"In 2007 nearly 17,000 people died because of natural disasters and more than 211 million others were directly affected. News media play a basic role in giving publicity to these numerous instances of global suffering as it is mainly through media reports that the world perceives international crise
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s. Drawing upon theories on distant suffering, this study investigates the mediated representation of international crises, with a focus on natural disasters occurring in Australia, Indonesia, Pakistan and the USA. Applying critical discourse analysis, this article explores how discourses of hierarchy and inequality are realised in news texts about distant suffering. The cases of analysis are nine news items that were broadcast on a public and a commercial Belgian television channel on 2 January 2006. The comparative analysis of these news texts reveals glaring differences that reflect global hierarchies of place and human life. Suffering in the West (USA and Australia) was portrayed as comprehensible and close to the spectator, who could identify with the distant sufferers as if they are like us. While being of a greater magnitude, the Indonesian disaster was in contrast presented as no cause for concern or action, which blocked the engagement with the distant sufferers who were portrayed as ‘Others’, with a capital ‘o’. Pakistan sufferers were also articulated as distant others, but close-ups of gazing children urged the spectator to care for them and potentially act on the represented misfortune. In general, the critical discourse analysis supports the claim that Western news media reproduce a certain kind of global hierarchy, mainly a Euro-American-centred world order, and that news discourse normalises inequalities. This article argues that mediated representations of international crises reflect and consolidate the power relations and divisions that characterise our contemporary world." (Abstract)
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"This book examines different models from around the world of how journalism can support deliberation - the processes in which societies recognize and discuss the issues that affect them, appraise the potential responses, and make decisions about whether and how to take action. Authors from across t
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he globe identify the types of journalism that might best assist or even drive deliberative activity in different cultural and political contexts. Case studies from 15 nations spotlight different approaches to deliberative journalism, including strategies that have sometimes been labeled as public or civic journalism, peace journalism, development journalism, citizen journalism, the street press, community journalism, social entrepreneurism, or other names. Each of the approaches that are described offer a distinctive potential to support deliberative democracy, but the book does not present any of these models or case studies as examples of categorical success. Rather, it explores different elements of the nature, strengths, limitations and challenges of each approach, as well as issues affecting their longer-term sustainability and effectiveness." (Publisher description)
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"Australia’s community media sector is known for its size and reach. The vast number of stations spread across the country form a network that rivals commercial and public broadcasters. For many communities it is the only media producing local content in their area. Reflecting Australia’s immens
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e cultural and linguistic diversity, it creates an array of services and programs, and broadens the media choices available to all of us. Community broadcasting is taking every opportunity to expand into new online and free-to-air digital platforms. Our skills and experience working on the ground in diverse communities are providing unique and exciting contributions to the digital economy." (Page 1)
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"El estudio de los medios públicos desde la doble perspectiva jurídica y de análisis de desempeño constituye una iniciativa inédita y necesaria. Lo consideramos así porque no hay todavía distinciones conceptuales claras entre lo que son medios públicos, medios de servicio público y medios g
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ubernamentales, ni entre interés público y servicio público, por poner algunos ejemplos. Ha faltado en este sentido una mirada rigurosa de los preceptos normativos que dan rostro y sentido a lo que deben ser los medios públicos, y a la vez un análisis basado en datos objetivos sobre el comportamiento de nuestros medios gubernamentales federales." (Descripción de la casa editorial)
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"Wie Armut in Medien ein Gesicht gegeben wurde, durch welche manifesten Kommunikationsinhalte sich auf gesellschaftliche Armutsverhältnisse rückschließen lässt, welche Rollen Medien und deren Konsum im Leben von Armutsbetroffenen einnehmen und wie es den medialen Mittlern von Armut ergeht: Diese
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n Fragen widmet sich diese Ausgabe anhand einzelner Kristallisationsmomente. Es sind Versatzstücke einer Kommunikationsgeschichte von Armut, die medien&zeit in historischer Erstreckung von 1900 bis heute aufblendet." (Editorial, Seite 3)
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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 researchers a complete reference source to the interactio
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ns, 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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"This report provides a timely review of what is currently known about road safety advertising design and evaluation. Australian and international advertising literature published from 2001 to 2009 was reviewed to determine best practice for road safety mass media campaigns in South Australia. Inste
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ad of determining whether road safety advertising is effective or not, this review focused on what elements of road safety advertising are more effective and for whom. The review describes current psychological theories of behaviour change and social persuasion that are relevant to road safety advertising. In terms of mass media campaign design, factors that can improve campaign effectiveness were identified such as integrating advertising with other activities (e.g. enforcement), tailoring message content and means of communication to the characteristics of the target audience, and using new technology and multiple forms of media to reach the target audience. In addition, the effects of different levels of advertising exposure were considered and the efficacy of threat appeals and alternatives (i.e. positive emotional appeals) were discussed. The review also highlighted the difficulties in establishing the effectiveness of a mass media campaign, considered different evaluation methods and discussed the value of different campaign evaluation measures. Recent campaign evaluations were reviewed to highlight current key issues in campaign evaluation research. The report concludes with constructive recommendations for best practice for road safety mass media campaigns." (Abstract)
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"Asia’s Media Innovator’s Vol 2 is the offspring of the earlier book that appeared in 2008. This new volume consists of studies of innovations at media companies in the region. The success of these media companies shows the dynamism in the region, and reflects its potential for growth. Each chap
