"This research presents a picture of a public in Burma that, to varying degrees, lacks knowledge, confidence, motivation and opportunity to participate in governance processes and make their voices heard. However, the study provides objective evidence that a relationship exists between people’s me
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dia access and their level of citizen engagement. Access to public service oriented media increases the likelihood of being formally engaged rather than disengaged. Even when accounting for those characteristics that can act as barriers for the individual to engage in governance processes – being female, being poor and living in rural areas – the effect of media on engagement is significant." (Key findings)
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"Over five years Facebook has grown from practically no users in Sub-Saharan Africa to become the most widely used social media platform. In the four countries where face-to-face surveys were carried out for this research, between 14% (Tanzania) and 27% (Ghana) of all respondents were using it [...]
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Over the last five years, the number of Africans who own or have access to mobile phones, computers, laptops, smartphones and tablets has grown considerably. These both act as media carriers (a mobile with a radio or TV receiver) or a media in their own right (a mobile accessing the Internet and Social Media). African newspapers face the same dilemma as many developed country newspapers. Their print version generates almost all of their revenues but increasingly their online users are either close to or above their print readership." (Page 8)
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"Mobile ownership in all of the four surveys [in Ghana, Nothern Nigeria, Senegal and Tanzania] was around 90%, making the mobile phone the most widely owned device media device, both used as a media carrier (radio) and a media in its own right (Internet, SMS) [...] Radio remains the dominant medium
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for obtaining news and information and only in Ghana (where electricity access is wider) does TV come close to the percentage of those listening to radio. In each of the countries examined, the media has been liberalized and the radio and TV audiences are fragmented so that only a relatively small number of players reach over 25% of the audience [...] As the continent’s most owned device, the mobile phone is used most regularly for: voice calls; radio; SMS; Internet and Social Media. Between a fifth and a third of all those surveyed used the Internet on a daily basis [...] Between 14-27% of all those surveyed used social media and the dominant platform is Facebook [...] Radio and TV channels scored most highly in terms of those surveyed trusting the health information they heard on saw on them. The level of trust in these channels in Senegal was significantly lower than in the other countries." (Summary, page 5-9)
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"The research focuses on three themes. Firstly, it identifies and maps the information environment in Mon State in terms of technology and media use across urban, rural, non-conflict, and former conflict geographic areas. Secondly, the flow of news and information is examined to see how individuals
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receive information and then make decisions about sharing it with others. Thirdly, the report examines the dynamics underlying the trust and influence of news and information among individuals in Mon State." (Summary)
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"Out of a total 400 participants, 374 respondents, representing 93.5%, know how to use cell phones, while 26, representing 6.5%, have no knowledge whatsoever about cell phone usage. This finding is indicative of a relatively high knowledge of mobile phones utility. The result also indicates that Lon
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estar has the highest penetration level of 35%. Among the most frequently used GSM networks, Lonestar Cell registered the highest amount of users, 44.6% (146) while Cellcom is 17.1% (56). Novafone has the lowest level of usage 0.6% (2). As a result of advancement in technology with mobile phones now equipped with dual SIM carriages; about 37% (121) respondents are dual subscribers. On the usage of mobile phones to listen to radio, the result shows that of the 326 (83%) participants who own cell phones, 217 of these respondents, representing 58.5% use their phones to listen to radio, while 135 respondents, representing 36.4% do not use their phones to listen to radio. The regularity of using mobile phones to listen to radio varies. Illiteracy was found to be the major cause of inability to access SMS on phones by 53.9% of the respondents. Usage of mobile phones to send messages on women issues to women is very low. Only 53 respondents (15.6%) said they do send messages on women issues, while a whopping 247 (72.9%) responded in the negative. Receiving messages on women rights¡¦ issue is also low with only 75 (22.9%) admitting receiving such messages on their phones and 208 (63.6%) of respondents don't receive such messages. The finding also reveals that radio is the most frequent source of news and information with 77% (292) of respondents citing radio as the most frequent source of news and information. Radio is also the most trusted source of information with UNMIL radio being the most listened to radio station. Access to quality of information by women is less than encouraging. Of the participants in the survey, 48% of the respondents (190) believe women have access to quality information while 22.5% (89) don't believe so and 107 (27%) don't know." (Executive summary)
