"The potential of media to encourage democratic development cannot be denied. Media give people a voice, acting as a balance and watchdog to potential government misconduct. Without a voice, citizens cannot be heard; with a voice, they cannot be ignored. Media provide a window into the inner working
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s of the government, thereby increasing transparency and reducing corruption. Not only are countries more democratic with free and independent media, but their governments are also more accountable. Media’s impact is not limited to the political realm. A country’s economy benefits by being more open. By having access to economic information, citizens are better informed about what is happening in their communities and in commercial and financial markets, allowing them to make better informed choices. Overall society benefits, too. In addition to current events, media educate the public on issues related to health, the environment, women, children, and minorities. Independent media give voice to those whose voices often are not heard and engage marginalized groups in a more participatory discussion of programs that impact their lives. Democratic, social, political, and economic development goes hand-in-hand with media development. While short-term projects that utilize media for specific goals—health information campaigns for example—have an impact on their intended sector, a more comprehensive media development strategy holds the potential to create the conditions for sustainable democratic and economic development." (Page 20)
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"Any approach to media development must include systems-wide measures including development of an enabling regulatory framework and increased access to information. Future media development processes must be African-owned and African-led, ultimately empowering Africans at all levels of society. With
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in this, media development strategies must fit the specific contexts of diverse African realities; While new technologies offer new and exciting opportunities, we must focus not on a transition from 'old' media to 'new' media, but on maximizing the potential for expanding networked journalism across the media in all its forms; The media is necessarily political, seeking to foster debate around inherently contentious social, economic, cultural and political issues. Donors and NGOs must recognize the clear-cut distinction between using the media to promote specific development policies and building the media as a component of genuine democratic debate." (Executive summary, page 10)
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"A pesquisa analisa a relação entre os grupos políticos e emissoras de TV em Natal, Rio Grande do Norte, uma vez que todas as emissoras comerciais abertas estão ligadas a algum grupo político. Com esse intuito, observou-se o resultado das eleições realizadas desde 1987, ano de fundação da p
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rimeira TV na cidade, comparando-os com a relação dos sócios e dirigentes que consta no Ministério das Comunicações. Além de analisar os processos que culminaram na retirada do ar, por 24 horas, da Intertv Cabugi e TV Ponta Negra durante o 2º turno das eleições majoritárias do ano 2006, procurou-se, ainda, entrevistar alguns dos políticos que têm envolvimento com as emissoras da cidade e fez-se um breve resumo do contexto histórico." (Resumo)
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"Headlines From the Heartland: Reinventing the Hindi Public Sphere is the first in-depth study of the ongoing newspaper revolution in the Hindi-speaking states of India. With improved literacy levels, communications and purchasing power, the circulation of Hindi newspapers has grown rapidly in small
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towns and rural areas. By focusing their content to serve a local readership, some multi-edition Hindi newspapers have risen to the top of the national readership charts. Against the backdrop of the relationship between press and society, author Sevanti Ninan describes the emergence of a local public sphere; reinvention of the public sphere by the new non-elite readership; the effect on politics, administration, and social activism; the consequences of making newspapers reader rather than editor-led; the democratization of the Hindi press with the advent of village-level citizen journalists; and the impact of caste and communalism on the Hindi press. Based on over 150 interviews with journalists, readers, publishers, politicians, administrators, and activists, as well as expert content analysis, this book tells the ongoing story of the press in the Hindi heartland." (Publisher description)
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"[...] This authoritative book answers key questions about the connections between media and political change in the Arab world. Using research into, for example, practices of Internet users, journalists, demonstrators and producers of reality TV, it explores the interface between public interaction
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over the airwaves, at the polls and on the streets. A lively group of contributors explores such issues as whether young people are served well by new media, whether blogging is an influential political tool, whether satellite news helps or hinders diasporic communities politically, and much more." (Publisher description)
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"Laura Edmondson examines how politics, social values, and gender are expressed on stage. Now a disappearing tradition, Tanzanian popular theatre integrates comic sketches, acrobatics, melodrama, song, and dance to produce lively commentaries on what it means to be Tanzanian. These dynamic shows inv
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ite improvisation and spontaneous and raucous audience participation as they explore popular sentiments. Edmondson asserts that these performances overturn the boundary between official and popular art and offer a new way of thinking about African popular culture. She discusses how the blurring of state agendas and local desires presents a charged environment for the exploration of Tanzanian political and social realities: What is the meaning of democracy and who gets to define it? Who is in power, and how is power exposed or concealed? What is the role of tradition in a postsocialist state? How will the future of the nation be negotiated?" (Publisher description)
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The articles in this book have been adapted from contributions to the UNESCO-sponsored conference in Colombo, Sri Lanka marking World Press Freedom Day on May 3, 2006.
