency and equity in (especially broadcast) licensing processes, and in access to ownership and stakeholder information [...]" (Findings and recommendations, page 2-4)
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"Enseñar y aprender la Radio en América Latina y el Caribe. Radiografías de este presente, es un libro que logra recoger el pensamiento, la reflexión y el proceso pedagógico de 63 docentes de 12 países que imparten la asignatura de Radio en distintas universidades de estas regiones. Cada coord
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inador por país, además de compilar la información de sus colegas profesores, ofrece un panorama histórico y contemporáneo de la realidad que enfrenta el medio radiofónico en su territorio desde las perspectivas culturales, jurídicas, sociales, tecnológicas y académicas. A través de las respuestas, los docentes externan preocupación, interés, pero sobre todo, una gran pasión por la enseñanza de la Radio. El medio sonoro renace ante la mirada analítica y comprometida de profesionales de la enseñanza de distintas generaciones, que miran con alegría, pero otras con desazón el desapego y apatía, respectivamente, de los alumnos por la asignatura radiofónica. En el texto se logra observar la evolución del medio a través de la enseñanza. Algunos profesores imparten sus cátedras con base en procesos de producción analógicos, en tanto, otros, están en el territorio de la experimentación e innovación sonora; en el podcast, la transmedialidad sonora, la estética acústica y las nuevas narrativas con el uso de formatos y géneros híbridos." (Tapa posterior del libro)
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