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"The media culture of Syrians is strongly dominated by satellite television which is the most widely accessible type of media for Syrians across the sample. Beyond satellite television, access to media is primarily dependent on location with people in government controlled areas enjoying the best ac
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cess and people in refugee camps in Turkey being the most badly serviced. Within Syria, especially access to newspapers is strongly location dependent with anti-regime controlled areas being almost completely cut off from distribution. Where media is less widely available people rely more heavily on personal sources of information such as oral communication, mobile phones and email. When access is not an issue, as given in government controlled areas, television and the internet are the most used types of media." (Page 2)
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"The aim of this report is not to question the value of supporting Internet freedom in closed societies such as Iran. Rather, the intent is to provide a picture of how difficult it is to achieve progress in such countries. In times of tightening budgets for media development work, it is worth consid
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ering where best to place one’s bets. While trying to improve access to the Internet for Iranians is a worthy goal in terms of foreign policy and human rights, it is less clear whether such efforts have had much immediate impact in improving Iran’s media landscape, or in convincing the senior leadership that Internet freedom is indeed a worthy pursuit. Looking forward, more work needs to be done to understand what kind of aid policies and approaches are most effective in societies such as Iran. Many donors would like to support the groups that are struggling to maintain open Internet access, and the immediate goal of helping Internet activists preserve some modicum of Internet freedom is clearly a worthy endeavor. The longer term goal will likely require not only preserving as many freedoms as possible now, but also a broader, more integrated program of support to the media sector that includes a combination of technical assistance and engagement with both civil society and the intelligentsia. Until such a wide engagement is possible, the outlook for freedom in Iran will likely remain gloomy." (Conclusion)
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"This report has eight core sections. In the first three sections we outline the overall purpose of the study, the methodological approach and the overarching insights that emerged from the study. This is followed by a section on key citizen information needs and sources. The fifth section discusses
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the media landscape in Vanuatu, varying media access and media consumption patterns and audience’s preferences for different media outlets, media formats and genres. The next section provides an overview of citizens’ attitudes towards development aid, their perceptions of international organisations and entities working in Vanuatu. Section seven focuses on assessing the impact of communication efforts on civic participation and exploring the attitudes and behaviour related to domestic violence and land issues. We conclude with considerations for the development, media and policy community working in Vanuatu and a more detailed description of the methodological approach applied in this study." (Introduction, page 5)
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"This paper investigates whether exposure to "edutainment" (education - entertainment) radio leads to improved women's status and primary school participation. Specifically, I examine a popular radio station focusing on gender issues in Cambodia. To identify the effect, I exploit plausible exogenous
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variation in over-the-air signal strength between radio transmitters and villages within a district, as well as the variation across time and space in exposure. Using individual data, both approaches show that the exposure had a significant impact on behavior by raising the women's decision-making power within the household and increasing children's primary school attendance. The latter impact is also reflected by higher primary school enrollment three years after exposure. The impact was found in both poor and rural households confirming that radio is an efective vehicle to transmit information in the more marginalized areas. Suggestive evidence shows that the exposure also affected attitudes towards domestic violence and the prevalence of son preference which is a stepping stone towards changing socially constructed gender norms." (Abstract)
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"The conference, held in Mid-December, was funded by the Federal Foreign Office of Germany and UNESCO South Sudan. It consisted of two streams. One focussed on media and sustainability, the other on open data and open knowledge models. Rather than just holding lectures, the event saw working groups
