"Can the stories people tell influence the way they see the world? This book seeks to address that question through a study of the viability of movie making as a critical pedagogy activity. Positioned at the intersection of education and communication for social change, it explores the relationship
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between the generation of subjective knowledge through storytelling and analysis, and systemic change. Central to the book is a case study from Nepal. By using video as the action element and analytical material of coursework, youth participants generated a new critical awareness, engendered by themes arising from group discussion. Through the analysis of these themes participants initiated an emergence known as conscientization. Led by two critical educators, participants used the production, screening, and analysis of their own movies to propel the course, or praxis, forward. This book seeks to inform the practice of critical pedagogy both practically and theoretically, and also offers a contribution to the fields of participatory action-research and communication for social change." (Publisher description)
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"The 43 country reports included in this year’s Global Information Society Watch (GISWatch) capture the different experiences and approaches in setting up community networks across the globe. They show that key ideas, such as participatory governance systems, community ownership and skills transfe
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r, as well as the “do-it-yourself” spirit that drives community networks in many different contexts, are characteristics that lend them a shared purpose and approach. The country reports are framed by eight thematic reports that deal with critical issues such as the regulatory framework necessary to support community networks, sustainability, local content, feminist infrastructure and community networks, and the importance of being aware of “community stories” and the power structures embedded in those stories." (Back cover)
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"Very few international news organisations routinely cover humanitarian affairs. Only 12 news outlets reported on all four of the humanitarian events we analysed in 2016. Because of the high costs of producing regular, original journalism on humanitarian issues, commercial news organisations do not
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usually cover humanitarian issues, with the exception of major ‘emergencies’. Most humanitarian journalism is now funded by states or private foundations. This is worrying because claiming that particular actors or activities are ‘humanitarian’ is a powerful form of legitimacy. It is important that media about the suffering does not become a vehicle for commercial or political interests. A major challenge of foundation funding is its unsustainable nature, as most foundations want to provide start-up money, rather than giving ongoing support. Meanwhile government funding can constrain where and how humanitarian reporting takes place because of foreign policy objectives and diplomatic tensions." (Executive summary)
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"This reports examines the situation of freedom of expression of indigenous journalists in four countries and analyzes data, where available, of Indigenous Peoples’ access to mechanisms charged with ensuring their safety. We present grassroots information from Nepal in English, and from Guatemala,
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Honduras, and Mexico in Spanish, along with general recommendations for improving the specific experience of Indigenous journalists and community communicators. Please note this information is far from exhaustive and represents only situations that were brought to this organization’s attention." (Introduction, page 1)
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"South Asia is a region of enormous contrasts, but from the vastness of India to tiny and placid Bhutan, journalism faces several problems in common. The safety situation has improved in some of the countries that were racked by internal strife, but journalists remain at acute risk in India and Paki
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stan. Nepal and Sri Lanka have perhaps improved their records since they came out of decades of internal conflict, the former through a negotiated truce and the latter by a military victory. But the legacy of years of conflict remains to be reckoned with, without which a full reconciliation seems unlikely. Public opinion within Bangladesh remains polarised by rival perceptions of history and disagreements over identifying friend and foe in the contemporary geopolitical landscape." (Overview, page 6)
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"The research documents how, despite immense ongoing challenges, in Afghanistan, Iraq, Nepal and Pakistan, some important advances have been made to develop joint structures and innovative approaches to defend the practice of journalism. It examines the long road Colombia has followed in the establi
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shment of its protection programme, and looks at what organisations and bodies working on the ground in Indonesia and the Philippines struggle against, and what they have achieved using the resources available to them." (Back cover)
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"Journalists in many countries are experimenting with how to build trust and engage with audiences, and our report examines their efforts. In our study we profile organizations that are working to build bridges with their readers, viewers and listeners and deliver relevant news to local audiences. W
