"Of the eight countries surveyed here, only four have comprehensive data protection privacy acts in place: Kenya, South Africa, Togo and Uganda. But as these research reports suggest, this is not necessarily a strong indicator of whether a country is committed to privacy rights, or of the efficacy o
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f a country’s legislative environment in ensuring the right to privacy and data protection. Instead, reading across the reports, what can be described as an asymmetry between legislation and practice is evident at different levels. This asymmetry can be political – for example, Togo, an effective constitutional dictatorship marked by fierce government crackdowns on opposition and recent reports of surveillance of religious and political leaders, enacted a data protection law in 2019, and is one of the few countries in Africa to have ratified the African Union Convention on Cyber Security and Personal Data Protection (Malabo Convention). Yet, as the country author suggests, “This interest [by policy makers in digital rights] is not necessarily to protect the citizens but rather out of concern to adapt state policies to the global digital situation.” This asymmetry also concerns the regulatory framework for the implementation of a data protection act. Amongst the countries surveyed here, South Africa was the first to pass a protection of personal information act (in 2013), but still has not implemented the necessary regulations to give practical force to the law. In contrast, while Nigeria’s privacy law is still in draft form, it already has what the country author describes as “watershed” privacy regulations." (Introduction, page 5)
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"Almost half of women respondents had been sexually harassed at work (47%). Women were twice as likely to experience sexual harassment at work than men. For one in two women, the harassment was verbal (56%), and for one in three, it was physical (38%). Only 30% of cases of sexual harassment were eve
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r reported to management. Fear of reprisals is the most common driver behind non-reporting. But lack of faith in the organisation’s management and awareness of reporting systems also plays a part. When they did receive formal complaints, news organisations took action in 42% of cases. Persons in authority are the perpetrators of sexual harassment in four out of ten cases, either as a direct supervisor (21.5%) or person from higher management (19.5%). Sexual harassment is often taking place openly: 46% had witnessed at least one incident, with 16.5% stating they had seen five or more cases. Non-conforming individuals experienced sexual harassment almost as often as women. One in two (50%) had been verbally harassed, and 36% had been physically harassed. Of the 32 managers interviewed, more than half had been sexually harassed. Only three reported this. Some 47% said their organisations had no sexual harassment policy, and then, of those where a policy existed, just 17% knew its contents." (Main findings, page 5)
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"This article presents new empirical insights into what people do with conspiracy theories during crises. By suppressing the impulse to distinguish between truth and falsehood, which has characterized most scholarship on the COVID-19 “infodemic,” and engaging with claims surrounding two popular
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COVID-19 conspiracies—on 5G and on Bill Gates—in South Africa and Nigeria, we illustrate how conspiracies morph as they interact with different socio-political contexts. Drawing on a mixed-method analysis of more than 6 million tweets, we examine how, in each country, conspiracies have uniquely intersected with longer-term discourses and political projects. In Nigeria, the two conspiracies were both seized as opportunities to extend criticism to the ruling party. In South Africa, they produced distinctive responses: while the 5G conspiracy had limited buy-in, the Gates conspiracy resonated with deep-rooted resentment toward the West, corporate interests, and what is seen as a paternalistic attitude of some external actors toward Africa. These findings stress the importance of taking conspiracy theories seriously, rather than dismissing them simply as negative externalities of digital ecosystems. Situating conspiracies in specific dynamics of trust and mistrust can make an important difference when designing responses that are not limited to broadcasting truthful information, but can also enable interventions that account for deeply rooted sentiments of suspicion toward specific issues and actors, which can vary significantly across communities." (Abstract)
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"The intersection between media and politics remains very strong in several countries under study. In these conditions, there is often little transparency on media ownership and a lack of transparency on local funding sources of media. Relatedly, in some cases, a change in government policies was ra
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ised as an important precondition to possibly change the negative discourse towards the (public) media. A different political climate may benefit the financial conditions of a media outlet, for instance by lifting difficulties in acquiring media licenses or access to (governmental) funding by independent media. The advertisement markets for media are, in many of the countries under study, still controlled by a few large, more traditional media outlets. Generally, the advertising market is driven by a number of factors, including a network, political patronage, and the ability of media owners to utilise relationships with the corporate sector. Due to the digitalisation of media and the advertising market, the market has further changed over the past years. There is limited to no regulation in the distribution of advertisement funding based on quality standards for journalism. Some media practitioners proposed to address this problem by stimulating national governments to support regulatory bodies for media advertisement. While digital advertisement is on the rise, most revenue of online (media) advertisement is directed to big tech companies. An increased amount of advertising money is flowing towards social media platforms, and Internet advertising has been rising exponentially, as observed in all countries under study. The media sector as a whole is suffering from this trend, particularly the more traditional print media who are struggling to make the transition to online media. In some countries under study, media are not even eligible to generate an income on the large social media platforms. Policies to regulate online advertisement is imperative to strengthen the competition position of traditional media." (Global trends, page 9)