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come together to discuss both themes. Three days of debate and discussion were attended by around 70 people from all over South Sudan, including senior editors and young journalists, representatives from civil society organisations as well as government officials and members of parliament, diplomats and experts. This paper documents the theme of media and sustainability. The following six chapters summarize the lively discussions between international guests – mostly Africans who presented innovative solutions from Africa, for Africa – and the local participants. The results of those discussions may contribute to creating a more sustainable media sector in the newest nation of the world. Truly independent media may be a long way off in South Sudan, but a more diverse multi-dependency seems an achievable goal in the foreseeable future. After all, nascent South Sudan still has the chance to avoid the mistakes that have damaged the plurality of expression in more developed countries. The attendees demonstrated an extraordinary commitment to overcoming those challenges." (Dear reader, page 3)
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"The aim of this research is to highlight the trajectory of media policy in Indonesia and to assess its impacts on the different forms of media themselves and on the citizens and their rights, particularly with regards to their media rights. Such rights, in this study, are referred to as the right t
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o access media infrastructure, to access trustworthy information and quality media content, and to participate in the media policymaking process." (Executive summary)
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"The research for this report was developed and undertaken between June 2012 and April 2013 across 14 Pacific Island nations: Cook Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, Kiribati, Republic of the Marshall Islands, Republic of Nauru, Niue, Republic of Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon I
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slands, Tonga, Tuvalu, and Vanuatu. The report provides a regional overview of the PACMAS key components (Media Policy, Media Systems, Media Capacity Building and Media Content) as they emerged through 212 interviews focused upon the six PACMAS strategic areas. It also provides basic background information, an overview of the media and communications landscape and discusses in detail media and communications technicians; emergency broadcast systems, Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVETs), media associations, climate change and non-communicable diseases (NCDs). For this reason, observations on the four PACMAS components should be understood to represent changes in the media and communication environment based upon an investigation focused on the PACMAS strategic activities." (www.pacmas.org)
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"As expected, the general media environment in South Sudan is highly varied, with sharp distinctions between the capital city of Juba and the rest of the country, which is largely rural. A key difference here involves language use and understanding, with rural areas dominated by local/tribal languag
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es while the vast majority of people who can speak and understand Classical/Simple Arabic and/or English live in Juba. The rural-urban divide in South Sudan is crosscut further by significant differences with respect to age and gender; males and younger generations are much more likely to speak Arabic and/or English while also having greater levels of education and literacy. Radio remains the most accessible source of information for the vast majority of people in South Sudan, though once again males and younger generations have greater access to radio as well as to other technology-based sources of information. Computers and televisions remain largely insignificant to South Sudanese; nearly half of all respondents did not have immediate access to media devices or technologies of any kind. Despite the popularity of radio as an information source, just over half of South Sudanese are non-listeners, largely because they do not own or have access to a radio. Since lack of access/ownership applies to an even greater extent with respect to other technological devices (i.e., mobile phone, television, or computer/Internet), many people get their information by relying solely on their personal social networks and via face-to-face communication." (Pages vi-vii)
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"Entre ver televisión, escuchar radio, leer diarios/revistas y navegar por Internet, los peruanos le dedican más de 12 horas con treinta minutos al consumo de medios de comunicación." (Página 5)
"This paper presents the results of the UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS) pilot survey on media statistics conducted in 28 countries in 2011. The survey instruments were designed to provide an initial set of quantitative indicators identified by UNESCO’s Media Development Indicators project. G
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iven the limitations of this sample survey, this report is intended to highlight the scope of the questionnaire items while describing initial results. Further analysis of the indicators and trends will be made in the future as the data collection is expanded to include a greater number of countries. Chapter 1 focuses on indicators related to the regulatory environment in which media operate across countries. Chapter 2 presents data on the supply of different types of media (radio, television, newspapers) before discussing distribution by ownership and geographic coverage, as well as the availability of radio and television equipment and related issues on the penetration of broadcast media channels within each country." (Introduction)
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