"Bringing together the perspectives of more than 40 internationally acclaimed authors, The Handbook of Global Media Research explores competing methodologies in the dynamic field of transnational media and communications, providing valuable insight into research practice in a globalized media landsc
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ape; provides a framework for the critical debate of comparative media research; posits transnational media research as reflective of advanced globalization processes, and explores the role and responsibility this bestows it with; articulates the key themes and competing methodological approaches in a dynamic and developing field; showcases the perspectives and ideas of 30 leading internationally acclaimed scholars; offers a platform for the discussion of crucial issues from a variety of theoretical, methodical and practical viewpoints." (Publisher description)
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"This study analyses the coverage of the 2011 Egyptian protests provided by Al Ahram (Egypt), Arab News (Saudi Arabia), China Daily (China), Guardian International (UK), International Herald Tribune (USA) and Jerusalem Post (Israel), with regard to the type and intensity of the coverage, potential s
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hifts in tunes and interaction with some types of social media. The results show the large role played by national policies and diplomatic relations as well as prevailing news themes in determining the type and intensity of coverage provided. Geographic proximity was also found to be an important factor in influencing coverage. Moreover, a shift in tune, although not significant, was found in the coverage of Al Ahram and Arab News. Finally, the study found that journalists demonstrated a clear preference for citing conventional rather than social media sources in their stories." (Abstract)
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"This report examines seven central areas of media development—funding, digital media, sustainability, media law, journalists' safety, journalism education, and monitoring and evaluation. It also delves in-depth into four areas deserving of greater attention: citizen journalism, investigative jour
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nalism, community radio, and media literacy. The report recommends to expand funding, to prioritise long-term commitment, to better coordinate and cooperate, to integrate digital media into all aspects of media development, to strengthen citizen journalists' capacities, to teach media business skills, to emphasize legal issues, to support investigative journalism, to address impunity for journalist attacks, to modernize journalism education, to invest in community radio and to embed evaluation into all projects." (commbox)
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"The Handbook of Global Health Communication offers a comprehensive and up-to-date analysis of the role of communication processes in global public health, development and social change. It brings together 32 contributions from well-respected scholars and practitioners in the field, addressing a wid
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e range of communication approaches in current global health programs; offers an integrated view that links communication to the strengthening of health services, the involvement of affected communities in shaping health policies and improving care, and the empowerment of citizens in making decisions about health; ddopts a broad understanding of communication that goes beyond conventional divisions between informational and participatory approaches." (Publisher description)
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"Bribery for news coverage has a negative impact on the credibility of media; it also restricts the free flow of information and violates the public's right to know. Further, research showed that there exists considerable inequality among countries in terms of the extent to which bribery for news co
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verage exists in media system. This study provides the first quantitative cross-national assessment of a set of predictors of the likelihood that bribery for news coverage exists in a country's media system and tested competing arguments derived from the literature. Data of this study are drawn from 66 nation states. The analysis shows that 5 groups of political, economic, cultural, educational, and technological variables have direct or indirect impacts on a country's media bribery level. The interactions between these variables are also analyzed. The study concludes by discussing how analyses of the nature of the international media bribery problem contribute to finding multiple approaches to solutions to this problem." (Abstract)
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"This book is an anthology of work by critical media scholars, media makers, and activists who are committed to advancing social justice. Topics addressed include but are not limited to international media activist projects such as the Right to Communication movement and its corollaries; the importa
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nce of listening and enacting policies that advance democratic media; regional and local media justice projects; explorations of the challenges the era of participatory media pose to public media; youth and minority media projects and activism; ethical dilemmas posed by attempts to democratize access to media tools; the continued marginalization of feminist perspectives in international policy venues; software freedom and intellectual property rights; video activism in both historical and contemporary contexts; internet strategies for defending dissenting voices; and five accounts by prominent scholar/activists of their lifelong struggles for media justice." (Publisher description)
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"This study examines Voice of America’s (VOA) services in the post-Cold War era within the framework of the information revolution and globalization. The use of new information venues has caused VOA to evolve from a pure propaganda machine to a notion of informational soft power. However, this stu
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dy finds that not only is there a gap between VOA’s target audiences and its actual website visitors but its website attracts more American and western users than users in the societies it intends to influence the most. The role of informational soft power in articulating appealing ideas, values, norms and ethics through all manners of media and new information and communication technology to create the perception that US hegemony is benign poses challenges for the US’s information strategy." (Abstract)
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"Press freedom indices such as those administered by Freedom House, IREX, and Reporters Without Borders have emerged as crucial tools, not only for the general public, but also for donors, implementers, and academics in their attempts to understand the relationships among media assistance, democrati
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zation, and other forms of development. Bringing together a variety of viewpoints and perspectives on evaluating media assistance, Measures of Press Freedom and Media Contributions to Development offers a critical reflection on the theories and tools of measurements that are used by the academic, donor, and civil society communities. A variety of theoretical and geographic perspectives are drawn upon, offering a timely debate from both academics and practitioners." (Publisher description)
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"The issue of media accountability mechanisms has been brought into the spotlight in South Africa following the release by the ruling African National Congress (ANC) of a discussion paper entitled ‘Media Transformation, Ownership and Diversity’ for deliberation at its National General Council me
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eting in September 2010, and the subsequent resolutions from the meeting. The paper and subsequent 2010 resolutions, among other things, reinforce a 2007 ANC Conference resolution to investigate the establishment of a statutory Media Appeals Tribunal (MAT) as the ruling party has suggested that the current self-regulatory system established by the print media does not sufficiently ensure that standards and ethics are upheld by newspapers. The print media have defended the self -regulatory mechanisms they have put in place, and argued that statutory regulation would inhibit freedom of expression and breach South Africa’s Constitution.
