"This chapter develops an exploratory analysis of the intersections between the processes of communication, social change, development, conflict and peace, through the combined use of the lenses and the premises of two theoretical perspectives: peace and conflict resolution studies, on the one side,
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and communication for social change, on the other side. The chapter highlights areas of complementarity or overlap, as well as spaces of contradiction, with the aim of broadening the understanding of the role of both communication and conflict in the processes of social change, development and sustainable peace-building. The new spaces of interaction on a local–national–global scale afforded by new technologies, and the blossoming of citizens’ media in countries with armed conflict have opened new possibilities and opportunities for civil society to actively participate and involve itself in the different phases of the conflict cycle." (Summary)
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"This chapter debates the relationship between youth and media by focusing on communication for social change and gives readers a sense of the history, development, and central concepts of youth-generated media. It offers a comprehensive framework for understanding young people's self-expressive art
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ifacts. The first section of the chapter offers a historical trajectory concerning the study of youth and media. The second section proposes an explication of the concept of youth-generated media as developed by young people themselves, and juxtaposed to youth-oriented media. The third section proposes two broad conceptual approaches to youth-generated media: a “sponsored-development” approach with a relatively dominant adult involvement and an “organic” approach with youth taking charge of their own media production. The fourth section offers brief illustrative case studies from the Arab Spring. The chapter concludes by highlighting the utility of the concept of youth-generated media and the challenges in understanding and interpreting young people's activities." (Summary)
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"Media consumption today takes on first order meanings that we can challenge, understand and clarify. This is where the audience learns to believe in watchdogging and vice versa. Citizen watchdog groups (Veedurias) attempt to critically understand public narratives beyond first order meanings that a
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re not necessarily oppositional. These readings provide a new opportunity to understand the medium, and the audience that obtains some satisfaction by listening to radio, listening to local or international music, and by watching and interacting with TV programming. Citizen watchdog groups and observatories confront the challenge of watching, debating and proposing in order to achieve a better understanding of the public world from their own private worlds. These groups and observatories are located in that interaction between public and private issues in the mass media, tracing the footprints left by public/private/intimate actors. Citizen watchdog groups and observatories analyze the mediations and intermediations that are regularly built." (Summary)
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"This chapter first discusses evaluation of communication for development in relation to ideas around participation and social change, before presenting the framework for evaluating communication for development and social change, and the key principles that underpin it. It then describes some of th
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e most interesting current trends and debates in development evaluation that informed the development of the framework, and outlines some strategies for overcoming the many challenges and issues associated with implementing this alternative evaluation approach. The chapter discusses some of the aspects of systems thinking and complexity theory that informs the framework, and gives brief examples to illustrate their relevance. Finally, the chapter discusses the implications for increasing the sustainability and effectiveness of communication for development and social change." (Summary)
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"This chapter argues that narrative can be particularly well suited to transcend the unhelpful polarizations – behavioral versus social change, diffusion versus participatory approaches – that have characterized and restricted global health communication to date. The chapter describes a series o
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f theoretical rationales and cases that can be enlisted to support the conceptualization of storytelling for social change practices and their effects at multiple levels of analysis. Next, it considers the theoretical base and cases on narrative and narration into articulation with the “Scenarios from Africa” process. Culture has been conceptualized as a “static set of never-changing values and norms” to which individuals are subject, rather than as “a complex, dynamic, and adaptive system of meaning” that is constantly evolving under the influence of individuals and collectivities. The theory of narrative and education proposed by cultural and educational psychologist, Jerome Bruner, provides a compelling grounding for this social constructivist perspective." (Summary)
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"The story of entertainment-education (EE) is that of a highly successful communication strategy that has achieved global recognition as a useful and effective approach to tackling contemporary development challenges. This chapter discusses the observed diversification of the science produced around
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EE. First, it maps out the practice of EE as documented in peer-reviewed publications, book chapters and unpublished theses completed in the period 2002 to early 2010. The chapter then deconstructs the theoretical elements that inform the practice of EE, guided by a series of questions. By unpacking the ontology of EE, the chapter identifies conceptual and practical shortcomings vis-à-vis the development challenges identified in the studies. The main purpose of the chapter is to establish that social change is a concept embedded in theories of development and change, and in social science theory of, for example, social norms, social capital, and social determinants." (Summary)
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"The phenomenon of academics committed to social justice interrogating social science theory and research, frames the formation of the fields of citizens’ media and citizens’ journalism in the Latin American region. This chapter explains how Chantal Mouffe's ideas and her theory of radical democ
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racy inform citizens’ media and citizens’ journalism. It then describes how these concepts are used in specific research analyses. Belgian political scientist Chantal Mouffe shifts theories of democracy from a liberal perspective based on individual rights and responsibilities to a more nuanced analysis of power and political action. The goal of public journalism is to use media technologies to move dissent – the multiple voices of counter-publics – to the public sphere. Gaining a space among the elites who previously had made decisions without consulting citizens has been one of the greatest achievements that public journalism has had in our society." (Summary)
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"This chapter documents the experience of the Communication for Change (C-Change) project in developing and rolling out a holistic and comprehensive socioecological approach to social and behavior change communication (SBCC) within the context of a donor-funded program with short term goals. C-Chang
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e's SBCC framework uses a socioecological model for change. This model views social and behavior change as a product of multiple, overlapping levels of influence as well as political and environmental factors. The “health belief model” helps to find out why audience's perceptions are not in favor of change in the search for tipping points for change. The chapter describes three characteristics of SBCC. The key models and concepts of the C-Change's SBCC framework are incorporated into at least 75 government programs in Africa. The advocacy and social mobilization strategies of SBCC are aimed at ensuring sustainability through host government “buy-in” and support." (Summary)
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"This volume brings together a range of different specialists in the arts and cultural industries, as well as international academics and public intellectuals, to explore how media and communication practices for social change are currently being reconfigured in both conceptual and rhetorical terms.
