"Established in 1957, the International Association for Media and Communication Research (IAMCR) has facilitated international exchanges and research collaborations among academics, journalists, and other practitioners, addressing media and communication problems and influencing theory and practice
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through research and participation in global, regional, national, and local debate. The chapters focus on prominent areas of research that have attracted the interest of scholars; political struggles of a membership engaged in research across East and West, global North and global South divides; selected country and regional contributions to the association; and reflections on significant scholarly and institution-building contributions to the association by George Gerbner, James Halloran Stuart Hall, Herbert I. Schiller, and Dallas W. Smythe. Readers will find a history of an academic professional organisation and insights into the controversies, conflicts, failings, and achievements of IAMCR members who developed the field of media and communication research and journalism practice." (Publisher description)
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"African autocratic regimes have fallen through opposition waged by ordinary citizens through the new platforms of mobile phones, the Internet and social media. It is not surprising therefore that autocratic African leaders and governments will want to restrict these platforms. African governments h
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ave imported sophisticated equipment to censor the Internet, social media and message systems and intercept communications from journalists, critics and activists. Some of the cyberspace censorship equipment has been imported from China, as in the case of Ethiopia and Zimbabwe (Abubkr 2014; Kabweza 2016; HRW 2016; O’Neill 2016). But equipment from western nations such as Italy, as in the case of Sudan (Abubkr 2014; Kabweza 2016; HRW 2016), and Germany and the United Kingdom, as used by Ethiopia, is also utilized by anti-democratic African governments and leaders (Clayton 2014; CPJ 2015; HRW 2016). Civil society, the media and international human rights organizations must put pressure on Chinese and western governments and companies selling cyberspace censorship equipment to African countries. In June 2016, the United Nations Human Rights Council condemned countries shutting down access to the Internet to clamp down on anti-government criticisms as a ‘violation of international human rights law’ (United Nations [UN] 2016: 1). The United Nations has rightly stressed the importance of ‘applying a comprehensive human rights-based approach when providing and expanding access to the Internet and for the Internet to be open, accessible and nurtured by multi-stakeholder participation’ (2016: 2). To boost democracy, inclusive development and peace, African regional bodies such as the African Union, and international ones such as the United Nations, must introduce stronger measures against African leaders and governments who censor social media, activists and the Internet, in order to muzzle opposition against poor democratic governance." (Conclusion, page 418)
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