"Investigative, serious journalism seeks to verify rumours and report on facts only. Unfortunately, shortages of staff and resources make it often hard for journalists to check every aspects of a rumour. Add the pressure of deadlines and the publicfs strong appeDte for scandals and it becomes mor
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e and more tempDng for journalists to repeat rumours, even if it is to then refute them later. In the West, with the high increase in personal blogs and amateur news websites, rumours are blossoming and can do a lot of damage, even when reputable news agencies clearly prove them wrong, the rumour about President Obama not being an American citizen is a good example of it. But in conflict settngs rumours can do much more than ruin a reputation or change the odds of an election, in fragile societies, rumours can be extremely dangerous, tipping a group towards unnecessary violence, undoing months of trustbuilding or peace negotiations. Journalists working in conflict settngs must therefore be highly conscious of the dangers of rumour reporting. In this short workshop, we seek to explain the mechanisms of rumours and lay out strategies to best deal with them in a constructive, responsible manner. Ideally, communities and governments officials should also receive similar training so that rumours, whether they are maliciously spread or have emerged spontaneously, have less chances of wrecking havoc." (Introduction, page 3)
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"This article describes a phenomenon known all over Africa, for which there is no really satisfactory term in English but which is summed up in the French term 'radio trottoir', literally 'pavement radio'. It may be defined as the popular and unofficial discussion of current affairs in Africa, parti
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cularly in towns. Unlike the press, television or radio, pavement radio is not controlled by any identifiable individual, institution or group of people. An examination of the social role and pedigree of pavement radio reveals it to be qualitatively different from either rumour or gossip and to have a quite different social and political function from its counterpart in Europe. It is also different from mere rumour in its choice of subject, often discussing matters of public interest or importance which have been the subject of no official announcement. Pavement radio should be seen in the light of oral tradition and treated as a descendant of the more formal oral histories associated with ruling dynasties and national rituals." (Abstract)
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"Da die meisten modernen Kommunikationsmittel in Afrika noch in den Kinderschuhen stecken, ist der größte Teil dieser Studie den spezifisch afrikanischen Kommunikationsformen gewidmet: dem Tomtom, öffentlichen Reden, Symbolen, literarischen Formen wie Legenden usw. Die Studie schließt mit einer
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tabellarischen Darstellung der Entwicklung und Situation der Massenmedien." (Jean-Marie Van Bol, Abdelfattah Fakhfakh: The use of mass media in the developing countries. Brussels: CIDESA, 1971 Nr. 1775, topic code 051)
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