"This study has been conducted at Radio Maria Rwanda (RMR) for establishing different challenges related to the management of volunteers at RMR, from recruitment to their retention. The study assessed how volunteers are recruited at RMR, what motivated them to volunteer at this radio station, how th
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eir recruitment process influenced their motivation and the challenges that they faced while they worked at RMR. The descriptive research design adopted both qualitative and quantitative approaches of data collection from a sample comprising 91 volunteers and 4 staff members of RMR. The data collected were analysed by SPSS and Nvivo software. The findings of the study reveal that the process of volunteer’s recruitment and retention at RMR was characterised by several challenges which required strong strategies to overcome them, such as ineffective communication of volunteering needs at this radio station, insufficient documents on the daily management of volunteers, a high number of unemployed volunteers linked to their ineffective identification and selection, insufficient equipment, lack of regular training and evaluation, etc. The study concludes that several people responded to the call of volunteering at RMR but this radio station necessitated more improvements to strengthen its strategies of volunteers’ management for being more efficient and productive. The study recommends that RMR should redefine its internal strategies of volunteers’ identification, screening and selection as well as their regular evaluation, training, equipment and communicating effectively with them." (Abstract)
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"Oppression of women, financial meltdown, censorship: Research findings by Afghan NGO Nai SOMA and DW Akademie highlight the extent of the Afghan media sector’s breakdown after the Taliban took power in Kabul." (Page 1)
"Against the backdrop of a highly precarious situation for journalists, a severe economic crisis is unfolding within Afghan media houses, according to a survey on the current state of the media sector in Afghanistan conducted by DW Akademie and partner organizations. Data were collected in February
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2022. 175 Afghan media professionals responded anonymously to an online survey. The results cast new light on the far-reaching changes within the sector. Half a year after the Taliban took power, most Afghan media houses are facing collapse." (Introduction)
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"This study sought to identify changes, if any, to the communication and community engagement landscape as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. It did not aim to evaluate communication, community engagement and accountability (CCEA) during the pandemic but, rather, aimed to bring together some of the
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key literature, recommend additional reading and reflect on the perspectives of different stakeholders. In addition to a thorough literature review, the study represents the views of approximately 150 community-based participants of focus group discussions, 44 key informants and 181 global survey respondents. For some, the shift to remote ways of working led to an increase in digital access and reach, while for others this complicated existing communication channels and deepened the digital divide. Principally, this report finds that very little has changed in the CCEA landscape, a conclusion nuanced heavily by contextual differences within and between communities, and between countries." (Executive Summary, page 5)
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"Although journalism practice exposes media workers to different levels of occupational hazards, research on the coping strategies is limited. This study made an effort to extend literature in this direction by providing a model that explains the coping strategies of Nigerian journalists who covered
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the 2020 ENDSARS protests in Nigeria. The researchers surveyed a total of 470 journalists who were sampled through a respondent-driven chain referral sampling technique. It was found that journalists who covered the protests faced occupational hazards such as physical attacks, disgrace, threats, trauma, anxiety as well as fear. The coping strategies were found to include seeking social support, selective appearance, self-censorship as well as self-motivation. It was further found that perceived behavioural control significantly moderates the implementation of coping strategies. The researchers explored the implications of these results on theory, practice and scholarship." (Abstract)
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"Latin American journalism has experienced recent transitions marked by digital affordances, including a growth of investigative journalism. The region has also experienced more political and economic instability, giving rise to a wave of threats and harassment against journalists. This repeated cro
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ss-sectional study analyzes the changing perceptions of threats and attacks as barriers to investigative journalism, through surveys of journalists from 20 Latin American countries conducted in 2013 and 2017. It performs intra-regional comparison utilizing the hierarchy of influences model. It found that women and those with fewer years of working experience (individual characteristics) were increasingly likely to perceive threats and attacks as a main barrier to investigative journalism. It also found that those working for digital platforms and working more independently (organizational characteristics) were also increasingly likely to perceive threats and attacks as major barriers." (Abstract)