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e surveyed 17 organizations and conducted interviews with representatives of 15 organizations, one of which chose to remain anonymous. Among others we spoke to Chequeado in Argentina, GroundUp in South Africa, Raseef 22 in the Middle East, 263 Chat in Zimbabwe, Krautreporter and Correct!v in Germany, as well as Bristol Cable in the UK [...] Although the groups we surveyed are concerned by the broader phenomena of falling trust in media and media credibility, they are also, by necessity, focused on immediate fixes important to their organizations and readerships. Some believe that media credibility depends on engagement with readers. Some place more emphasis on journalism practices, including audience engagement, ethical standards and news gathering practices. The outlets we profiled use digital technology to communicate with audiences. Some also involve their readers in sourcing and sometimes verifying information. Some conduct focus groups and online surveys. Responding to comments online is part of their engagement efforts. Readers appreciate investigative reporting as well as stories that touch on their daily lives [...] There seems to be a tradeoff between audience size and the quality of content produced. Some groups with large followings (Hivisasa and 263Chat) promote headlines and short snippets rather than carrying out deep investigative reporting [...] Several groups said their audience is different from what their founders had originally expected. The reach of the outlets we surveyed is generally not as diverse as they had hoped. Their audiences tend to be educated and urban and, in some cases, include large diaspora communities. The outlets largely cater to niche audiences, but they have broader reach through their online presence and national influence when their stories are picked up by legacy media or other outlets." (https://gijn.org, accessed: June 8, 2018)
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"A decade long civil war ended with a Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) in 2006. To address the political developments, the Interim Constitution was promulgated in 2007. Though the Interim Constitution of Nepal 2007 guarantees press freedom, every year various incidents of press freedom violation
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are recorded by various national and international organizations. This article evaluates the situation of press freedom in Nepal since the signing of CPA 2006 by analyzing all the incidents of press freedom violation from 2007 to 2014 as recorded by International Federation of Journalists (IFJ). The analysis of those events shows lack of sufficient evidence and information to justify them as the press freedom violation. No matter where and how the journalist or media owner is killed, threatened or harmed physically, it is termed as press freedom violation. The situation of Press freedom after peace agreement in 2006 is not that critical as projected in various reports and there is no government censorship in media. However, if the mechanism by which press freedom violation cases are recorded could be reviewed and more details are included, those reports will be much reliable. This tendency of reflecting critical situation of press freedom by projecting every incident without an adequate investigation might deviate from other issues related to journalist’s profession and further it might not motivate journalist and media to adhere to the code of ethics and become responsible to their profession. Though, the issue of professional safety of journalists could not be ignored, not all the incidents related to journalist are the cases of press freedom violation." (Abstract)
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"In a democratic political system, the media is often entrusted with the responsibility of guarding the rights of the people. As such, it is essential to critically look at its role and functions in our present socio-political context. This book represents a comprehensive analysis of the following c
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ore issues: the role of the media in educating, protecting and promoting human rights; the challenges facing the media and human rights; human rights reporting and coverage; and the media’s role during violations of human rights, especially with regards to women. The book also contains suggestions and measures to increase awareness on human rights. Furthermore, it discusses the existing discourse of human rights and the media in India, Nepal and Bangladesh." (Publisher description)
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"The vast majority of survey respondents, irrespective of their gender and geographical location, recognized the importance of media, particularly electronic media. They acknowledged media role in keeping people informed, entertained and opinion formation. Although people heralded the media for focu
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sing on some burning issues related to women, marginalized and deprived groups of people, they were aware of the weaknesses of the sector arising from political pressure and polarization, and the lack of professional competence and ethics. They hope for the media to be more neutral and provide accurate news and information with a local focus. While women agreed that media contributed to their well-being, marginalized communities did not feel they were adequately represented by the media in voicing issues and concerns particular to them. Electronic media (television, radio and mobile phones) was found most popular among respondents and participants, and they felt FM radio stations and content distributed over mobile phones, were most likely to influence people, their thoughts, ideas, opinions. Print media, especially newspapers, were still popular in the urban areas whereas social media was gaining popularity throughout the country." (Summary of findings, page 35)
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"This briefing explores some of the key challenges facing the Nepali media. It outlines growing concerns over politicisation and co-option, particularly of the mainstream Kathmandu-based media, as well as other economic and technological challenges facing the media. The briefing further outlines how
