"Long before the descriptor “citizen journalism” became a topic of research interest in academia, Indonesia’s Radio Elshinta (www.elshinta.com) in Jakarta had already opened its airwaves for listeners, most with no formal journalism training, to call in their stories. This paper contextualises
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Elshinta’s experience with Asia’s top online citizen media portal Ohmynews (english.ohmynews.com) in South Korea to identify their common and divergent characteristics. The case study is complemented by interviews with journalists from Elshinta and Ohmynews. The study concludes that despite relatively unreliable access to Internet facilities in Indonesia, the main catalysts for Elshinta’s engagement with its listeners are (a) the predominantly oral culture in Indonesia; (b) low literacy, thus their reliance on radio as the primary source of information and entertainment; and (d) the popularity of mobile phones for formal and informal communication. Indonesian television and newspapers, however, have been slow in catching up with people-initiated journalism because of (a) fear of losing its reputation and credibility, and thus its commercial base; and (b) conflict between unedited reports by untrained reporters with the professional practice standards and the Press Law. Other obstacles to people-initiated journalism in television and newspapers are the slow uptake of amateur handycam images by TV stations, poor Internet access, lack of writing skills and lack of interactivity in existing online news sites." (Abstract)
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"Given the limited nature of global media with its emphasis on ‘infotainment’ driven by commerce, it has very little role in community development. We see the alarming and growing impact of the global media on the socio-cultural life of differe
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nt communities in India. The rampaging growth of centralized distribution systems has not only undermined local expressions but is also loudly proclaiming its sole legitimacy and relevance. Where does that leave the diverse forms of local media that abound in our cultural landscape? Abhivyakti Media for Development, a Nashik-based Indian development communication organization, believes that local media forms have a vital role in shaping community life and its development. Abhivyakti has initiated a programme in the Maharashtra state of India that seeks to identify those who are already using some media forms in order to support them to participate in a loose informal network. This network mobilizes their creative energies to focus on the local and, in doing so, brings a host of diverse realities into public awareness and generates alternative nodal centres to distribute these voices and images. The programme is already shaping different possibilities and allowing them to emerge as viable alternatives for community empowerment." (Abstract)
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"This PR Handbook has been designed to provide professionals handling public relations and communication activities of corporate houses with a practical and readily useable guide to initiate a public relations program. Numbers of professional tips and issues have been extracted from various professi
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onal documents. In paging through the handbook, you will see that the text is supported with a variety of checklists that will provide additional information useful in your public relations work. The handbook explicitly draws on the work and experience of Media and PR strategy development by numerous professional organizations. The issues and checklists have been incorporated in the handbook keeping the corporate PR professionals' existing need in mind. Through a number of informal and formal meetings with corporate PR professionals and gatekeepers of print and electronic media, PR professionals' major needs and priorities have been identified." (Preface)
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"I have been privileged to compile this anthology of essays, stories and testimonies of Africa’s top media executives who, through their actions and visionary leadership, are re-shaping and strengthening Africa’s fledgling media companies and institutions. Their touching real-life stories are an
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inspiration to all who work and desire to see Africa succeed and to have its voice heard above the din of the new digital age. A financially robust African media that is also independent and pluralistic will serve to give meaning to and strengthen the continent’s nascent democracy and contribute to the lifting of its people out of grinding under-development, poverty and related ills. These media leaders, in sharing their stories with the rest of Africa and the world, show that the real test of what works and does not work in managing and leading a successful media firm too often lies in the field and at times does not necessarily follow orthodoxy." (Editor's note)
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"This handbook is intended to be a desk reference for small, independent and community media organisations, equipping journalists with the following tools: enable small independent and community media to counter growing media censorship in South Africa, and to ensure that these media are aware of th