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ter covers various forms of media, including online newspapers and broadcast outlets. Every couple of weeks a new chapter will be published online." (KAS website)
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"This is a compilation of 13 essays and studies that show the role social networking is playing in political communication in Asia. Each of the 13 chapters describes how various online social communities and networks such as Twitter, Facebook and blogs, are being used as tools in general political c
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ommunication in Asian countries — both in an active and passive way. This book talks about presidents, prime ministers and politicians, and their first steps with Facebook and Twitter, and about the politically motivated bloggers who take personal risks to expose their opinions to a wider audience. On the other hand, 'Social Media and Politics' shows the impact that politics can have on social network users and how social media has become the information source of choice for journalists and voters." (Back cover)
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"The essays collected in this book follow a contemporary critical trend in the field of trauma studies that reflects comparatively on artistic and media representations of traumatic histories and experiences from countries around the world. Focusing on a diversity of art and media forms—including
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memorials, literature, visual and installation art, music, video, film, and journalism—they both apply dominant theories of trauma and explore the former’s limitations while bearing in mind other possible methodologies." (Publisher description)
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"The Anthropology of News and Journalism is the first book to explore the role of news and journalism in contemporary culture from an anthropological perspective—as a form of cultural meaning-making in its creation, content, and dissemination. Anthropology's global, comparative perspective and eth
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nographic methods provide powerful insights for analyzing case studies from around the world. Essays by leading scholars explore communities of professional and nonprofessional journalists. They describe news-making processes ranging from the local to the global digital environment, as well as how news is disseminated and received in a variety of cultural settings." (Publisher description)
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"Story Circle is the first collection ever devoted to a comprehensive international study of the digital storytelling movement, exploring subjects of central importance on the emergent and ever-shifting digital landscape. It covers consumer-generated content, memory grids, the digital storytelling y
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outh movement, participatory public history, audience reception, videoblogging and microdocumentary. It pinpoints who is telling what stories where, on what terms, and what they look and sound like. And it explores the boundaries of digital storytelling from China and Brazil to Western Europe and Australia." (Publisher description)
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"Web 2.0 for development (Web2forDev) is a way of employing web services to intentionally improve information-sharing and collaborative production of content for development. It is about how development actors can relate and connect to other stakeholders, produce and publish their own material, deci
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de on levels of access to information and redistribute pieces of content released by others. This publication, a result of the Web2forDev conference at the FAO headquarters in Rome in 2007, shares learning and reflections from practice and considers the ways forward for using Web 2forDev. Eight case studies are presented and discussed. For instance, one interesting experience is the Kenyan website 'Ushahidi' (meaning 'witness' in Kiswahili) as an example of 'crowdsourcing' crisis information: people who witness acts of violence report the incidents they have seen, the incidents are placed on a map-based view on the website for others to see and in most cases are verified by local groups working on the ground. At the post-election violence in Kenya in early January 2008, local radio stations used Ushahidi as an information source. It is also expected to serve in other countries as a tool from early conflict warning to tracking a crisis situation as it evolves. A practical section called "tips for trainers" provides descriptions and links to further information ("where to get started") on blogging, twitter, wikis, social networking, RSS feeds, tagging and social bookmarking. In addition, various articles discuss lessons learnt and challenges identified." (CAMECO Update 4-2009)
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"Der vorliegende Aufsatz berichtet erste deskriptive Befunde aus einer multinationalen Studie zum Vergleich von Journalismuskulturen. Im Rahmen des Projekts wurden insgesamt 1700 Journalisten in 17 Ländern zu ihren professionellen Orientierungen befragt. Im Vordergrund standen Fragen nach dem Verst
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ändnis der eigenen gesellschaftlichen Rolle, den erkenntnistheoretischen Grundlagen und ethischen Imperativen im Journalismus. Im Ländervergleich zeigt sich dabei, dass jene Rollenmodelle, die durch Distanz und Nichtinvolviertheit gekennzeichnet sind, durchaus zu den weltweit akzeptierten journalistischen Standards zählen. Darüber hinaus ist den Journalisten global relativ übereinstimmend die Verlässlichkeit und Faktizität von Informationen sowie das strikte Einhalten von Unparteilichkeit bzw. Neutralität sehr wichtig. Umstritten sind hingegen interventionistische Aspekte der Berufsausübung, wobei sich die größten Differenzen zwischen den entwickelten Staaten des Westens und Transformationsgesellschaften zeigen. Große Länderunterschiede lassen sich auch bezüglich der Rolle von Subjektivität sowie der Vermischung von Fakten und Meinung feststellen." (Abstract)
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"Como contribuição para o debate sobre sistemas públicos de comunicação, este livro traz um estudo das experiências de mídias públicas de doze países (Alemanha, Austrália, Canadá, Colômbia, Espanha, Estados Unidos, França, Itália, Japão, Reino Unido e Venezuela), assim como uma análi
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se do caso brasileiro, e aponta os problemas e as perspectivas a serem enfrentados à luz de experiências internacionais analisadas." (Descrição da editora de livros)
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"Media education in Asia is a relatively young, but rapidly developing part of the curriculum. Research has been conducted and papers have been written on various issues concerning media education in Asia. The dominant models of media education in the world are broadly Western and most are drawn fro
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m English-speaking countries. The question is whether a similar pattern exists in Asia, where there may be differences in culture, heritage, beliefs, values, education policy, as well as curriculum and pedagogy. Are educators in Asia following the Western model in developing and implementing media education, or are they devising their own models? With this question in mind, this book sets out to understand the prevailing perspectives regarding media education in various Asian societies. While most debates about media education are carried out in Western contexts, this book hopes to provide a platform for readers to examine this issue in an Asian context." (Back cover)
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