"There are three main reasons for the limited amount of foundation support for international journalism: a) It rarely aligns directly with the strategic priorities of a foundation (and so has to compete either with all other forms of journalism, or with numerous other ways of achieving the specific
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objectives of a foundation). b) Many foundations and journalists are unwilling to accept or negotiate the risks and challenges involved in reaching a compromise on the nature of the beat being funded. c) There are inherent difficulties associated with isolating and measuring the impact of international news. Foundations rarely advertise ‘open calls’ for funding. Instead, support emerges from an informal process of relationship building and ongoing dialogue between foundations and non-profit news organisations/intermediaries." (Key findings)
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"International development stakeholders harness communication with two broad purposes: to do good, via communication for development and media assistance, and to communicate do-gooding, via public relations and information. This book unpacks various ways in which different efforts to do good are com
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bined with attempts to look good, be it in the eyes of donor constituencies at large, or among more specific audiences, such as journalists or intra-agency decision-makers. Development communication studies have tended to focus primarily on interventions aimed at doing good among recipients, at the expense of examining the extent to which promotion and reputation management are elements of those practices. This book establishes the importance of interrogating the tensions generated by overlapping uses of communication to do good and to look good within international development cooperation." (Publisher description)
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"How does donor funding affect the independence, role perceptions, and ideology of the journalism it supports? We begin to answer this increasingly important but underresearched question with a year-long case study of the humanitarian news organisation IRIN as it transitioned from being funded by th
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e United Nations to a private foundation, run by a Malaysian billionaire. Using content analysis, in-depth interviews, and ethnographic research, we document the changes that occurred in IRIN’s outputs, target audience, and public service values, and the complex interplay of influences that produced these changes. We find that, in this case, donor power operated entirely indirectly and always in concert with the dominant professional values within IRIN. In doing so, this case study highlights the importance of journalistic agency and contextual variables in the journalist–donor relationship, as well as the potential significance of contradictory dynamics. We also use this case to test whether Benson, Hessérus and Sedel’s model of media owner power can help to explain the workings of donor power." (Abstract)
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"This paper presents the results of a comprehensive scoping review of empirical research into US and UK media representations of Africa published between 1990 and 2014. The results show that existing research has a remarkably narrow focus on a specific number of countries, events, media and texts. R
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esearch into representations of North Africa, Francophone Africa, non-news genres, non-elite media and radio content, is particularly scarce. This, I contend, provides an insufficient basis for reaching any firm, generalisable conclusions about the nature of media coverage of Africa. The common assumption that representations are dominated by Afro-pessimism, for example, may be accurate – but it is not currently substantiated by the existing evidence. In short, the widespread belief that we know how Africa is represented in the US and UK media is shown to be a myth. This paper also discusses how this myth has been maintained through certain citation practices and interpretations of evidence as well as the implications of these findings for the many corporations, governments, non-governmental organisations and researchers whose activities depend upon, or have helped to preserve, this myth." (Abstract)
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"Global Media Giants takes an in-depth look at how media corporate power works globally, regionally, and nationally, investigating the ways in which the largest and most powerful media corporations in the world wield power. Case studies examine not only some of the largest media corporations (News C
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orp, Microsoft) in terms of revenues, but also media corporations that hold considerable power within national, regional, or geolinguistic contexts (Televisa, Bertelsmann, Sony). Each chapter approaches a different corporation through the lens of economy, politics, and culture, giving students and scholars a thoughtful and data-driven guide with which to interrogate contemporary media industry power." (Publisher description)
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"Africa’s Media Image in the 21st Century is the first book in over twenty years to examine the international media’s coverage of sub-Saharan Africa. It brings together leading researchers and prominent journalists to explore representation of the continent, and the production of that image, esp
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ecially by international news media. The book highlights factors that have transformed the global media system, changing whose perspectives are told and the forms of media that empower new voices. Case studies consider questions such as: how has new media changed whose views are represented? Does Chinese or diaspora media offer alternative perspectives for viewing the continent? How do foreign correspondents interact with their audiences in a social media age? What is the contemporary role of charity groups and PR firms in shaping news content? They also examine how recent high profile events and issues been covered by the international media, from the Ebola crisis, and Boko Haram to debates surrounding the "Africa Rising" narrative and neo-imperialism. The book makes a substantial contribution by moving the academic discussion beyond the traditional critiques of journalistic stereotyping, Afro-pessimism, and ‘darkest Africa’ news coverage. It explores the news outlets, international power dynamics, and technologies that shape and reshape the contemporary image of Africa and Africans in journalism and global culture." (Publisher description)
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"This paper strives to highlight the significant lack of audience research in the field of media development and the consequences of this gap – both for project design and policy making – but also for broader efforts to integrate media into governance debates. Whilst this lack of evidence has be
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en noted before, a number of recently published scoping reviews of the relevant literature now enable us to discuss, in detail, the extent and nature of this gap in our knowledge." (Abstract)
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"This edited collection provides a comprehensive overview of ethical issues associated with visual research methods. Considering the work of researchers across a range of disciplines using visual methods in research, it offers practical and thoughtful discussions of emerging methodological and ethic
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al dilemmas in innovative projects using visual methods, either in combination with other methods or as a stand-alone method to answer new kinds of research questions. Both synthesizing central themes and addressing ethical issues particularly relevant to specific research topics, in various settings and from various disciplinary perspectives, it considers how researchers navigate and conceptualise ethical issues. With contributions discussing research conducted in Australia, Argentina, Canada, India, Korea, Norway and the United Kingdom, the book's international scope, disciplinary breadth and the range of methods and research contexts addressed will notably appeal to those seeking to understand the value, and potential ethical risks, of visual methodologies for social research." (Publisher description)
