"Why has the Taliban been so much more effective in presenting messages that resonate with the Afghan population than the United States, the Afghan Government and their allies? This book, based on years of field research and the assessment of hundreds of original source materials, examines the infor
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mation operations and related narratives of Afghan insurgents, especially the Afghan Taliban, and investigates how the Taliban has won the information war. Taliban messaging, wrapped in the narrative of jihad, is both to the point and in tune with the target audiences it wishes to influence. On the other hand, the United States and its Kabul allies committed a basic messaging blunder, failing to present narratives that spoke to or, often, were even understood by their target audiences. Thomas Johnson systematically explains why the United States lost this "battle of the story" in Afghanistan, and argues that this defeat may have lost the U.S. the entire war, despite its conventional and technological superiority." (Publisher description)
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"We are pleased to be sharing with you the second yearbook on media and information literacy and intercultural dialogue. The first MILID Yearbook was published in June 2013 [...] The theme of the 2014 Yearbook is Global Citizenship in a Digital Wor
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ld. Global citizenship assumes ease of participation in global spaces in which persons are media and information literate and are equipped with competencies and attitudes to deal with the multi-faceted nature of a mediated world in which information is no longer bound by space or time. The unprecedented access to and use of media and Internet technologies for communication and collaboration especially among youth, suggest that effective strategies must be found to enable active critical inquiry and effective media production." (Foreword, page 7)
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"The Handbook of Comparative Communication Research aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of comparative communication research. It fills an obvious gap in the literature and offers an extensive and interdisciplinary discussion of the gener
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al approach of comparative research, its prospect and problems as well as its applications in crucial sub-fields of communications. The first part of the volume charts the state of the art in the field; the second section introduces relevant areas of communication studies where the comparative approach has been successfully applied in recent years; the third part offers an analytical review of conceptual and methodological issues; and the last section proposes a roadmap for future research." (Publisher description)
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"This article describes and analyzes a little understood Afghan Taliban propaganda tool: chants or taranas. These melodic refrains effectively use historical narratives, symbology, and iconic portraits. The chants are engendered in emotions of sorr
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ow, pride, desperation, hope, and complaints to mobilize and convince the Afghan population of the Taliban’s worldview. The chants represent culturally relevant and simple messages that are communicated in a narrative and poetic form that is familiar to and resonates with the local people. They are virtually impossible for the United States and NATO to counter because of Western sensitivities concerning religious themes that dominate the Taliban narrative space, not to mention the lack of Western linguistic capabilities, including the understanding and mastering the poetic nature of local dialects." (Abstract)
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"The Handbook presents a comprehensive, integrative, and global view of what has been called the digital divide. Collecting an international collaboration of experts, this Handbook of Research offers policy makers, academicians, managers, and resea
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rchers a complete reference source to the interactions, evolutions, and policies developing within the field. The many academic areas covered in this publication include, but are not limited to: broadband access; digital divide framing and mapping; digital divide related to education; digital divide related to ethnicity; digital divide related to gender; digital literacy; e-government and the digital divide; evolution of the digital divide; inequalities of digital skills; regional differences in digital divide." (Publisher description)
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"Wide-ranging and interdisciplinary, this collection considers critical concepts shaping the field, such as migration, ethnicity, post-colonialism and cosmopolitanism. It also examines key intersecting agendas and themes, including political economy, security, race, gender, and material and electron
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ic culture. Original case studies of contemporary as well as classical diasporas are featured, mapping new directions in research and testing the usefulness of diaspora for analyzing the complexity of transnational lives today." (Publisher description)
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"The Routledge Handbook of Family Communication offers a comprehensive exploration and discussion of current research and theory on family interaction. Integrating the varying perspectives and issues addressed by family researchers, theorists, and
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practitioners, this volume offers a unique and timely view of family interaction and family relationships. With a synthesis of research on issues key to understanding family interaction, as well as an analysis of many theoretical and methodological choices made by researchers studying family communication, Family Communication serves to advance the field by reframing old questions and stimulating new ones. The contents are comprised of chapters covering: zheoretical and methodological issues influencing current conceptions of family; research and theory centering around the family life course; communication occurring in a variety of family forms; individual family members and their relationships; dynamic communication processes taking place in families; family communication embedded in social, cultural, and physical contexts." (Publisher description)
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"Communicating Democracy presents the first comprehensive comparative investigation of the role of the media in the move toward democracy in developing and post-communist countries. Recognizing the central role of an independent press in the formulation of stable democracies, Patrick
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H. O'Neil and a team of area and country specialists explore the particular cultural, economic, and political conditions that have shaped the media in Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe, and Latin America. The authors examine how the print and electronic media function in societies that have recently made the move toward democracy--whether successfully or not. They pay particular attention to the role of the media in political life prior to transition; the impact of an authoritarian legacy on media structures after the move toward democracy; the problems in developing an independent media; and issues involving content, objectivity, and bias." (Publisher description)
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"Reports and minutes of the second conference on the use of audio-visual media for education and vocational training in Africa — Drawing up a radio programme in conjunction with Unesco." (Jean-Marie Van Bol, Abdelfattah Fakhfakh: The use of mass
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media in the developing countries. Brussels: CIDESA, 1971 Nr. 1138, topic code 54)
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