"Der hier vorgestellte Ansatz untersucht die empirischen Leistungen der Medien für die demokratische Freiheit in Gesellschaften mit Hilfe einer Reihe von demokratietheoretisch abgeleiteten Indikatoren. Diese betreffen sowohl die gesamtgesellschaftlichen Medienstrukturen, als auch die konkreten Leis
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tungen einzelner Medienorganisationen. Die empirische Basis bilden Erhebungen aus neun europäischen Ländern und Australien, wobei insbesondere das relative Abschneiden Deutschlands im Vergleich mit den anderen Ländern dargestellt und erläutert wird." (Zusammenfassung)
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"This article appraises the general state of investigative journalism in seven Pacific Island countries—Cook Islands, Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga and Vanuatu—and asserts that the trend is not encouraging. Journalism in general, and investigative journalism in particular
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, has struggled due to harsher legislation as in military-ruled Fiji; beatings and harassment of journalists as in Vanuatu; and false charges and lawsuits targeting journalists and the major newspaper company in the Cook Islands. Corruption, tied to all the major political upheavals in the region since independence, is also discussed. Threats to investigative journalism, like the ‘backfiring effect’ and ‘anti-whistleblower’ law are examined, along with some investigative journalism success case studies." (Abstract)
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"GISWatch 2012 explores how the internet is being used to ensure transparency and accountability, the challenges that civil society activists face in fighting corruption, and when the internet fails as an enabler of a transparent and fair society. The eight thematic reports and 48 country reports pu
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blished ask provocative questions such as: Is a surveillance society necessarily a bad thing if it fights corruption? And how successful have e-government programmes been in fighting corruption? They explore options for activism by youth and musicians online, as well as the art of using visual evidence to expose delusions of power. By focusing on individual cases or stories of corruption, the country reports take a practical look at the role of the internet in combating corruption at all levels." (Back cover)
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"This research study provides baseline indicators for the Solomon Islands Media Assistance Scheme (SOLMAS) Program Phase III. It presents findings around the current quality of media, experiences of training to date, and relationships with stakeholders such as development organisations, government c
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ommunications and the National Disaster Management Office. This executive summary presents main findings from the study, under several key areas: media quality and inhibitors of quality; training and capacity building; audience needs and new media; media and development issues; the Media Association of Solomon Islands (MASI); the public broadcaster Solomon Islands Broadcasting Corporation (SIBC); and perceptions of SOLMAS to date." (Exexutive summary)
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"The Global Journalist in the 21st Century systematically assesses the demographics, education, socialization, professional attitudes and working conditions of journalists in various countries around the world. This book updates the original Global Journalist (1998) volume with new data, adding more
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than a dozen countries, and provides material on comparative research about journalists that will be useful to those interested in doing their own studies. The editors put together this collection working under the assumption that journalists' backgrounds, working conditions and ideas are related to what is reported (and how it is covered) in the various news media round the world, in spite of societal and organizational constraints, and that this news coverage matters in terms of world public opinion and policies. Outstanding features include:"Coverage of 33 nations located around the globe, based on recent surveys conducted among representative samples of local journalist, comprehensive analyses by well-known media scholars from each country, a section on comparative studies of journalists and an appendix with a collection of survey questions used in various nations to question journalists" (Publisher description)
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"The study found that the media often framed REDD+ in political and economic terms, at the expense of, for example, ecological concerns or discussions of the drivers of deforestation and forest degradation. Issues associated with carbon trading were a frequent topic of media articles, with many stor
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ies focusing on the activities and antics of so- called ‘carbon cowboys’. Governance issues, including allegations of corruption and impropriety levelled against the Office of Climate Change also featured prominently. International policy debates were also common topics covered by the media, including the annual conference of the parties (COP) to the UNFCCC, international funding for REDD+, and Papua New Guinea’s leadership role in promoting REDD+ internationally The 160 newspaper articles (and 213 frames) that covered REDD+ in depth (as opposed to only mentioning REDD+ in passing) featured a total of 183 advocates and 21 adversaries. The analysis reveals that national government actors were the dominant voices in the REDD+ debate in Papua New Guinea." (Executive summary)
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"In this case study, I have studied three community radio stations- RS in Nepal, KCR in Sri Lanka and SCR in New Zealand- investigating how the radio management policies are positively or negatively, affecting community access and participation. The study shows that in their effort to stay economica
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lly sustainable, the three stations are gradually evolving as a ‘hybrid’; something that sits in-between community and commercial radio. Consequently, programmes that are produced by the local community are often replaced by programmes that are produced by full-time paid staff; and they are more entertaining in nature and accommodate more advertisements. The radio stations also actively seek the sale of airtime to wellfunded NGOs, giving agency-driven programmes priority over local community programmes. This means the stations have become vehicles that help agency objectives. Hence, although ‘hybrid’ initiatives have merits financially, while depicting as local community representatives, they are marginalising the voices and interests of the very people that gave the radio stations their community characteristics and identity. Hence, in the interest of earning more revenue to secure market survival, the ‘hybrid’ initiatives are in fact, settling for a lesser community role." (Abstract)
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"The future of Indigenous Australians, especially Indigenous youth, in remote regions is a subject of great concern to all Australians. The view commonly presented in media reports and public commentary is unrelentingly bleak. While we recognise the challenges young people face, in this book we inte