This paper does not evaluate the different arguments, nor does it make any recommendations on a way forward, beyond proposing that any accountability mechanisms/policies put in place must be responsive to evident public need and premised on reinforcing the media’s responsibility to hold those with economic, political and/or social power to account and to tell the news truthfully, accurately and fairly. The research instead focuses on highlighting approaches taken in other countries and ways the media and/or governments promote adherence by the media to principles and standards while reinforcing freedom of expression. It also briefly looks at additional proposals on transformation of the media suggested by the ANC in its paper. It focuses particularly on print media as this is the primary focus of the ruling party recommendations." (Introduction)
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"Desde la perspectiva de los medios de comunicación, se presentan en esta obra investigaciones académicas y lecciones aprendidas en cuatro apartados: el impacto de los medios de comunicación en la construcción de violencia cultural, medios alternativos para la construcción de paz, alfabetizaci
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n mediática y, por último, la propuesta de las Espirales de Paz para reaprender la anhelada y esperanzadora, pero al tiempo compleja, Alianza de Civilizaciones. El libro es parte del trabajo realizado por el departamento de investigación en comunicación para la paz de la Cátedra UNESCO de Filosofía para la Paz de la Universitat Jaume I de Castelló y el Instituto Interuniversitario de Desarrollo Social y Paz (IUDESP), en colaboración con United Nations Alliance of Civilizations (UNAOC)." (Cubierta del libro)
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"Seven key findings emerged from this research: 1. Overall donor funding for free expression work has increased–not decreased–over the past three to five years [...] 2. Under current conditions, it is impossible to conclusively measure the amount of free expression funding. Donors themselves hav
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e a hard time extracting specific annual dollar amounts for free expression funding because it is housed in so many different programmatic areas and operating under so many different definitions [...] 3. Changes in the political landscape of individual countries have a major impact on whether, how, how much, and what kind of freedom of expression activity is funded [...] 4. Many donors are experiencing economic pressures as a result of the 2008 global financial downturn [...] 5. The community of free expression funders is evolving: new ones are emerging, while some long-time supporters are leaving the field altogether or shifting their priorities. 6. Internal and structural reorganizations are taking place across the board, in both government and private funding organizations. These changes bewilder NGOs and program officers alike [...] 7. The field of freedom of expression has been broadening with the addition of emerging Internet freedom organizations. The field has been complicated by mission overlap between established freedom of expression groups and emerging groups focused on technology and human rights." (Executive summary, page 4-5)
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"This is a collection of case studies of good practice in community media, mainly from developing countries, and focusing especially on radio. The first section addresses the enabling environment for community media, with ten country case studies of good practice in media policies, regulations, fund
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ing and support structures. The second section presents ten case studies on community media sustainability, understood as its longevity, consistency as social enterprises, and rootedness in the communities they serve. The third section looks at social impact of community media, describing ten experiences of community media contributing to improvements in livelihoods, social change, citizen participation and other benefits. The case studies provide key characteristics, a summary, references and links. As they are very short (two pages each), the main function of this publication may lie in providing a first glance of the broad variety of community media approaches and practices." (CAMECO Update 1-2012)
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