"This study examined the Intercultural Communication Competence (ICC) of teachers and students at a Catholic school in Timor Leste using Zhong et al.'s (2013) developmental model. Employing a mixed-methods design, data were collected via the ICC Self-Rating Scale (ICCRS) survey, focus group discussi
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ons, and non-participant observations. A random sample of 68 teachers and 206 students participated. Quantitative data were analyzed using mode scores across eight ICC subcategories, while qualitative data underwent thematic analysis. Results showed key insights into participants' confidence and abilities, with over half of the participants being women and teachers having more international experience than students. Classroom interactions were classified into five engagement types: unequal, language, response, knowledge, and cultural. These findings informed the creation of a new contextual model and policy framework to enhance intercultural communication. This research highlights the significance of theoretical frameworks in assessing ICC and the contextual environment of participants." (Abstract)
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"Cumulatively, this research points to the need for increasing efforts to ensure knowledge gaps around the submarine cable are addressed, and that definitions and analyses of topics such as mis- and disinformation, and digital literacy, are developed, shared, and adopted in ways that respond to Timo
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rese concerns and experiences. This would require supporting Timorese-led and owned approaches and solutions to theknowledge gaps, defined through collaboration and consultation with key actors andstakeholders, taking account of the time and resource pressures within which they alreadyoperate. Timorese media leaders and government should be recognised as key stakeholders indigital connectivity research and programmatic initiatives." (Key recommendations)
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"This study provides a detailed snapshot of Timor-Leste’s media in late 2023, exploring the operations and business models of media outlets, the legal landscape, proposed government programs impacting media, and relevant infrastructure ahead of an anticipated significant increase in digital connec
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tivity from late 2024. This research aims to serve as an accessible resource for media, civil society, and related organisations to support the strengthening of Timor-Leste’s media and national development goals. The study adopted a multi-method approach. A desk review was conducted of publicly accessible documents on Timor-Leste’s media policy and legislation, media infrastructure and coverage, and audience consumption patterns. Additionally, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 44 respondents: media practitioners across mainstream and community media, communication officers in government media, and representatives from civil society organisations working closely with media." (Executive summary)
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"This book focuses on the ethnographic study of Catholicism and media. Chapters demonstrate how people engage with the Catholic media-scape, and analyse the social, cultural, and political processes that underlie Catholic media and mediatization. Case studies examine Catholic practices in North Amer
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ica, Western and Eastern Europe, Latin America, South-East Asia, and Africa, providing a truly comparative, de-centred representation of global Catholicism. Illustrating the vibrancy and heterogeneity of Catholicism worldwide, the book also examines how media work to sustain larger global Catholic imaginaries." (Publisher description)
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"This Situation Report on the “Impact of COVID-19 on Media Freedom, Media Business Viability, and the Safety of Journalists in Southeast Asia” offers an insight into the key impacts of the pandemic on the media across nine countries. The report proposes recommendations for enabling sustainable a
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nd effective media standards to improve media freedom and the safety of journalists. It also explores potential solutions, and innovations for media business viability in the region. The publication comes at a time when news organisations have been forced to accelerate their move to providing more extensive digital services due to various lockdown restrictions, with some not having the resources to make this transition successfully. These additional financial pressures caused by COVID-19 are happening against a backdrop of broader threats to media freedom and the safety of journalists. Another challenge facing media freedom in the region is the introduction of laws purporting to combat the spread of disinformation and misinformation. While such laws have been introduced under the guise of protecting the public, they are more often used as tools to limit the ability of journalists to hold power to account. As countries geared up to fight COVID-19, a crackdown on independent journalism and critical reporting ensued. Many news outlets and media workers, notably journalists, have faced unprecedented risks to their physical and mental well-being, amid unrelenting, and intensified crackdowns on media freedom. Creating a safe and enabling environment for media and journalists to be able to work independently is a prerequisite for democracies to flourish. The issues pertaining to the safety of journalists and media sustainability during a time of crisis such as COVID-19, require attention from all stakeholders, including both state and non-state actors." (Summary, page 115)
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"The documentary dalan ba dame was produced by the East Timorese Commission for Reception, Truth and Reconciliation (Comissao de Acolhimento, Verdade e Reconciliaao de Timor-Leste, CAVR) and covers the twenty-four years of Indonesian occupation of Timor-Leste, during which nearly one quarter of the
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population died. The CAVR was originally set up to produce a report about the human rights violations committed between April 25, 1975, and October 25, 1999, analyze its root causes, and identify ways of how to come to terms with the violent past. It therefore constitutes an instrument of transitional justice, defined as “a set of practices, mechanisms, and concerns that arise following a period of conflict, civil strife, or repression and that are aimed directly at confronting and dealing with past violations of human rights and humanitarian law.”1 As the same institution produced both media, the report about the human rights violations and the documentary, one should expect them to communicate the same message. However, this is not the case. The report emphasizes the need to prosecute individual members of the Indonesian military for the human rights violations committed as a precondition for sustainable peace. The documentary tells the story that peace already prevails and keeping it is a matter of reconciliation among the East Timorese population. Consequently, the case of the CAVR and its documentary is interesting for research on visuality, which analyzes the dynamics and effects of visuals in social and political processes." (Introduction)