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"A number of issues have been raised in this report that will help the media to improve on service delivery in disaster-related issues and to be prepared in disaster management. Not only the media has vowed to improve but also government institutions, humanitarian response organizations and media st
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akeholders have also pledged to play a part in supporting the media to carry out its role efectively in terms of accurate and timely reporting. Some of the important points raised in the consultation process were: National and district structures that are set by both government and nongovernment organizations have to involve the media in the planning, processing and implementing of national mechanisms that would help the media in carrying out their duties; the media need to be well-equipped with training and resources that would strengthen their professional capacity; there has to be a good rapport between the media and all government and non-government entities for efcient and efective reporting; there should be proper planning in disaster management amongst all stakeholders involved in this process to enhance coordination at all angles." (Conclusion, page 27)
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"Die Debatten um die Anerkennung des Ovaherero- und Nama-Genozids (1904-1908) im heutigen Namibia haben in den letzten beiden Jahrzehnten wachsende öffentliche Aufmerksamkeit erhalten. Kaya de Wolff hat die deutschsprachige Presseberichterstattung in den Jahren 2001 bis 2016 über den Umgang mit de
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n Verbrechen deutscher Kolonialtruppen untersucht. Sie zeigt, aufgrund welcher Anlässe und auf welche Weisen medial an die historischen Ereignisse erinnert wird, welche Stimmen dabei (nicht) gehört werden und welche gesellschaftlichen Machtverhältnisse und Normen den Anerkennungskampf der Nachfahr*innen der Opfer bedingen." (Verlagsbeschreibung)
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"This report is meant to share the experiences and lessons of local media practitioners globally, and to build a community for networking and support. It’s about telling their story in their own voice – and helping all involved learn from one another. By talking to both new digital start-ups and
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traditional media in transition, this report identifies how media builders in different circumstances understand and meet the challenges they face. Comparing and contrasting experiences from different parts of the world provides both lessons that can be copied as well as warnings about the need to understand how different regional and national conditions impact success. From there, the report draws practical recommendations for news media leaders, for media support organizations, and for the IPI global network." (Introduction, page 4)
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"Efforts to establish or improve national identification systems in Africa have coincided with the increasing deployment of mobile technology. This has led to the prioritisation of digital “solutions” for facilitating forms of identification and registration – often via biometric attributes [.
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..] Research ICT Africa (RIA) and the Centre for Internet and Society (CIS) partnered in 2020 and 2021 to investigate, map, and report on the state of digital identity ecosystems in 10 African countries. The project looked at local, digitised (in full or partially) foundational ID systems in Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho, Mozambique, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zimbabwe. The project set out to contribute to the broader question of whether digital identity ecosystems increase choices and opportunities for Africans, or whether they exacerbate the multidimensional aspects of digital inequality on the continent." (Executive summary)
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"Only one of Freire’s (1969/1983) books directly and more broadly addresses the scope of communication; it is 'Extension or Communication?' published in 1969, originally in Spanish, during Freire’s exile in Chile. This book became an important reference for the studies and practices of participa
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tory communication worldwide and was decisive for the review of diffusion models, which took communication as a tool to guide the reproduction of models considered modern and developed, without paying attention to local experiences and knowledge. Approached more broadly, the transversality of communication in Freire’s pedagogical perspective can be discussed from at least three perspectives. The first combines language, education and communication. The second links education and communication with popular mobilization and, more openly, with processes of political engagement. The third stems from Freire’s own critical positioning in relation to the media. These three inflections will be discussed in more detail throughout the material compiled in this edition of MATRIZes." (Introduction, page 5)
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"For analysing populist and dis- and minformation-driven campaigning, three sub-groupings of South African Twitter deserve particular attention. A) A community of radical populists made of black consciousness voices emphasising the struggle against 'white monopoly capital,' using this phrase as a di
