"GISWatch has three interrelated goals: surveying the state of the field of information and communications technology (ICT) policy at local and global levels; encouraging critical debate; strengthening networking and advocacy for a just, inclusive information society. Each year the report focuses on
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one particular theme. GISWatch 2009 focuses on access to online information and knowledge – advancing human rights and democracy. It includes several thematic reports dealing with key issues in the field, as well as an institutional overview and a reflection on indicators that track access to information and knowledge. There is also an innovative section on visual mapping of global rights and political crises. In addition, 48 country reports analyse the status of access to online information and knowledge in countries as diverse as the Democratic Republic of Congo, Mexico, Switzerland and Kazakhstan, while six regional overviews offer a bird’s eye perspective on regional trends." (Back cover)
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"This article discusses discourses on development in the social space of Kinshasa’s post-Mobutu teleserials. The producers (dramatic artists and born-again Christian leaders; some are both) contend that their work will transform society, counter the social and political crisis and improve the nati
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on in various ways. Pentecostalist Christianity meets the genre of the melodrama in the way the teleserials focus on the individual’s spiritual development. This article argues that the fictive representation of witchcraft relates to a Pentecostalist diagnosis of the crisis and that the narrative unfolding of the teleserials points towards the cultural key scenario asserted by Pentecostal-charismatic churches." (Abstract)
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"During the past 15 years Central Africa, and specifically Burundi, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo, have been through devastating wars in which the media became actors. In 1993, some Burundese newspapers were described as ‘hate media’ and one year later Radio télévision mille coll
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ines (RTLM) in Rwanda became the first of those described as ‘death media’, preparing minds for genocide and helping in its implementation. In the Democratic Republic of Congo, in1998, certain newspapers took to inciting ethnic hatred and violence towards some Congolese citizens. By 2006, when this research was completed, these three countries were undergoing fragile peace processes and trying to rebuild themsleves. The media certainly have a major role to play in helping to soothe the hatred and move people from different communities back into dialogue. But how should the media sector be reorganized in countries where the media have contributed to killings? What is the best way to find a balance between freedom and control in a context where the microphone and the pen have been weapons of murder? This is one of the main issues that must be addressed by the communications regulatory bodies which have been established to support press freedom and to organize and monitor the media landscape." (Abstract)
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"Citizens’ Voice and Accountability (CV&A) work has emerged as a priority in the international development agenda from the 1990s onwards. In their CV&A work, donors recognise the importance of context: it shapes relation to that context. However, context awareness has not proven sufficient to enab
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le donors to grapple with key challenges posed by the interaction between formal and informal institutions, the prevalence of the latter over the former in many instances, and underlying power relations and dynamics. Some examples of positive impact of CV&A interventions have emerged from the interventions analysed for this study. This is mostly at the level of positive citizen awareness, empowering certain marginalised groups, and encouraging state officials. However, within the sample analysed, such impact/effects have remained limited and isolated, and have so far proven difficult to scale up. A critical factor leading to the observed limited nature of results is related to the fact that donor expectations as to what such work can achieve are too high, and are based on misguided assumptions around the nature of voice and accountability, and the linkages between the two. There is a tension between the long-term processes of transforming state-society relations and donors’ needs/desires to produce quick results. Scaling up sustainability are also issues not currently sufficiently addressed within intervention design and implementation." (Executive summary, page v)
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"There is very little undestanding of the role that communicartion processes play in the numerous starnds of post-conflict reconstruction, including peacebuilding, governance, and long-term development. This paper addressess this gap by distilling lessons learned from the media and communication str
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ategies of different donors. It takes as its primary case study the Office of Transition Initiatives at the U.S. Agency for International Development, which has long track record of media and communication work in post-conflict environments. In doing so, it seeks to present a new model for understanding and working with communication in post-conflict and fragile environments." (Foreword)
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"La première partie de l’étude vise à décrire autant le fonctionnement des médias congolais que le comportement de leurs publics, essentiellement à Kinshasa et dans les grandes villes de province. La seconde partie tâche de dresser un bilan des principales contraintes auxquelles sont confro
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ntés les journalistes congolais dans leur travail quotidien et de souligner les défis à relever afin que les médias congolais puissent contribuer efficacement à la consolidation de l’Etat de droit, de la paix et de la citoyenneté. En effet, la pluralité des médias n’est pas forcément synonyme de qualité de l’information du citoyen et, si les expériences positives et volontaristes ne manquent pas, un besoin de professionnalisation des acteurs du secteur des médias se fait encore sentir. A travers ce bilan succinct, mais franc et honnête, le présent document ambitionne d’être utile à la fois aux acteurs du secteur médiatique congolais, aux chercheurs qui souhaitent mieux connaître ce paysage dynamique et pluriel, et aux partenaires soucieux d’appuyer ces vecteurs d’information dont le rôle est capital pour l’avenir démocratique du Congo." (Dos de couverture)
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"This book takes a unique and comprehensive look at how the international community, led by the US, responded to ten humanitarian crises of the last decade and how major media outlets played a role in influencing (or failing to influence) action. Crises examined include Liberia, East Timor, Somalia,
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Sudan, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Burundi, Angola, Haiti, and the Congo. Soderlund and Briggs apply the same analytic method to each case to discover why the international community was unwilling, time and time again, to address this new brand of conflict that appeared at the time." (Publisher description)
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"Der neueste Band der erfolgreichen 'Wegweiser zur Geschichte' befasst sich mit einer Konfliktzone der Weltpolitik, die immer größeres Gewicht erlangt: Bürgerkrieg zwischen islamischen und nicht-islamischen Gruppen, Massenmorde, Vertreibungen, Darfur und die immer schärfere internationale Konkur
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renz um Öl sind die Stichworte. Zuverlässig und verständlich wie gewohnt führt der Band in Geschichte und Gegenwart, Religionen und Kulturen einer faszinierenden Region ein." (Verlagsbeschreibung)
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"Journalisten statt Soldaten", so könnte man die neuen Maßnahmen der Friedenförderung im heutigen unruhigen Kongo bezeichnen. Die Stiftung Hirondelle ist eine Initiative zur Friedenssicherung und Völkerverständigung mit Hilfe des Radios. Aus diesem Grund wurde das Konzept “Radio Okapi” entw
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ickelt, welches im Krisengebiet mittlerweile einen hohen Bekanntheitsgrad hat. In Europa ist der Friedensjournalismus ein zwar bekanntes, aber selten eingesetztes Mittel. Erfolgreich zur Deeskalation kritischer Momente wurde er z.B. im ehemaligen Jugoslawien eingesetzt. Mit Radio Okapi, das flächendeckend in einem Land der Größe West-europas aufgebaut wurde, geht die Chance einher, das Grundrecht auf Information durchzusetzen: ein bedeutender Schritt in Richtung Friedensförderung und Deeskalierung." (Verlagsbeschreibung)
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