mediadev library

Disinformation and Fake News

Shashi Jayakumar, Benjamin Ang, Nur Diyanah Anwar (eds.)

Singapore: Palgrave Macmillan (2021), xii, 158 pp.

"While much has been said about individual disinformation campaigns in specific countries, this book offers a panoramic view of how these campaigns are conducted, who they target, and how they are spread. By bringing together research on specific countries and international data mined from questionn ... more

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Media and Mass Atrocity: The Rwanda Genocide and Beyond
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Allan Thompson (ed.)

Waterloo, Ontario: Centre for International Governance Innovation (2019), x, 637 pp.

"The book includes an extensive section on the echoes of Rwanda, which looks at the cases of Darfur, the Central African Republic, Myanmar, and South Sudan, while the impact of social media as a new actor is examined through chapters on social media use by the Islamic State and in Syria and in other ... more

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Pera Natin ‘To! Citizen Action for Good Governance

Red Batario (ed.)

Quezon City: Philippine Public Transparency Reporting Project (PPTRP) (2011), 154 pp.

"The starting point of PPTRP has been that real and lasting transparency and accountability are best built from the ground up piece by piece and by ordinary people taking their responsibilities as citizens seriously. It is one of the reasons we subtitled the project and website “Pera Natin ‘to!� ... �� (It’s Our Money!). We wanted to help build public ownership in the issue. Our concern was – and remains still today – that changes introduced at the top by one administration – can so easily be taken away by another unless that change is deeply rooted in the ground and in its people. So we believed- and still believe – that real sustainable change in governance comes only from active and continual participation of citizens. It needs action and engagement at both the national and local level. It needs groups, sectors and communities finding new ways of coming and working together to develop new ideas and build new constituencies and avenues for change. It needs to involve and energise all those hundreds of thousands of honest and professional civil servants across the country who for way too long have quietly despaired going to work each day given the failure of leadership in their own departments and agencies. All this required and still requires a combined response that uses new thinking and approaches. It required first and foremost the start of a public literacy campaign around public finances since citizens cannot ever hope to adequately monitor or engage in things that they don’t understand. So it was that we built our project equally around information, education, training, capacity building, networking, advocacy and campaigns. So it was that we worked with people’s organizations, civil society groups, media and ordinary members of the public at one and the same time. We figured that everybody had a role to play in building and securing transparency and accountability – and so everybody should get involved. We started work on a website full of the basics – (www.transparencyreporting.net) accessible and easy to understand information about all aspects of public finance. We assumed little – partly because we knew little ourselves and were learning on the job as we went. We wrote, commissioned and edited material designed to give readers a sense of understanding about how public finances, systems and cycles worked and what kind of issues and problems there were. We tried to identify how and where money was raised and how it was allocated and spent and why and by whom. Invariably it comes down to money. If you can follow the money, you can find the problems and perhaps even help suggest some solutions. We developed training modules too – modules aimed equally at journalists and activists and ordinary members of the public. And we toured around the Philippines going north and as far south as Tawi-Tawi where we were told few groups ever venture. We encouraged people to report allegations of corruption – but equally we sought out instances of where government was working well and deserved highlighting. It is easy to be negative – but far better to be critically constructive. We received many more allegations than we could investigate – in large part because sources were scared even to follow up and meet with us in confidence. Protection for whistle-blowers remains very much a pressing issue today that needs sorting ... While all projects must by necessity always remain above the political fray, we were naturally delighted that as things turned out, the new incoming administration made improving transparency and accountability a primary goal. When an initiative finds itself working in support of government policy, it is always easier. So we were delighted to see the issue of political abuse of public projects taken up as were the appointment of some leading proponents of open government to key positions in the administration. We were very fortunate also for the chance to work closely with officials in several key departments and on various initiatives linked to the national budget. [...] Perhaps one key achievement we might be remembered for, alongside the website which will remain as hopefully a useful resource for those wanting to learn more about public sector finances -- is having set up four local citizen watchdog groups that demonstrate how easy and important it is for ordinary people to get involved and play their part. We hope more groups can follow their lead. People power needs to be much more than a slogan and become a way of life." (Introduction, page 16-19) more

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Measuring Change: Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation in Media and Development Cooperation. 3rd Symposium Forum Media and Development

A. Sofie Jannusch (ed.)

Aachen: Catholic Media Council (CAMECO) (2007), 81 pp.

"The symposium Measuring Change. Planning, Monitoring, Evaluation in Media Development focused on the utilisation aspect of evaluation1: The adding of “Planning” to “Monitoring and Evaluation” in the subtitle indicates that emphasis was laid on learning from monitoring and evaluation experie ... more

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Media Matters: Perspectives on Advancing Governance and Development from the Global Forum for Media Development
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Mark Harvey (ed.)

Paris: Internews Europe;Global Forum for Media Development (GFMD) (2006), 222 pp.

"Draws together thinking and analysis that covers the breadth and depth of the media development landscape. The opening section, 'Why Media Matters: Global Perspectives' gathers the work of several thought leaders on major trends that cut across both the communications and development policy arenas; ... more

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Reporting the Future: A Handbook for Afghan Journalists

Jamila Aman, Alan Davis, Andrew Stroehlein, John West (eds.)

London: Institute for War & Peace Reporting (IWPR) (2002), 57 pp.

"The Handbook for Afghan Journalists is designed to help Afghan journalists in three ways. First, it serves as an explanation in their own language to many of the ideas and concepts behind international journalism. Second, it provides practical guidance on many of the basic techniques of journalism. ... more

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Regional Media in Conflict: Case Studies in Local War Reporting

Alan Davis (ed.)

London: Institute for War & Peace Reporting (IWPR) (2001), 128 pp.