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"This research was conducted through a survey (involving 1,256 respondents) and interviews (six informants) of female journalists in 191 cities, representing western, central, and eastern parts of Indonesia. This survey included 25 questions about the respondents’ violence experiences related to t
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heir work in the digital and physical world. The forms of violence asked in the questionnaire cover all forms of violence that we could find in literature and case records in Indonesia and abroad, including various policies and practices of discrimination for female journalists in the workplace related to salaries, reporting assignments, and so on, which we included in the categories of violence in the physical domain. [...] According to the statements from the female journalists, as many as 1,077 respondents (85.7%) had experienced violence during their journalistic career. Of these, as many as 70.1% of the respondents had experienced violence in the digital domain as well as in the physical domain, 7.9% of respondents had experienced only violence in the digital domain (online), and 7.8% of respondents had experienced only violence in the physical domain (offline). Meanwhile, only 179 respondents (14.3%) never experienced any form of violence at all [...] Although the survey data do not show a strong relationship between the acts of violence and the topic of the journalists’ reporting, interviews show that female journalists are more vulnerable to violence when covering issues considered risky, such as gender and sexuality (LGBTIQ) and the environment. The latter finding is in line with the statement by the Committee to Protect Journalists, which classifies environmental investigations in developing countries as dangerous, second only to reporting of armed conflicts." (Executive summary, page 9)
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"This study sought to examine work-related exposure to trauma and predictors of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) symptoms among regional journalists in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province, a conflict-ridden area in northwest Pakistan. We recruited 216 KP journalists. Analysis of the surveys re
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vealed a high prevalence of trauma exposure and PTSD symptoms. All of the participants had covered at least one trauma inducing event. Exposure to work-related trauma, active emotional coping and avoidant emotional coping were statistically significant factors associated with PTSD symptoms. This study is the first to highlight the severity of the impact of trauma on regional journalists in Pakistan." (Abstract)
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"A survey in Cameroon revealed that journalists are faced with some challenges (such as lack of training and lack of resource persons) in covering environment topics, especially those related to forest and climate change adaptation. In order to address these challenges and contribute to the improvem
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ent of the journalistic style of reporting topics on forest and climate change adaptation with more scientific knowledge and to create a stronger scientific base of event coverage, pilot capacity-building initiatives were initiated with the specific objectives as follows: (1) training of journalists during workshops; (2) fellowships award for research activities to communication master students; (3) mentoring of senior and junior journalists and (4) open reflection on how to mainstream forests and adaptation to climate change in curricula of communication schools in Central Africa. This last initiative of mainstreaming forests and adaptation to climate change in the school curricula was seen as a possible sustainable way to promote scientific and environmental communication in Central Africa. These activities initiated by CIFOR (Center for International Forestry Research) under the framework of CoFCCA project (Congo Basin Forest and Climate Change Adaptation) were pilot initiatives aiming to inspire others on capacity building and research related to scientific and environmental communication in Central Africa." (Abstract)
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"Entre todos los tipos de problemas a los que se enfrentaron los trabajadores de protección de la niñez y adolescencia, el 18% de sus casos totales indicaron alguna forma de abuso y explotación sexual de niñas, niños y adolescentes en línea. Esto significa que uno de cada cinco niñas, niños
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y adolescentes que recibía asistencia tenía este problema. Se debe tener en cuenta que se trata de una muestra de conveniencia, por consiguiente, las organizaciones que apoyan las problemáticas que se generan del abuso de niñas, niños y adolescentes, fueron seleccionadas para participar en la encuesta. No obstante, se tiene un fuerte indicio de la magnitud de la preocupación que tienen los trabajadores de primera línea [...] Se identificó que las niñas o adolescentes son sometidas más frecuentemente al abuso y la explotación sexual en línea, ya que alrededor del 54% de los trabajadores dijeron que las formas de abuso y explotación sexual de niñas, niños y adolescentes en línea surgían en “más de la mitad” de sus casos con niñas o mujeres jóvenes." (Principales hallazgos, página 9)