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nd to dispute that view. The prevalent media images, newspaper headlines and opinion pages are so focused on examples of dysfunction that few Australians would ever imagine that many Indigenous young people are quietly leading productive and meaningful lives and moving confidently toward a future while walking in two worlds. Throughout this book you will meet some of these Indigenous young and dedicated individuals who reinvigorate faith in the potential that lies unacknowledged in the remote context. Our aim is to showcase a range of ‘out-of-school’ youth learning contexts in remote Australia, to analyse the factors that enable positive learning and to provide some working principles for facilitating and supporting effective youth learning in the remote Indigenous context." (Introduction, page 2)
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"This report is the third in a series of comprehensive studies of internet freedom around the globe and covers developments in 47 countries that occurred between January 2011 and May 2012. Over 50 researchers, nearly all based in the countries they analyzed, contributed to the project by researching
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laws and practices relevant to the internet, testing the accessibility of select websites, and interviewing a wide range of sources. This year's findings indicate that restrictions on internet freedom in many countries have continued to grow, though the methods of control are slowly evolving, becoming more sophisticated and less visible. Brutal attacks against bloggers, politically motivated surveillance, proactive manipulation of web content, and restrictive laws regulating speech online are among the diverse threats to internet freedom emerging over the past two years. Nevertheless, several notable victories have also occurred as a result of greater activism by civil society, technology companies, and independent courts, illustrating that efforts to advance internet freedom can yield results." (www.freedomhouse.org, January 14, 2013)
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"For decades, television scholars have viewed global television through the lens of cultural imperialism, focusing primarily on programs produced by US and UK markets and exported to foreign markets. Global Television Formats revolutionizes television studies by de-provincializing its approach to me
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dia globalization. It re-examines dominant approaches and their legacies of global/local and center/ periphery, and offers new directions for understanding television’s contemporary incarnations. The chapters in this collection take up the format phenomena from around the globe, including the Middle East, Western and Eastern Europe, South and West Africa, South and East Asia, Australia and New Zealand, North America, South America, and the Caribbean. Contributors address both little known examples and massive global hits ranging from the Idol franchise around the world, to telenovelas, dance competitions, sports programming, reality TV, quiz shows, sitcoms and more." (Publisher description)
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"Whether at a local, national, or international level, radio has played and continues to play a key role in nurturing or denying—even destroying—people’s sense of collective identity. The essays in this volume provide a historical and contemporary overview of radio in small nations. A number o
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f representative small nations are featured: some grappling with new postcolonial identities and others still operating under repressive regimes; some struggling to find a new common purpose in the postindustrial age and others unifying previously ignored ethnic or language groups. As a whole, the collection strives to present diverse voices commenting on the influential and essential place of radio within these countries." (Publisher description)
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"This article presents and discusses the results of an experiment, which gathered audience responses to television news coded as war journalism and peace journalism respectively, in two countries, Australia and the Philippines. From the peace journalism model, evaluative criteria were first derived
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as a set of headings for content analysis of existing television news as broadcast in each country. The test material was then coded to fall within the upper and lower peace journalism quintiles of the ‘idiom and range’ of local television journalism in each case. Distinctions under the headings were particularized for individual stories by critical discourse analysis, to disclose potential sources of influence transmitted into audience frames. Data about emotional responses, gathered from self-reporting questionnaires, were combined with a textual artefact, with participants completing a ‘thought-listing protocol’ as they watched. Focus groups also viewed the material and provided more in-depth narrative responses. Watching peace journalism left people less angry and fearful, and more hopeful and empathic. Peace journalism viewers were also less inclined to apportion ‘blame’ to one ‘side’, and more likely to think about cooperative solutions to the problems presented." (Abstract)
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"Examining the role of memory in the transition from totalitarian to democratic systems, this book makes an important contribution to memory studies. It explores memory as a medium of and impediment to change, looking at memory's biological, cultural, narrative and socio-psychological dimensions." (
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Publisher description)
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"For a project of its size, duration and complexity, the reversioning of the New Zealand media studies degree of Oman has been remarkably successful. Given the inherent problems in developing curricula for 'others', the writing team has been extremely productive and constantly inventive [...] it has
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also become clear that our original view of this project was simplistic and limiting. On the surface, the Omani Ministry of Higher Education (MOHE) faced a choice between developing their own degree and purchasing a 'reversion' of a New Zealand one. The former option was not feasible, but the latter, while proving successful, might not have been the best 'fit'." (Conclusion)
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"This anthology aims to portray the “soft” power of Bollywood, which makes it a unique and powerful disseminator of Indian culture and values abroad. The essays in the book examine Bollywood's popularity within and outside South Asia, focusing on its role in international relations and diplomacy
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. In addition to contributions that directly engage with the notion of soft power, a number of essays in the volume testify to the attractiveness of Bollywood cinema for ethnically diverse groups across the world, probe the reasons for its appeal, and explore its audiences' identification with cinematic narratives." (Publisher description)
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