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eir rights and how to protect and enforce them; provide user-friendly information about the current state of the law of defamation, and to provide checklists to see whether particular reports are defamatory; provide useful information about what to do if particular reports do attract threats or legal action; ensure that a working knowledge of media freedom issues is also built up at paralegal and advice office level, so that legal capacity is built to support grassroots media; inform such media about the other laws in existence that affect their ability to report; ensure that journalists are appraised of their rights around source protection, so that they are not pressurized to reveal confidential sources; appraise these media of the complexity of the questions around the use of journalists as witnesses; encourage these media to become freedom of expression advocates, and to appraise them of the avenues available to lobby on specific freedom of expression issues." (Summary)
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"This paper discussed the possibility to improve public communication campaign theory, by making use of data obtained through mass media health communication campaign evaluations. The idea of an ‘engineering’ approach to campaign design, where theory and scientific findings are systematically us
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ed and adopted for practical problems, plays an important role in the discussion [...] In the third part, a sample of 33 evaluation reports for mass media health communication campaigns was analyzed. 32 of these reports have not been published in an scientific journal. The evaluations were conducted in 22 different countries. The analysis of the reports focused on the campaign goals, evaluation outcome measures, research design and methods, and on questions of validity. The findings suggest that theory is not widely and consequently used to inform health mass communication campaigns or their evaluations – with notable exceptions. While there is a large number of outcomes measured, they seem to be taken out of theoretical context. Neither the campaign goals nor the evaluation measures reflect the large number of possible communication strategies that the various communication or behavior-change models and theories imply. Unintended campaign effects were mostly ignored. In very few cases the campaign designers or evaluators make use of an effects model or program logic model. This is one of the areas where I see the possibility of an important improvement. The methodology of campaign evaluation is relatively homogenous across the 33 cases in regards to data collection method. Standardized questionnaires are the dominating data collection instrument. Non-reactive observation or tracking methods are very rare. A surprising two thirds of the evaluations did not use multivariate analysis, and the reliance on self-reports raises questions of reliability." (Summary, page 120-121)
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"This bibliography, by a Kenyan scholar and children’s author, lists 1,759 titles in English and in Kiswahili. In her introduction the author states that a proportion of the books were personally examined by her, while other entries are based on listings in Kenya Books in Print, publishers’ cata
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logues, as well as catalogues issued by African Books Collective. It includes children’s books written by both African and non-African authors. The majority of the titles are published in Africa, but there are also listings of African children’s books published in the UK and in North America. Material is listed alphabetically by name of author. Each entry gives author name, title, page extents for some titles, ISBN, and name of publisher; names of illustrators are also given for a number of entries. There are no annotations, nor indications of reading levels or age groups. Includes a list of publishers, but which lacks address or distributor details. While this is a fairly comprehensive listing – and some public libraries may find it useful as a starting point for acquiring African children’s books – without annotations, evaluations, or analysis of any kind, it is difficult to see how the bibliography can serve much purpose in its present form." (Hans M. Zell, Publishing, Books & Reading in Sub-Saharan Africa, 3d ed. 2008, nr. 1630)
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"As outlined in the introductory presentation the paths to state failure are various. It is conceivable that corruption, inefficiency and the erosion of state control of the legitimate use of force could lead to the gradual erosion of state capacity. More common, as in the cases of Somalia, Liberia,
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Sierra Leone and DRC, is a situation in which armed conflict leads to the collapse of the incumbent regime and warlordism fills the vacuum that is left behind. In a more extreme case, the complete destruction of the state could be brought about, as has likely happened in Iraq since 2003. In order to rebuild state capacity, it is necessary to provide infrastructure, re-establish law and order, reassert the state’s monopoly on the use of force, make provisions for social services and, through all of these measures, regain political legitimacy. These are all considered to be necessary steps in helping a ‘failed state’ to become re-established in the wake of conflict. The question at the centre of the three themes of debate was where the media should be placed among competing priorities in state and social reconstruction. In order to tease out core issues, IMS created the two categories of ‘Media Purists’ and ‘Media Pragmatists’ to articulate opposing arguments. The background paper for the conference provides a detailed description of both positions. Participants were requested to use these perspectives to identify clashes of opinion and orientate themselves between these positions. Generally speaking, Media Purists would advocate against restrictions prescribed by the state and other bodies, whilst Media Pragmatists would see the need for regulation in order to create the desired media landscape over the longer-term." (Introduction, page 6)
