"[The publication] documents how Ethiopia’s government uses its control over the telecom system to restrict individuals’ rights. Based on over 100 interviews with victims of government abuses, former government officials, and former staff of telecom companies, the report describes the various me
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thods used by Ethiopian authorities to monitor individuals and inhibit their activities online. Individuals with perceived or tenuous connections to opposition groups are arbitrarily arrested and interrogated based on their phone calls. Security agencies rarely acquire warrants, despite the legal requirement to obtain them in most circumstances. Government censors routinely block websites of opposition groups and independent media, while bloggers and social media users face harassment and the threat of arrest should they refuse to tone down their writings." (Back cover)
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"During President Felipe Calderón Hinojosa’s administration, the military was called on to confront organized crime, and dozens of journalists were killed in Mexico. Attacks on journalists have continued under the new administration. This study focuses on the erosion of the democratic institution
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of the press in Mexico’s northern states, for the majority of journalists murdered in the last decade worked in that region. Utilizing Shoemaker and Reese’s hierarchy of influences model, this study examines pressures constraining the press working in a tide of violence. The thirty-nine semistructured, in-depth interviews with Mexican journalists, who report in five of the northern states, indicate the strongest influences came from outside newsrooms, where intimidation and unthinkable crimes were committed against the press along the entire border. Individual-level influences, such as lack of conflict-reporting training, safety concerns, and handling the trauma of covering violence, were among the strongest pressures often leading to self-censorship. Organizational-level influences, including newsroom policies and financial arrangements with government and business, also influenced journalistic practice. The study added an inter-media level for analyses of news organizations and individual journalists working together to increase safety. Additional findings show major disruptions in border reporting where news “blackouts” exist amid pockets of lawlessness." (Abstract)
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"Libyan media’s deficiencies are vast and cover all facets of production. For one, the media industry’s decades-long isolation from the Arab and international markets poses a particular challenge to its reconstruction by comparison to the transitional media industries in Egypt and Tunisia. Media
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reform in Libya therefore requires tailor-made solutions that can address the specific needs of the national mainstream industry. While most training available to media staff with little professional experience focusses on basic media practices, it is crucial that these courses provide programmes that are targeting media practitioners of different media platforms (print, magazine, television and radio) as well as different levels of media professionalism (junior reporters as well as senior managers). This process should be based on a deeper understanding of the needs and challenges facing the media industry. It is a must that these programmes target institutions and contribute to their development towards professionalism. In doing so, international and regional agents working in media development should base their operations on a deep understanding of the media industry, its needs and its challenges—a matter that necessitates direct connections with this industry. It is clear that most of the training programmes had targeted citizen journalists recruiting trainees through local centres. They must now focus on media institutions and therefore target their staff with specific training programmes." (Conclusion, page 68)
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"This report has presented a range of findings and insights generated from a consultation with 14 independent exile media organisations in Iran, Myanmar, Sudan, Ethiopia, Belarus, Zimbabwe, Tibet, Uzbekistan, Syria and Zambia. They can be summarised in three key points:
(1) First, this report highli
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ghts the need for the funders and training providers focusing on strengthening organisational journalistic capacity to address both the explicitly expressed individual technical and other training needs, as well as organisational challenges of these exile media. These organisational challenges have significant implications for the ability of these organisations to fulfil their mission, but may not always be linked by these exile media to the training needs and may thus remain unaddressed.
(2) Second, the report highlights that there may be an opportunity for funders and training providers to play a greater role in helping exile media organisations understand the composition and information needs of their audiences. The consultation revealed that the majority of participating independent exile media organisations have a limited understanding of their audiences as well as a limited ability to tailor content for different audience segments.
(3) Third, the reports suggests that funders and training providers may need to do more to understand and help bridge a perceived “disconnect” between donors and those reliant on donor funding. The consultation revealed mixed feelings among participating organisations about the level of perceived donor knowledge of their challenges and training needs. Further exploring and bridging this perceived “disconnect” will help maximise the impact and effectiveness of the training activities across the sector." (Final reflections, page 27)
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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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"This national baseline survey sets out to achieve two main objectives. First, it seeks to shed more light on and generate awareness of safety and protection issues for journalists within the profession and the public. Secondly, it seeks to provide a knowledge-based platform with which to lay future
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interventions and initiatives to address the threats for the benefit of the media industry and the country. Through detailed field data collection, analyses, interpretation and inferences, including focus group discussions and key informant interviews, the study shows an industry and profession caught between the realms of a riddle and riding on the horns of a dilemma. How to mitigate and address the issues of safety and protection on the one hand – both direct and indirect – and how to underwrite and finance the associated cost implications without undermining the imperatives of the business model is a challenge to the media owners." (Executive summary)
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"This paper draws on interviews with digital security trainers and coordinators of digital security trainings of trainers (ToT)s whose end-goal is the support of human rights defenders, civil society, activists, and local media worldwide [...] Among its main findings, this paper notes the following
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four gaps: a lack of sustained support for digital security trainers after they receive training at ToT events and return to their own training efforts; a lack of standardized frameworks for determining the effectiveness of digital security ToTs, a lack of standardized frameworks for trainers to conduct digital security training events around the world, pedagogical approaches drawing on extensive research and developments in the field of adult education are not significantly utilized in ToTs." (Executive summary)
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"El presente artículo tiene como objetivo describir las fuentes de financiamiento manejadas para la sostenibilidad de las radios comunitarias del municipio Maracaibo, tomando como base los postulados de Lamas (2003); a través de un estudio descriptivo, usando como técnica de recolección de infor
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mación la entrevista semiestructurada. Para tal fin, fueron entrevistados 6 directores de las radios comunitarias habilitadas por Comisión Nacional de Telecomunicaciones (CONATEL) al 2011. Se pudo constatar que manejan algunas fuentes de financiamiento, sin embargo, se hace necesario ampliarlas en función de garantizar la sostenibilidad de las radios y poder garantizar el uso de la herramienta comunicacional en beneficio de las comunidades." (Resumen)
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"In South Africa, a fledgling democratic republic is making concerted efforts to foster media that will help to overcome a history of oppression based on difference. A qualitative analysis of interviews with 62 respondents found that the community journalists see themselves as community educators wh
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ose role transcends reporting the news. The community journalists interviewed are experimenting with new partnerships and new ways of reporting the news. However, the respondents disagree on the way news should be reported, with some opting for a more solution-oriented approach. The findings underscore that the greatest obstacle to these efforts is finding a way to foster sustainable media that serve historically marginalized communities." (Abstract)
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"The findings of this global mapping are organized into five main sections: The role of children, adolescents and youth in peacebuilding; mainstreaming C4D for peacebuilding in the education system; C4D for peacebuilding: adding value to education; most effective C4D approaches used for peacebuildin
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g; measuring results of C4D initiatives in peacebuilding." (Page 5)
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"The news organisations that we spoke to could be broadly divided into two camps with regards to their attitudes to online comments: there are those who embrace comments from users, often as part of a wider strategy of involving their readers in their publication, and there are those who see them as
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essentially, a necessary evil. Very few organisations (seven) didn‘t allow comments at all, but in times of financial difficulties, a costly initiative such as comment moderation, without any immediate and obvious financial benefit, is not always a priority. However, there are many organisations which see them as an essential element in fostering a real community around their publication or a niche topic. Comments are believed to increase reader engagement, both in terms of time spent on site, and in terms of loyalty." (Page 6)
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