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"This book explores how community radio contributes to social change. Community radio remains a unique communication platform under digital capitalism, arguably capable of expanding the project of media democratisation. Yet there is a lack of in-depth analysis of community radio experience, and a de
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arth of understanding of its functionality as an actively transformative tool for greater equity in society. This project combines the theoretical positions of the political economy of communication with a citizen's media perspective in order to interrogate community radio's democratic potential. By presenting case studies of two radio stations in Melbourne (Australia) and Lospalos (Timor Leste), and applying multiple research methods, the book reveals community radio's amplification of media participation, communication rights, counter-hegemony and media power - in effect, its distinct regenerative voice." (Introduction)
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"Media in small emerging democracies face multiple obstacles caused by “smallness” and the state of “late democratization.” “Smallness” raises the question of how to develop financial independence in these countries. “Late democratization” gives rise to the challenge of maintaining p
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olitical independence. In general, small emerging democracies lack an environment that can enable a culture of independent media. This study selected two Eastern European countries–Slovenia and Macedonia, with a population of about 2 million each, and two Asian countries–Bhutan and Timor-Leste, with populations of around 740,000 and 1.2 million respectively. They all emerged in the “Third Wave” of democratization and were characterized by features of underdeveloped political institutions, insufficient public discourse, and financial vulnerability according to the previous scholarly work. Based on literature review, the researcher found that smallness, along with confounding factors of national identity and economic context, shapes the way media policy is envisioned and developed [...] Using a mixed methodology of interview and documentary research, the researcher found that the reaction of small emerging democracies to the sudden social and political changes tended to have patterns, although they differed in the paths to democratization. Furthermore, the role of media as a watchdog is undermined by the financial dependence on the government of the day. With respect to media governance, the four countries are all marked by the hierarchical mode of governing. This casts light on the fact that media policy should be constructed with input from private sectors and civil societies. A conceptual framework provided by this study can work as an analytical tool for researchers who are interested in studying similar-sized countries." (Abstract)
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"Ghost Movies in Southeast Asia and Beyond explores ghost movies, one of the most popular film genres in East and Southeast Asia, by focusing on movie narratives, the cultural contexts of their origins and audience reception. In the middle of the Asian crisis of the late 1990s, ghost movies became m
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ajor box office hits. The emergence of the phenomenally popular "J-Horror" genre inspired similar ghost movie productions in Korea, Thailand, Taiwan, Hong Kong, the Philippines and Singapore. Ghost movies are embedded and reflected in national as well as transnational cultures and politics, in narrative traditions, in the social worlds of the audience, and in the perceptual experience of each individual. They reflect upon the identity crises and traumas of the living as well as of the dead, and they unfold affection and attraction in the border zone between amusement and thrill, secular and religious worldviews. This makes the genre interesting not only for sociologists, anthropologists, media and film scholars, but also for scholars of religion." (Publisher description)
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"1. The DAME project has contributed to its overall objective of ‘strengthening the democratization process in Timor-Leste’ and to its specific objective of ‘enhanced engagement between NSAs, State authorities and their constituencies’ in the development process. 2. Most effective were the a
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ctivities strengthening youth leadership (Youth Forums and Civic Leadership trainings). Some 2500 youth all over Timor-Leste learned about the very skills needed for democracy. This is a promising contribution to strengthening the democratic process. 3. Core elements of the DAME approach - inclusiveness, NSA-SA collaboration, conflict prevention, and a consistent focus on youth and women - are highly relevant in view of the social, political and postconflict context in Timor-Leste, in particular by contributing to (and complementing) current government approaches. 4. However, the Action was over-ambitious in terms of objectives, partners with mixed capacities, activities, and target groups, covering all districts, and as a consequence some Action components suffered from insufficient in-depth development of quality, follow-up, coherence and cross-fertilization." (Executive summary)
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"Examines how policymakers, the donor community, and the private sector have prioritized and sequenced ICT initiatives in the aftermath of conflict. Case studies look at countries at different stages of post-conflict reconstruction in Afghanistan, Liberia, Rwanda and Timor-Leste, and postrevolution
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in Tunisia. In addition, the report proposes a conceptual framework to understand how ICTs can contribute to improving service delivery and assisting with nation-building. The opening of the report gives an overview of the relationship between conflict, reconstruction, and the role of ICTs. It builds on experience within the Bank as well as on a wide range of practitioner, academic, and other literature. The second seeks to establish a framework for understanding the ways in which ICTs interact with societies in transition from violence to stability, and for leveraging their potential to further that transition. The roots of this lie in understanding two fields of study, policy and practice: analysis of conflict and post-conflict reconstruction, and analysis of ICTs and the development of an information society. three then analyses the relationship between these two fields and proposes a framework for analysis and policy development. The fourth makes a number of recommendations to the World Bank Group, to other donors and development actors, as well as to the governments of countries emerging from violent conflict, and suggests areas for further research." (Back cover)
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