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"The internet is often celebrated for the abundant opportunities it appears to offer citizens to become more informed about and inspired to act on issues related to international development and distant suffering. But to what extent do users actually make use of such opportunities? And what social p
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rocesses are such decisions governed by? This article begins to answer these questions by analysing the results of a two-month study of UK internet users’ online behaviour. The results reveal, not just a general resistance to using the internet to develop a cosmopolitan consciousness, but also the dominant modes of avoidance that participants used to justify their inactivity. I conclude that the potential for digital cosmopolitanism appears to be primarily governed, not by the peculiarities of individual texts or even the properties of the technology, but by the nature and acceptability of pre-existing discursive resources and how they are deployed by users." (Abstract)
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"How effective are celebrities, not just in helping to draw attention to distant suffering, but in actually regulating spectators’ mediated experiences of the lives of distant strangers? What function does the perceived authenticity of a celebrity play in their role as mediator? This article seeks
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to address such questions by analysing the results of an audience study involving two phases of focus groups separated by a two-month diary study. The results show that celebrities certainly help to shape our mediated experiences of distant suffering – but not always in the ways and to the extent we might expect. What is clear is that celebrities are generally ineffective in cultivating a cosmopolitan engagement with distant suffering." (Abstract)
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"From encouraging charitable donations and delivering public health messages to promoting democratic participation and state accountability, the media can play a crucial role in development. Yet the influence of the media is not always welcome. It can also be used as a mechanism of surveillance and
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control or to disseminate hate speech and propaganda. How then should we respond to the growing importance of the media - including journalism, radio, television, community media and social media - for poverty and inequality? The first step is to acquire an informed and critical understanding of the multiple roles that the media can have in development. To help achieve this, this book provides concise and original introductions to the study and practice of communication for development (C4D), media development and media representations of development. In doing so it highlights the increasing importance of the media, whilst at the same time emphasising the varieties, complexities and contingencies of its role in social change." (Publisher description)
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"The overall aim of this thesis is to investigate how UK television shapes spectators’ experiences of distant Others. Specifically, I aim to build on and extend existing work in this field, and particularly the work of Lilie Chouliaraki in Spectatorship of Suffering, in three directions. Firstly,
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I argue that we can learn more about how spectators of UK television respond to distant Others if we expand our focus beyond ‘peak moments’ of news coverage of suffering to include a focus on routine coverage of all distant Others, suffering or otherwise, across a range of television genres. Secondly, I contend that it is important to preface investigations into how distant Others are mediated by television with a study of the extent to which people from Other countries even appear on UK television. Thirdly, I argue that in order to take seriously an understanding of mediation as a dialectical process, any analysis of media texts should be complemented by audience research that takes time to listen to the accounts of spectators. The results of a series of content analyses reveal that distant Others seldom appear on UK television, particularly those from certain parts of the world. My application of a modified version of Chouliraki’s analytics of mediation and the results of a series of focus groups and a diary study reveal that television news texts routinely offer spectators a position of indifference with respect to distant and dehumanised distant Others. My results also show that non-news factual television programming has greater capacity than news items for appealing to a more intense mediated experience of distant Others, even if this capacity is often not fully realised. I conclude by arguing that these findings have important implications for broadcasters, producers, policy makers, regulators and academics." (Abstract)
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"In 2008, the CBA and UNESCO published the results of a survey of 72 Commonwealth broadcasters which looked at the nature of user-generated content (UGC). It considered what use they make of UGC and their involvement in promoting media and information literacy (MIL). The survey identified a lack of
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initiatives by broadcasters to encourage UGC and promote MIL. But it also revealed that broadcasters noted an almost universal desire for assistance in these areas. The aim of these guidelines is to provide such assistance by outlining ways in which broadcasters can promote MIL to their audiences and at the same time encourage the production of relevant UGC for broadcast. The promotion of UGC and MIL and the use of UGC are vital for helping the media to fulfil its democratic functions in society. By providing not only a space for the public to express themselves but also the skills and capacity to take part in public debate, broadcasters can ensure that citizens’ right to freedom of expression is realised." (Introduction, page 6)
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"La presente obra recoge trabajos pioneros de investigación que reflexionan, a partir de una perspectiva cualitativa y etnográfica, cómo las nuevas tecnologías de información y comunicación en su aplicación al sistema escolar y a iniciativas de gestión local reproducen las pedagogías tradic
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ionales y las formas dominantes de ejercicio del poder. Otros, sobre la necesidad de impulsar una cultura Internet, fundamentada en la praxis social de un "Derecho a la comunicación y a la cultura" y un "Derecho Internet" que permitan la concreción de una verdadera participación ciudadana y un libre acceso al conocimiento, con respeto de los derechos personales e individuales, como los de la privacidad e intimidad." (Tapa posterior)
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"How do religious audiences react to and use the mass media? Religion and Mass Media is an audience-centered examination that reveals how a variety of Christian traditions experience media news and entertainment - in the context of institutional religious influences and expectations. Drawing on soci
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al science theories and empirical research methodologies, the contributors explore responses from Roman Catholics, Fundamentalists, Evangelicals, mainline Protestants, and Mormons and a variety of other traditions. In the first section, contributors set the framework by describing recent theoretical developments in the sociology of religion and communication theory. Section two provides an overview of the particulars of certain religious beliefs, section three looks at audience behavior, section four describes specific case studies (including one on rap music), and section five looks at the changing information environment and the future." (Publisher description)
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