"This paper has demonstrated that the benefits for the general Afghan and Iraqi public derived from the ‘promotion of independent media’ by institutions like the NED are questionable, especially for parties interested in encouraging more deliberative or participatory forms of democracy. Instead,
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the promotion of ‘independent’ media in Afghanistan and Iraq seems to be playing a key role in the promotion of low-intensity democracy or polyarchy. Additionally, it also appears that countries of greater geostrategic value need more ‘democratization’, for example, both countries have roughly the same population but ‘oil rich Iraq received 20 times more American media development assistance per year than war-ravaged Afghanistan, one of the poorest nations on earth’ (Rohde, 2005: 29). With such large amounts of money being wielded by ‘democracy promoters’, their short term influences may impact heavily on both countries, yet perhaps the most significant effects of these media interventions will be felt in the long term. Previous case studies have shown that groups or individuals supported by ‘democracy promoters’ are expected to move on to fill leading roles within their societies." (Conclusion, page 124)
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"This article examines Deutsche Welle's Arabic television programming to evaluate its goal of promoting intercultural dialogue. Framed around the concept of media-promoted intercultural dialogue, the paper presents the results of a comparative content analysis of Deutsche Welle and two pan-Arab sate
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llite channels, al-Jazeera and al-Arabiya. Taking the results as a starting point, I propose suggestions for how to improve the performance of government-sponsored international broadcasting to overcome cultural divides." (Introduction)
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"Die Medienentwicklung und die entscheidenden Züge der nationalsozialistischen Medienpolitik werden in den Bereichen Verlagswesen, Presse und Journalismus, Rundfunk sowie Film und Kino dargestellt. Erstmals werden dabei die deutschen Entwicklungen zu jenen im faschistischen Italien und franquistisc
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hen Spanien in Beziehung gesetzt. Darüber hinaus fragt das Buch nach den Erfolgen, Brechungen und Hemmnissen politischer Steuerung des gesamten Mediensystems und nach dem Raum von Öffentlichkeit unter diktatorischen Bedingungen." (Verlagsbeschreibung)
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"The experience of citizen involvement in public policy advocacy around the world has shown that the status quo tends to prevail unless political will to implement change is strengthened by active citizen participation. A “Global Information Society Watch” is needed to make governments and inter
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national organisations accountable. This publication, the first in a series of reports covering the state of the information society on an annual basis, focuses on the theme of participation. The report has three interrelated goals: surveying the state of the field of ICT policy at the local and global levels; encouraging critical debate; and strengthening networking and advocacy for a just, inclusive information society. It discusses the WSIS process and a range of international institutions, regulatory agencies and monitoring instruments from the perspective of civil society and stakeholders in the global South. Alongside this discussion, we present a series of country reports which examine issues of access and participation within a variety of national contexts." (Introduction)
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"Trotz der zunehmenden Bedeutung von Journalismuskultur als heuristisches Denkwerkzeug vor allem für die komparative und kultursoziologisch motivierte Journalismusforschung hat eine theoretische Auseinandersetzung mit diesem Konzept bislang kaum stattgefunden. Der vorliegende Beitrag versucht diese
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Lücke zu schließen, indem er ein Modell entwickelt, dessen Abstraktionsgrad und Universalität es erlaubt, die Vielfalt journalistischer Kulturen anhand ihrer zentralen Basiselemente abzubilden und auf einem gemeinsamen theoretischen Nenner zu bringen. Anhand des Forschungsstandes und der zugänglichen Literatur wird vorgeschlagen, Journalismuskultur in seine dimensionale Struktur zu dekonstruieren. Demnach setzt sich Journalismuskultur aus drei Konstituenten zusammen (Institutionelle Rollen, Epistemologien und Ethische Ideologien), die wiederum in sieben kontinuierliche Hauptdimensionen zerlegt werden können: Interventionismus, Machtdistanz, Marktorientierung, Objektivismus, Empirismus, Relativismus und Idealismus. Damit eröffnet das Modell einen siebendimensionalen Raum, in dem verschiedene journalistische Kulturen systematisch verglichen und taxonomisch eingeordnet werden können." (Zusammenfassung)
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"Foreign correspondent Waghorn compares long-term assignments in China and Israel and observes: "Whereas in China the challenge was engaging the viewers' interest in somewhere so unfamiliar and alien, here [Israel] it is keeping them interested in somewhere they find over familiar. Rock-throwing, su
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icide bombs, helicopter gunships, funeral rallies and weeping relatives - they have seen it all before, time and time again." And in terms of physical obstacles to reporting, he writes, in Israel "they come in more dangerous forms than in China. In Gaza, for example, we operate with the risk of kidnapping and although dodging around in taxis, trying to remain unnoticed, can feel the same as ducking and diving to avoid Chinese police interference, in China a western correspondent can be fairly confident that the worst to fear is detention, losing your tapes and an occasional roughing up. Here there are more mortal dangers and neither side in the conflict has ever shown sufficient interest in the health and safety of journalists in the heat of battle." But in terms of obtaining information, Israel is light years ahead, he believes." (Abstract)
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"This latest set of aggregate indicators, are based on hundreds of specific and disaggregated individual variables measuring various dimensions of governance, taken from 33 data sources provided by 30 different organizations. The data reflect the views on governance of public sector, private sector