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"This book is an introduction to reading visual culture. It explains which methods are available to the undergraduate student and shows exactly how to use them. The book begins with a discussion of general themes and recent debates, on the meaning of culture and the function of the visual, that offe
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rs a critical inquiry into the relation of visual images to social identities and social relations. Gillian Rose then goes on to investigate in detail the different methods for interpreting visual images. The strengths and weaknesses of each method are discussed in relation to a detailed case study, as well as to the more general issues outlined in the introduction. These methods include: compositional interpretation, content analysis, semiology, psychoanalysis, discourse analysis, audience analysis." (Publisher description)
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"Emergent scholarship on the most radical technological invention of our time confirms what most of us know from first-hand experience – that the internet has fundamentally altered our perceptions and our knowledge, as well as our sense of subjectivity, community and agency (
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see for example Vries, 2002: 19). The American scholar of religion and communications, Stephen O’Leary, one of the first scholars to analyze the role of the new media for religious communities, claims that the advent of the internet has been as revolutionary for religious growth and dissemination as was the invention of the printing press (O’Leary, 1996). In the present essay, I consider the transformations of both religion, and by extension scholarship on religion, occasioned by computer-mediated communication (CMC) and information. I lay out a basic framework for analyzing the multifunctionality of the internet with regard to religion. I also briefly address the multidisciplinarity required to comprehend this multi-dimensional technological revolution. My primary focus is religious uses (Lawrence, 2000), but some reference is also made to religious perceptions of this new medium. In my broader research, I am particularly interested in some of the latest forms of internet applications by religious individuals and organizations, and their consequence for inter-religious conflict or harmony in what sociologist Manuel Castells calls our ‘global network society’ (Castells, 1997; Hackett, 2003, 2005). The information technology revolution and the restructuring of late capitalist economies have generated this new form of society. But as to whether the internet is predominantly utopian or dystopian is hard to discern, and conclusions may be determined by one’s own interests and vantage-point." (Introduction)
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"There are a number of media players in Zimbabwe, in the private and state media, NGOs and training institutions, who have a keen interest in the development of the media in Zimbabwe. The majority of interviewees see the enactment of Zimbabwe’s m
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edia laws as the key change that has taken place over the past five years, although opinion differs as to whether these laws are progressive or not. While the government sees media laws as progressive, NGOs and the private media argue that these laws have diminished the democratic space through the closure of newspapers and the intimidation and arrest of media workers. Organisations in Zimbabwe have had to change strategy in line with the changing political and economic environment. The impact of media development initiatives varies, depending on the organisation or sector in question. In terms of the transformation of the state media (in particular the public broadcaster), minimal impact has been recorded." (Summary & conclusions, page 71)
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"This manual offers a basic description of a new method of developing journalistic skills to cover elections, and provides some essential information about elections and reporting responsibilities and techniques. Although it can be used in a wide range of elections, referenda and other votes around
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the world, it is specifically designed as a tool for coaching journalists in countries marked by conflict, or countries in the midst of a transition to democracy. The manual, as you will see, is foremost intended for those persons – we call them coaches – who are assisting in skills development. It is a handbook for those who are doing the coaching, or providing the training. But the information about elections and reporting is also meant to be passed on to reporters, editors and managers who are developing their skills. So the information here is to be shared, copied and used as journalists’ guidelines, as much as possible.