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"This research was conducted to assess the digital security posture among independent media organizations in Lebanon. It is significant for media organizations in Lebanon to maintain a good standard of digital security, especially in an era when press freedom is increasingly under attack." (Introduc
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tion and Methodology, 5)
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"This report shows that the media coverage of Gender-Based Violence (GBV) in Kenya remains insensitive, lacking in depth and seems not prioritized by mainstream media as it is with digital platforms. Journalists need to pay more attention to matters relating to GBV, considering the increasing cases
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reported and the human rights violations involved. Concern about media reporting of GBV lies within the larger thinking that gender equality lies at the core of human rights approach to development. There was lack of in-depth reporting on GBV during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns. The reporting also lacked sensitivity even as more stories on GBV ran digital platforms compared to those on mainstream media. Use of inappropriate language in the coverage of GBV, leading to double trauma on victims also went a notch higher even as victims were left exposed. This, especially, applied to underage and rape victims. There was also a lack of centralised statistics/data to analyse the trend, or map out hot spots for sensitization." (Executive summary)
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"From the findings of the survey, it emerges that mental issues are widespread among journalists. It is notable and concerning that among the respondents, there is generally a significant percentage of them who either lack knowledge on issues of mental health, or for those that have knowledge and ca
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n identify issues within themselves, or others have challenges with seeking help or assistance through intervention. There is a recognisable gap that newsroom managers are either inaccessible or have no capacity to implement inhouse interventions on matters of mental health. It is also clear that work related pressure and work environment are the leading causes of mental health amongst journalists. Most of the respondents believe that there is a cure for mental health related issues, which is a positive thing." (Conclusion, page 24)
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"The CEU Democracy Institute's Center for Media, Data and Society (CMDS) embarked in November 2020 on a one-year project aimed at mapping and analyzing the work of the world's fact-checking groups, with a focus on their challenges, needs and successes. The project started with a survey of 30 fact-ch
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ecking organizations worldwide, which were asked to indicate the importance of certain impact-related challenges. Based on the survey's results and research, CMDS identified four areas of interest, and also groups that have been successful in addressing these challenges. These fact-checking organizations, some of them lesser-known groups established in the past few years, and their modus operandi have been showcased in four articles covering audience outreach, methods to tackle misinformation on social media, fact-checking misinformation about the Covid-19 pandemic and fact-checking for teenagers, which were published over the course of the past year. This booklet collects all these papers in one place, presenting the results of the survey and the articles produced as part of the project, as well as an additional, fifth piece that looks into the future of fact-checking." (Introduction)
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"The study finds that journalistic and fact-checking disinformation responses in the country have struggled due to lack of conceptual understanding of disinformation among journalists, monetization trends that incentivize sensationalist news and reduce the impact of capacity building initiatives, la
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ck of financial sustainability of responses, language barriers, and political backlash. At the same time, the research finds that local capacity building responses have improved the ability of individual journalists to understand Covid-19 misinformation and hashtag manipulation on Twitter whereas fact-checking responses have led to the development of efficient workflows, informed recruitment principles, contextual verification practices, and collaboration with social networks to downrank viral online disinformation. The study also confirms findings from literature that disinformation is negatively affecting the work and safety environment of Pakistani digital journalists. The journalists surveyed for this research reported that disinformation has increased their risk of getting deceived by fake social media posts during online newsgathering. In addition, most women journalists surveyed for the study said they were targeted with gendered disinformation campaigns, which caused them physical, psychological or reputational harm. A majority of surveyed women digital journalists also believed that they face additional challenges to counter disinformation due to their gender identity. The digital journalists who participated in the survey identified fact-checking training as their most urgent need to counter disinformation." (Executive summary, page 8)