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" (Publisher description)
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"Through case studies, analysis of emerging practices, and theoretical discussion, a team of leading journalism and communication experts investigate the impact of major global trends on responsible journalism and lead readers to better understand changes in media ethics. Chapters look at how these
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changes promote or inhibit responsible journalism, how such changes challenge existing standards, and how media ethics can develop to take account of global news media. In light of the fact that media journalism is now, and will increasingly become, multimedia in format and global in its scope and influence, the book argues that global media impact entails global responsibilities: It is therefore critical that media ethics rethinks its basic notions, standards, and practices from a more cosmopolitan perspective." (Publisher description)
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"The improvements in the Arab world were the most significant findings of Freedom of the Press 2012: A Global Survey of Media Independence, the latest edition of an annual index published by Freedom House since 1980. The gains came on the heels of eight consecutive years of decline in the global ave
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rage press freedom score, a phenomenon that has affected practically every region in the world. Furthermore, they were accompanied by positive changes in several key countries outside the Middle East and North Africa: Burma, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand, and Zambia. Other countries that registered progress include Georgia, Nepal, Niger, Sierra Leone, and Togo. Three of the countries with major gains—Burma, Libya, and Tunisia—had for many years endured media environments that were among the world’s most oppressive. Both Libya and Tunisia made single-year leaps of a size practically unheard of in the 32-year history of the report. At the same time, press freedom continued to face obstacles and reversals in many parts of the world. China, which boasts the world’s most sophisticated system of media repression, stepped up its drive to control both old and new sources of news and information through arrests and censorship. Other authoritarian powers—such as Russia, Iran, and Venezuela—resorted to a variety of techniques to maintain a tight grip on the media, detaining some press critics, closing down media outlets and blogs, and bringing libel or defamation suits against journalists." (Page 1)
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"Ongoing political turmoil produced uneven conditions for press freedom in the Middle East in 2012, with Tunisia and Libya largely retaining their gains from 2011 even as Egypt slid backward into the Not Free category. The region as a whole experienced a net decline for the year, in keeping with a b
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roader global pattern in which the percentage of people world wide who enjoy a free media environment fell to its lowest point in more than a decade. Among the more disturbing developments in 2012 were dramatic declines for Mali, significant deterioration in Greece, and a further tightening of controls on press freedom in Latin America, punctuated by the decline of two countries, Ecuador and Paraguay, from Partly Free to Not Free status." (Introduction)
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"The present article discusses how the new categoryof “citizen journalist” fits into the overall media environment and how the Freedom House Freedom of the Press methodology has been changed to incorporate this category." (Abstract)
"The Global Journalist in the 21st Century systematically assesses the demographics, education, socialization, professional attitudes and working conditions of journalists in various countries around the world. This book updates the original Global Journalist (1998) volume with new data, adding more
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than a dozen countries, and provides material on comparative research about journalists that will be useful to those interested in doing their own studies. The editors put together this collection working under the assumption that journalists' backgrounds, working conditions and ideas are related to what is reported (and how it is covered) in the various news media round the world, in spite of societal and organizational constraints, and that this news coverage matters in terms of world public opinion and policies. Outstanding features include:"Coverage of 33 nations located around the globe, based on recent surveys conducted among representative samples of local journalist, comprehensive analyses by well-known media scholars from each country, a section on comparative studies of journalists and an appendix with a collection of survey questions used in various nations to question journalists" (Publisher description)
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"Although conflict is a normal aspect of human life, mass media technologies are changing the dynamics of conflict and shaping strategies for deploying rituals. Rituals can provoke or escalate conflict; they can also mediate it. Media representations have long been instrumental in establishing, main
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taining, and challenging political and economic power, as well as in determining the nature of religious practice. This collection of chapters emerged from a two-year project based on collaboration between the Faculty of Religious Studies at Radboud University Nijmegen in the Netherlands and the Ritual Dynamics Collaborative Research Center at the University of Heidelberg in Germany. Here, chapters locate, describe, and explore cases in which media-driven rituals or ritually saturated media instigate, disseminate, or escalate conflict. Each chapter, built around global and local examples of ritualized, mediatized conflict, is multiauthored. The book’s central question is: when ritual and media interact (either by the mediatizing of ritual or by the ritualizing of media), how do the patterns of conflict change?" (Publisher description)
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