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and NGO experts, as well as thousands of citizen and firm survey respondents worldwide. We also explicitly report the margins of error accompanying each country estimate. These reflect the inherent difficulties in measuring governance using any kind of data. We find that even after taking margins of error into account, the WGI permit meaningful cross-country comparisons as well as monitoring progress over time. In less than a decade, a substantial number of countries exhibit statistically significant improvements in at least one dimension of governance, while other countries exhibit deterioration in some dimensions." (Abstract)
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"This report is one of the first studies comparing systematically different aspects of community radio practice in developing countries. Based on five country surveys - Colombia, Mali, Nepal, Peru and South Africa - it provides descriptions and analyses of: participatory processes and volunteerism;
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relationship with the community; exertion of rights; accountability and good governance; community radio networks; financing and financial sustainability; and community radio in conflict and post-conflict situations. The detailed country studies show that the practice of community radio broadcasting differs widely according to the national context, the legal environment and the specific role of national community radio associations and networks. In comparing the country studies, the main report stresses good practices, e.g. regarding the role of strong national networks, as well as some challenges like the need to accompany volunteers in a more systematic way and to address the precarious financial state of many community radio stations." (CAMECO Update 5-2008)
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"This book offers a methodology for the classification and comparison of broadcasting systems, both for positive and normative analyses. It is based on the assumption that the revenue structures of broadcasters determine the incentives for the broadcasters' staffs, and that these incentives in tur
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n determine the broadcasters' program outputs (content, journalistic and artistic style, target audiences etc.) and its private and public effects." (Publisher description)
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"For policy making, the 24/7 news cycle means high levels of exposure to fast-breaking international stories receiving global attention and producing a powerful 'do something!' effect. This topical book widens the debate beyond US media and policy making by considering the case of Western and Easter
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n European media and policy processes. It tests the wider application of existing theoretical approaches and provides useful comparisons, allowing the reader to draw conclusions on the media-policy relationship." (Publisher description)
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"If the ambitious goal of building a global Information Society is to be realised, it is important to track progress against the indicative targets set out in the WSIS final outcome documents. One of the key elements is the bridging of the digital divide. This is a measure of the gap in access to IC
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Ts between different countries, or between different regions within a country. A further element is to examine the progress of the different multi-stakeholder partnerships that have been established during the WSIS process. There is a sense in which the WSIS has created a learning community, in which policy-makers and regulators can learn from best practice experiences of their neighbours and peers in other parts of the world. This Report is intended to provide guidelines for policymakers, in particular in developing countries, in the context of mobilizing resources and developing their own strategies for building the Information Society. In this regard, the Report covers the main elements of the Information Society and provides a new tool for measuring progress towards building it, through the Digital Opportunity Index (DOI)." (Page 11)
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"Grundlage des Bandes ist eine internationale Tagung zur Rolle der Massenmedien bei der Integration von Migranten. Die Beiträge präsentieren nicht nur Forschungsergebnisse zur Situation in Deutschland, sondern es kommen auch Experten aus den USA, Kanada und den Niederlanden zu Wort, wo Medien und
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Sozialwissenschaftler langjährige Erfahrungen mit Migration haben. Ein weiterer Teil des Bandes ist dem Dialog zwischen Medienforschern und Medienpraktikern von Fernsehen, Hörfunk und Presse gewidmet." (Buchrückseite)
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"This research initiative assessed the key media changes and developments in seventeen African countries over the past five years and aimed at recommending intervention strategies for strengthening an independent, professional media sector. The summary report presents the main findings regarding med
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ia landscapes, media legislation, media technology and equipment, journalism training and principles of media development. According to this publication "substantial evidence is provided that points to: non-sustainable and short-term approaches to projects; disconnected programmes; unneccesary competition amongst donors; and, consequently wasted investment of donor funds" (Page 15). In addition, individual country reports have been released, written by renowned African media specialists and researchers. They include: Angola, Botswana, Cameroon, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Mozambique, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Each country report consists of three sections: 1) Media sector developments, 2) Challenges for future media development activities, 3) Case study: illustrating good practice in media development." (commbox)
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"A pesar de que Educación (22,45%) y Violencia (13,72%) aparezcan como temas destacados en la pauta periodística, otros asuntos relevantes para el universo de la infancia y de la adolescencia – como Salud (10,68%), Deportes y Recreación (9,39%) o Derechos y Justicia (6,38%) – también tienen
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repercusión en la cobertura. Por otro lado, todavía se dejan de lado cuestiones importantes como Discapacidad (0,78%), Trabajo Infantil (0,71%) y Medidas Socioeducativas (0,60%). Sin embargo, es interesante señalar que en algunos países, la diferencia entre la cantidad de textos publicados sobre Educación y Violencia no es tan significativa. Este es el caso de Colombia, Guatemala y Nicaragua. A su vez, Argentina es el único país donde la cobertura de Violencia supera cuantitativamente a la de Educación." (Resumen ejecutivo, página 6)
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