"The present study is a review of the mission of public service broadcasting in eight countries of the Middle East and North Africa. It examines the books of specifications and the legal frameworks that regulate public broadcasting as well as it looks into the means made available to implement it. F
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urthermore it analyses segments of the programmes to assess the extent to which national television channels actually deliver a mission of public service. The present book represents the synthesis of research work conducted by NGOs and associate experts to the Institut PANOS Paris and to the Observatoire méditerranéen de la communication in all of Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Syria, the Occupied Palestinian Territories and Tunisia. The outcome of this research varies greatly from country to country, whereas in some cases the failure to deliver a mission of public service is obvious, there are also examples of programming that indicate attempts to make some headway towards the ideals of public service broadcasting." (Publisher description)
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"This book explores the role of media in democratic societies and specifically that of PSB's in Asia. It presents case studies from Bangladesh, Bhutan, Kampuchea, Hong Kong, India, Malaysia, Macau, Sri Lanka, and Singapore. These studies document the Asian experience in PSB while exploring if there
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is a role that such networks are playing (or can play) in creating a civic conscious society." (Back cover)
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"Le rapport sur la radiodiffusion publique au Cameroun observe que le pays a fait ses preuves en matière de libéralisation des médias depuis l'aube du millénaire, mais qu'en dépit de ses plus de 80 stations de radio et de ses cinq chaînes de télévision nationales, des problèmes subsistent.
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Le bilan du Cameroun en matière de respect de la liberté de la presse doit être amélioré. Le rapport affirme également que les cadres réglementaires stricts actuellement en place n'encouragent pas un environnement médiatique dynamique et sont loin de respecter les normes et les engagements continentaux auxquels le gouvernement est partie. Le rapport appelle à des réformes urgentes des médias et de la législation, conformément à la Constitution qui, sur le papier, garantit la liberté d'expression et de la presse, mais qui, dans la pratique, contredit ces droits. Le rapport exhorte les décideurs politiques et les législateurs à abroger et à remplacer des lois telles que la loi sur la liberté des communications de masse afin de garantir la liberté d'expression et de la presse, alignant ainsi les politiques médiatiques du Cameroun sur les instruments continentaux tels que la Déclaration de principes sur la liberté d'expression en Afrique". (www.afrimap.org)
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"The report on public broadcasting in Cameroon, observes that the country although has a strong track record of media liberalization since the dawn of the millennium, but despite its more than 80 radio and five national television stations challenges remain. Cameroon’s record of upholding press fr
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eedom needs to be improved. It also argues that stringent regulatory frameworks currently in place do not encourage a vibrant media environment and falls far short of continental standards and commitments, to which the government is a party to. The report calls for urgent media and legislative reforms that conform to its Constitution, which on paper guarantees the freedom of expression and press, but in practice contradicts such rights. The report urges policy and law makers to repeal and replace such laws as the Freedom of Mass Communications law so as to guarantee freedom of expression and press, thus aligning Cameroon’s media polices with continental instruments such as the Declaration of Principles on Freedom of Expression in Africa." (www.afrimap.org)
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"A closer analysis of the long and arduous journey traversed by African nationalism often shows ethnicity marching along as an invisible ‘matrimonial’ partner. It is on that note that this article seeks to present South Africa’s project of managing ethnic diversity using public radio broadcast
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ing as new form of cultural ‘holy matrimony’, with its consummation evinced through the implementation of policies that encourage ethnic diversity. The article acknowledges that the re-appropriation of meaning for ethnicity in South Africa now denotes the politically correct and constructed descriptor of ‘culture’, and is characterized by the continued conflation of ethnicity and race relations. Unlike in some parts of Africa, where ethnicity is criminalized as ‘tribalism’ – thus emphasizing its instrumentalized destructive element – in South Africa cultural diversity is seen as the panacea for a stable democratic arrangement. This article proposes to discuss cultural pluralism as a democratic imperative within the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC), which is a public service broadcaster (PSB). Two case studies of ethnic minority radio stations will be presented as empirical evidence: Munghana Lonene FM and Phalaphala FM." (Abstract)
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"Public service broadcasting evolved in the small states of the English speaking Caribbean as state broadcasting. As such, state broadcasting has been forced to change to compete with private broadcasters, cable, satellite and the internet. This article assesses the paradigm shift in public service
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broadcasting within the former British colonies of the Caribbean, with particular emphasis on Jamaica, the Bahamas, Barbados, and Trinidad and Tobago. Then the article discusses the changes in state broadcasting in the Caribbean region in recent decades in relation to market sector, audiences and digital technology. This is followed by a discussion on the policy directions, programming and mission of newly minted public service broadcasting (PSB) in the English speaking Caribbean with questions of the future of PSB in these small states." (Abstract)
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