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"Presentamos este estudio como una contribución relevante para entender los profundos cambios y las tendencias del periodismo en América Latina, a partir de un análisis riguroso del paisaje mediático, así como del mapeo y caracterización de 1.521 medios nativos digitales verificados en 12 paí
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ses de la región. Se trata de una investigación única que permite conocer quiénes son, dónde se encuentran y en qué se diferencian estos medios digitales de naturaleza muy diversa: hiperlocales, feministas, sobre medio ambiente, de chequeo, narrativos, colaborativos, culturales, de control público, de temas sociales y políticos, entre otras causas y enfoques de agenda. Los hallazgos son a la vez desafiantes y alentadores. Los medios nativos digitales latinoamericanos muestran una gran vitalidad a pesar de condiciones adversas de distinto tipo. Es revelador que en el último año hayan surgido medios en Guatemala, Nicaragua, Bolivia y Venezuela, países donde se han vivido incidentes en relación con la libertad de expresión, con casos de presiones, censura o vigilancia de los gobiernos sobre la labor periodística. Algo que distingue las búsquedas de los medios nativos digitales estudiados es que priorizan la calidad de la información y su foco está en aportar una visión propia, impulsar sociedades más democráticas y libres y construir relaciones firmes con sus audiencias. Son medios que en su mayoría hablan a una comunidad, pero también están dentro de ella." (Presentación, página 7-8)
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"Geo-strategically, Pakistan is placed in the region that has been frayed by wars conflict since the USSR’s (1979) invasion of Afghanistan. Since, Pakistan is sharing one of the longest borders with Afghanistan, hence could not remain impervious. The region, specially, Pakistan had not yet fully r
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ecovered from horrors of the stated war when unfortunately, the episode of the September 11, 2001, provoked another war in the area, framed as “war against terrorism”. The said war prompted a wave of religious extremism and radicalism in the region. Tactically, the killing of Osama Bin Laden in 2011brought the war on terror to its ultimate end but its after effects is still seriously hurting Pakistan. This state of affairs paved way for the emergence of war reporting in Pakistan. By now, dozens of journalists have been killed during performing their professional duties. This paper is an effort to explore the issues of religious extremism and radicalism in Pakistan and associated threats for the journalists engaged in reporting the same. The study is quantitative in nature and makes use of a questionnaire for data collection. The study found that lack of safety protocol such as deficient safety gadgets; training deficiency; and rush to break news endanger war reporter’s lives." (Abstract)
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"Following seminal study on journalistic attitudes towards wars and peace journalism, in this study we investigated the perceptions of conflict reporters in the three most deadly countries in the world including Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan. A total of 317 journalists participated in this study. T
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hough generally we found support for the earlier study, the analysis shows journalists engage in wider practices than predicted that overlap war and peace journalism approaches. A closer examination showed that journalists favored active war journalism practices and passive peace journalism practices. Finally, we did not find that journalistic experience and contextual factors influenced preferences towards war and peace journalism substantially." (Abstract)
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"Freedom of speech and freedom of the press is generally attributed to an independent society where the basic rights of citizens are ensured. Balochistan, the western and resources rich province of Pakistan with its huge geopolitical importance has been under a strong wave of terrorism for the last
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two decades. This menace of terrorism has severely affected citizens of the province including media workers.
Design/Methodology/Approach: This research endeavor is an attempt to explore the impact of terrorism on the performance of media professionals in Balochistan. The study is based on the Hierarchy of Influence model which provides ground to explore the influence of terrorism. In this quantitative study, the researchers employing the systematic sampling technique have selected 50 media professionals out of 194 registered journalists of five press clubs: Quetta, Chaman, Noshki, Mastung, and Loralai.
Findings: The survey findings show that terrorism has badly affected the quality of their reporting. The study also reveals that objective journalism is hard to follow in the province by journalists as they are always threatened not only by terrorists but also by the law enforcement agencies to mold the reports in their favor.
Implications/Originality/Value The findings also indicate that terrorism has also affected journalists’ personal lives." (Abstract)
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