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Nepal’s historically diverse and decentralised media market is increasingly showing signs of fragmentation and discord. It also examines the role that the international development community has played in supporting the Nepali media. The briefing finds that for all the challenges outlined in this report, the media – both nationally and locally – continues to constitute one of the most important and effective mechanisms available to improve accountability. Despite rising threats to journalist safety and growing concerns over politicisation, the media remains most trusted institution in Nepal. The media provides both a growing problem for and a potentially vital solution to the challenges of social cohesion in the country. At present, there is not a sufficient advertising market to sustain a free and independent media that can both serve the public interest and withstand intense political pressures. Development actors are in a position to help to address this market failure if they invest in an independent, Nepali-rooted media that enables difficult and challenging debate to take place." (BBC Media Action website)
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"The primary objective of the 2015 NIMP Mission was to provide technical inputs to activities underway under UNESCO’s Safety of Journalists project, particularly in terms of setting up an independent national mechanism on safety at the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC). Another key objective
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was to advocate in favour of international best practices on press freedom, freedom of expression (FOE) and the right to information (RTI). Unlike previous missions, where advocacy had been the main objective, the 2015 Mission focused on three areas: The architecture of the NHRC mechanism, including a review of the procedures, by-laws, structure and organisation for making it an effective tool for ensuring safety of journalists and free expression advocates; Advocating in favour of respect for international standards on free expression and the safety of journalists, including via enabling provisions on free expression in the new constitution; Activities relating to the UNESCO safety project where there was need for international technical support." (IMS website)
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"The aim of the present book is to provide both empirical and theoretical input to the discussions of the role of journalism and media in conflict and post-conflict situations and in the often rather muddy waters between them. Together, the contributions to this book from different parts of the worl
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d emphasise that discussions about post-conflict situations will gain from including the media. At the same time, the contributions problematise the concept of post-conflict and powerfully illustrate that the phase between war/conflict and peace is neither unidirectional nor linear, as the use of the concept sometimes seems to imply. Reaching a peace agreement or arranging for the termination of hostilities is, in itself, no guarantee that peace can be secured. The examples from Afghanistan, Colombia and South Sudan in this book show this up clearly. Remaining post-conflict societal friction may even be as threatening to long-lasting peace as the war itself. Hence, post-conflict may be seen as a “conflict situation in which open warfare has come to an end. However, such situations remain tense for years or decades and can easily relapse into large-scale violence” (Junne and Verkoren 2005)." (Introduction, pages 16-17)
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"This United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) report documents the national state of journalists' safety and the issue of impunity by providing an overview of the safety situation of journalists in Nepal. It also examines the context of safety and the responsibility
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of all stakeholders in addressing the issue of journalists' safety in the country. Based on UNESCO's Media Development Indicators (MDI), UNESCO's Journalists' Safety Indicators (JSI) are developed within the context of the endorsement of the UN Plan of Action on Safety of Journalists and the Issue of Impunity, providing a baseline of knowledge against which progress can be assessed. Using various methods, including document analysis and interviews with various informants, this research documents the actors and actions in place for the protection of journalists in Nepal, grouped around 4 key indicator categories, namely: the roles and response of the State and other political actors; the roles and response of civil society and academia; the roles and response of media and intermediaries; and the roles and response of the UN system and other extra-national actors with a presence in Nepal. In an overview of the situation of journalists' safety in Nepal, this report also provides information on the number of threats and attacks on journalists in the course of their work. Appendix one describes the methodology and sources of data in more detail." (Abstract)
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"In July 2015, Internews launched Open Mic Nepal, a project designed to track and debunk rumors in the earthquake-afected communities. Based on previous pilots of this approach in Gaza and Liberia, the project set out to assess and address information needs by using minimally structured qualitative
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data-gathering approaches to surface trends in community conversations, identify key concerns, misunderstandings and toxic/corrupted information, and to redress them with the provision of reliable and verified information as speedily as possible." (Page 2)
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