"El público colombiano tiene hoy con esta importante obra, un lúcido y sugerente estudio acerca de la relación entre la política de ‘seguridad democrática’, –principal componente e la gestión gubernamental del presidente Álvaro Uribe Vélez –, y los medios de comunicación. El texto q
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ue la Universidad Autónoma de Occidente entrega, explica sin dubitaciones como los medios sirven a los intereses del Gobierno y sin distancia alguna cerraron filas en torno a un estilo, a una forma de gobernar y de entender la democracia, aupando la posibilidad de que Uribe sea reelecto. El actuar de los medios será vital para el fortalecimiento de la democracia o por el contrario, para dejarla aún más frágil, dada la importancia que tiene la información y el papel de los medios como generadores de opinión pública. El libro representa, ante todo, un esfuerzo de seguimiento al trabajo interpretativo e informativo de columnistas y espacios periodísticos televisivos y en general a varios medios masivos colombianos en torno a la forma como unos y otros abordaron, entendieron y presentaron los hechos, asuntos y perspectivas de la política pública de ‘seguridad democrática’, ejecutada en la administración de Uribe Vélez (2002- 2006). El trabajo se divide en seis capítulos a través de los cuales los autores dan cuenta de la mirada minimalista que en general medios, periodistas y columnistas hicieron del concepto de ‘seguridad democrática’ y de la política pública que –en últimas – garantizó el triunfo electoral de Uribe Vélez y mantiene su buena imagen mediática." (Prólogo)
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"Seit den kriegerischen Auseinandersetzungen in Afghanistan und im Nahen Osten ist der Fernsehsender Al-Jazeera, der 1996 seinen Betrieb aufgenommen hat, auch im Westen als wichtige Informationsquelle bekanntgeworden.Der Sender mit Sitz in Katar erhebt den Anspruch, der einzige politisch unabhängig
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e Fernsehsender im Nahen Osten zu sein. Dies hat ihn zum Ziel zahlreicher Anschuldigungen von seiten arabischer Regierungen, aber auch der US-Regierung gemacht.Vorliegende Arbeit beschreibt erstmals in deutscher Sprache die Arbeit dieses Fernsehsenders und seinen Einfluss in der arabischen Welt.Besonderen Raum nimmt die gründliche Analyse der Rolle ein, die der Sender im Krieg gegen den Terrorismus gespielt hat.Der Verfasser hat seine gründliche Arbeit auch im direkten Kontakt mit den Verantwortlichen von Al-Jazeera recherchiert.Seine Arbeit liefert einen wichtigen Beitrag zur politischen Entwicklung im nahen Osten." (Verlagsbeschreibung)
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"In dieser Studie wird der strukturelle Wandel des russischen Fernsehens vom sowjetischen Status quo (1970-1985) bis zum Jahre 2005 untersucht. Dieser Medienwandel, der 1985/1986 beginnt und neben dem Fernsehen auch andere Medien umfasst, wird hier als Prozess der Erosion von Propaganda und der Ausd
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ifferenzierung eines autonomen Mediensystems beschrieben. Dabei werden zwei Aspekte prominent hervorgehoben: die Bedeutung der medialen Globalisierungsprozesse für das entstehende Mediensystem und die Wechselbeziehung zwischen Medienstrukturen und den zunächst parteilichen, später staatlichen Kontrollmechanismen der Medien. Die in der Russischen Föderation trotz globaler Diffusion und Vernetzung der Fernsehorganisationen weiterhin populäre Idee, dass Medien ein notwendiges Instrument politischer Machtausübung sind, stellt daher eines der zentralen Bezugsprobleme der Studie dar." (Verlagsbeschreibung)
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