"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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"This book presents the studies that were conducted as part of the project entitled Media For Citizens, which is concerned with media pluralism and citizens' communication rights. The project is an effort to enhance the ability of citizens, and minority groups in particular, to actively [...] partic
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ipate in media society." (Page 8)
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"This dissertation analyzes the participatory community radios of post-war El Salvador through ethnographic research and analyses of their operations and programming. It explores the concrete local meanings of civil society and the ways this medium helped construct a vibrant popular culture. Its cor
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e is an analysis of the relationships between the community radios and the activities of emerging civil society organizations as part of a post-war movement reflecting a Gramscian discourse of civil society. Examples show how their collaboratively produced programs sought to increase popular participation especially among the formerly marginalized rural and urban poor, as well as to deepen understanding of human rights, promote practices of citizenship, and redefine “news” to fit their particular audiences. A viable civil society depends on the availability of public spaces. The dissertation investigates the issues underlying the battles to legalize the community radios and expand this virtual public space. Analyses of radio broadcasts of school graduation celebrations demonstrate the radios’ central role in activating the local public sphere, building on critiques of Habermas’ foundational concept (1989). Community radio is not a smaller version of commercial radio, promoting consumption which listeners arguably use to create a feeling of belonging (Garcia Canclini 2001). Instead, these radios are a form of popular culture: transformative expressive practices which reconnect people to their own agency and through which they construct a sense of collective identity (Rowe and Schelling 1991:7)." (Abstract)
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"This is an entirely new edition of the author’s 1984 study (originally published by South End Press) of radical media and movements. The first and second sections are original to this new edition. The first section explores social and cultural theory in order to argue that radical media should be
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a central part of our understanding of media in history. The second section weaves an historical and international tapestry of radical media to illustrate their centrality and diversity, from dance and graffiti to video and the internet and from satirical prints and street theatre to culture-jamming, subversive song, performance art and underground radio. The section also includes consideration of ultra-rightist media as a key contrast case. The book’s third section provides detailed case studies of the anti-fascist media explosion of 1974-75 in Portugal, Italy’s long-running radical media, radio and access video in the USA, and illegal media in the dissolution of the former Soviet bloc dictatorships." (Publisher description)
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"This report analyzes the ways in which civil society and the media contribute to establish more accountable governments in the region. The report is organized around two main sections: section I provides a general overview of the trends and changes that affected the development of Latin American so
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cieties and the media in the past decade. More specifically, it will concentrate on the appearance of two actors that greatly contributed to shape the agenda of accountability in the region: a regional network of civic associations and movements organized around demands for due process and a new form of investigative or watchdog journalism. The section describes both the types of actors involved in a politics of accountability and the main issues they have addressed. Section II concentrates on the workings and achievements of this politics of accountability. It analyzes the methods and strategies employed to make public officials accountable and on some of their accomplishments." (Page 1)
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"Les informations récoltées sur le terrain, dans chacun des neuf pays étudiés, et livrées ici permettent de dessiner un état des lieux d'une région où le pluralisme de l'information et la démocratie nécessitent encore de nombreux débats et avancées. Nous espérons qu'elles constitueront
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autant de clés pour mieux comprendre une région en pleins boulversements au coeur de l'Afrique." (Description de la maison d'édition)
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"[...] se plantea como primera hipótesis que la mediación entre Estado y sociedad civil, que se establece en el espacio público configurado por los medios de comunicación, es el resultado de una negociación entre la acción estratégica de estos medios y la acción táctica de sus participantes
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. La mediación se define, entonces, como una negociación entre los propietarios y conductores de los medios de comunicación y los participantes. Sin embargo, esta negociación es asimétrica porque unos actores poseen un espacio propio, desde donde planifican sus acciones, y otros no. Los propietarios de los medios tienen esta ventaja, al igual que las instituciones estatales y, por tanto, actúan estratégicamente. En cambio, los participantes, que pueden ser actores colectivos o individuales; en las actuales condiciones tienen a su favor el tiempo, la ocasión y no la posesión de un espacio. Esto les permite participar tácticamente, aprovechando la circunstancia, en programas en los que se les brinda la posibilidad de participación directa para la canalización de sus demandas. Así, los sujetos despliegan acciones tácticas en un espacio ajeno —los medios de comunicación—, acciones racionales por las que los individuos comparan y evalúan sus distintas opciones (partidos, sindicatos, instituciones estatales y medios de comunicación); eligen; realizan ciertas operaciones como la manera de acudir, o el tipo de demanda de acuerdo a los programas; también negocian con los medios de mayor influencia pública (los que tienen un elevado rating) y, cuando se trata de programas con conductores afiliados a algún partido político, manifiestan apoyo electoral o, por lo menos, escenificaciones de este apoyo, a cambio de la canalización de sus demandas." (Introducción, página 14-15)
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Media Résistance a publié en 2000 le réçit de 23 expériences de journaux, de radios et de télévision indépendantes. Le livre entend répondre à quatre questions: comment les médias résistent aux diverses pressions par les mots, quel est leur rôle dans le renforcement de la société civi
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le, l'alliance en réseaux permet-elle de mieux répondre aux pressions politiques, comment certaines initiatives luttent contre les stéréotypes et les clichés. Expériences d'Afrique: L'Indépendant (Burkina Faso), The News & Tempo (Nigeria), N'Djamena Hebdo (Tchad), The Post (Zambie), Le Journal (Maroc), Citizen FM (Gambie), Studio Ijambo (Burundi).
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