This manual stems from a Réseau Liberté journalism development programme funded by CIDA (Canadian International Development Agency). This programme to support Haitian media involves two main partners: CBC/Radio-Canada’s Institute for Training in Public Broadcasting and the Montreal-based NGO, Alternatives. After conducting several traditional training seminars to help journalists prepare to cover the 2005 - 2006 elections in Haiti, Réseau Liberté wanted to try another approach. This consisted of working with the journalists and the media outlets in their daily tasks, rather than inviting them to seminars outside their workplace. This new approach was examined and developed into a structured new methodology of media development which we call “coaching.” The methodology was supported by a handbook or manual for the coaches, covering Haiti-specific issues and election reporting generally." (Introduction)
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"As part of its initiatives to make Information and Communication Technology (ICT) work for the poor, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in collaboration with four countries in east Africa initiated and carried out a joint project on Pro-Poor ICT. The said countries are Kenya, Rwanda, T
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anzania and Uganda. Primarily, the project aims at designing a community-owned network that will empower the poor people especially in rural areas by providing them with reliable and adequate access to ICT resources and facilities. Furthermore, such resources and facilities will be shared among the people in the area to bring down the operational costs hence ensure affordability to the majority without compromising the quality. In the process consultants from each of the four countries were engaged. Each of the consultants were given nearly the same terms of reference (ToR) to see to it that they all deliver uniform research outcomes that are, of course, tailored to the specificities of a given country. In Tanzania, consultants were from the University of Dar es Salaam (UDSM) and the Commission for Science and Technology (COSTECH). A case study for Tanzania was completed in Bugabo Division of Bukoba District in Kagera Region. The area is in the lake zone along Lake Victoria. The population in Bugabo is about 40,000 people (2002 Census). It is proposed to implement a non-line of sight wireless technology network such as Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX) to cover the division. The major proposed services to be offered by such a local wireless network are Voice and Data. Since the area does not have adequate coverage of GSM Network services, Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) facility was proposed. Initial investment cost for the entire project was estimated to US$ 84,040 details of which can be viewed in the report. The annual current cost for the first year was estimated to US$ 93,008 and the annual income for the first year of operation was estimated to US$ 258,000. Section four of the report clearly outlines details of the estimates for initial investment cost, current annual cost, income and expenditure." (Executive summary)
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"Press freedom provides both the oxygen of democracy and the laughing gas of infotainment and commercial exploitation. This has been something of a shocking discovery to make for people in Central and Eastern Europe. When they were trying to imagine, and plan for, a new media order once the Communis
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t system had been abolished, they had visions of a media scene where everyone would “speak with their own voice”, the media would be socially-Controlled and would serve as the forum of a serious, pluralistic public debate on fundamental issues of our countries. The reality is somewhat different. In this paper I will try to provide a very general overview of that reality and put it in a comparative perspective to see what progress has been achieved since 1989." (Introduction)
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"Nearly one woman in ten does not listen to radio at all. However, the results of the survey indicate that over half (51.4%) of women does not listen at all, or seldom listens to radio. This situation is not due to the competition from television, but rather to the fact that the majority of women do
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not have a radio and, to a lesser extent, to their core duties which leave them little time to listen to radio. The effect of the high impact of household core could be reduced if these women had their own radio sets. Indeed, an overwhelming majority of the women was classified as "housewife", which is not incompatible with listening to radio. Young people, in particular teenagers, have a lower level of access to information through radio. Health programs usually target this age group which should also be a focus for women promotion programs. It is all about women, who, while being still young, are becoming mothers and heads of a family. Their needs for information would seem to be thus more significant than those of other women. This is, however, the group that shows the least interest in radio. Moreover, radio management should see to it that these teenagers get more interested in their programs. This lack of keen interest from teenagers could be due to the fact that they have a more significant access to television. Women with lower incomes and those from the regions have the lowest rates of access to radio programs. These results tally with the low rate of radios owned by women. The results show a positive link between radio ownership rates and the percentage of women who listen to radio everyday. Very few female listeners (5%) contacted radio stations to take part in a program. This participation is somewhat easier for women who have access to telephone. However, the costs of communication could be a deterrent considering the low incomes of the population." (Executive summary)
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