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sinformation strategy initially run by Bell Pottinger back in 2017, which had the effect of polarising white and black South Africans. This community was the audience the EFF and RET audience appealed to. B) A community galvanised around the #PutSouthAfricansFirst hashtag and movement and its über-nationalism and xenophobia - disdain for primarily African foreign nationals. Influencers used this hashtag to demonise foreign nationals for crime, unemployment, homelessness and other disinformation. Political parties such as ATM and ActionSA used the same hashtag to campaign for votes under the guise of calling for the integrity of South Africa's borders and jobs. Their nationalist calls continued to form a crucial part of these parties' messaging, even as they benefited from the negative sentiment generated towards foreigners by the more strident anonymous accounts. C) A community of minority ideologies and groups predominantly made up of South Africa's white body politic polarised from the rest of South African Twitter influenced by overlapping harmful iterations of Libertarianism and Conservatism. Conspiracy theorists, Covid-19 denialists, anti-institution, anti-vaxxers reside within this community with imported overt MAGA-style Trumpian Alt-Right. The DA, Cape Party, ACDP appealed to this community. An analysis of tweets generated in the lead up to the election showed that one in four tweets were generated by the EFF community, underscoring the extent to which that party dominated the platform. However, it also highlights the disconnect between Twitter and the 'real world'. The EFF was only the third-largest party with roughly 10% votes." (Lessons learned and conclusion, page 99)
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"The study aims to gather information and develop a better understanding of the community radio landscapes in different parts of Sub-Saharan Africa, in order to identify needs, opportunities and potential partners for developing a programme of support for community radio on the continent. The envisa
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ged programme of support should be based on a productive model that takes into account the range of circumstances in Sub-Saharan Africa, its subregions as well as the selected countries. This report presents a descriptive analysis of the community radio landscape in 11 francophone, lusophone and anglophone countries from West, East and Southern Africa." (Purpose of the study, page 12)
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"China is an increasingly major player in the latest global economic configuration. As a formerly developing nation, China has the potential to view the world through a lens distinctive from current Western hegemonies in its news media and soft power strategies. China has already invested heavily in
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the African continent and South Africa specifically, including in its news media. Some research has suggested that non-Western, non-democratic countries might have a different approach to international news coverage, including more positive and constructive coverage that diverges from Western news coverage (which is often seen as unnuanced and unequal). A content analysis of Chinese print news media thus examined if Chinese news media's construction of South African reality differs from previous Western social constructions. The research analysed China Daily, a newspaper closely a liated with the Chinese Communist Party, as well as South China Morning Post (SCMP), an independent, privately-owned publication from Hong Kong. It investigated whether these papers use constructive journalism to cover South Africa, and how their coverage diverged and overlapped. The research found that there are observable differences on an ontological scale, and that both papers have different foci of interest and affective slant which diverge from Western news sources. However, similar to Western sources, both papers are largely not constructive on topics relating to South Africa, and are overall disinterested in local events in South Africa, reproducing the same inequalities in news reportage that exist with the current global hegemonic order." (Abstract)
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"The South African disaster response activities surpass risk reduction since the implementation of the Disaster Management Act 57 of 2002 (DMA) and the National Disaster Management Framework of 2005 (NDMF). Risk reduction, in particular risk communication, remained unexploited until the occurrence o
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f coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. The legislation and policy mandate a proactive approach for disaster management, requiring a focus on disaster risk reduction. Therefore, this study aimed to assess the significance of risk communication as a critical prevention and mitigatory strategy in disaster risk management, focusing on the COVID-19 pandemic. Key to risk communication success is ensuring adequate comprehension, accurate perception of the disseminated information, and compliance with regulations. Questions of trustworthiness, acceptability, effectiveness, and usefulness of messages and strategies communicated sought answers from the Bloemfontein population. Furthermore, the Agenda-setting Theory provided the grounding for the study. The study sample was picked in a stratified random sampling manner, using the confidence level and margin of error equation. A questionnaire survey was used to collect the data required to achieve the research objectives." (Abstract)
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"Since its adoption on 1 July 2020, the Protection of Personal Information Act has bolstered freedom of expression and the right to privacy. This legislation aims to protect citizens’ personal information and balance the right to privacy with other rights, such as access to information. In Februar
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y 2021, the Constitutional Court upheld the 2019 High Court decision that declared certain sections of the Regulation of Interception of Communication and Provision of Communication-Related Information Act unconstitutional as they violate the right to privacy. The Act had allowed for surveillance and the interception of communication. These positive developments were hampered by the COVID-19 pandemic, which affected freedom of expression and the operating environment of the media and journalists. As in other countries, journalism was considered an essential service in South Africa, which meant that with permission, journalists could continue reporting and were exempt from restrictions that kept most of the population in lockdown. Despite this, journalists found it difficult to access information, making first-hand news-gathering difficult. The Disaster Management Act of 2002 was also applied to manage the lockdowns. Under this Act, essential workers (including journalists) were required to have permits to travel to cover stories. In addition, the government’s attempts to prevent the spread of misinformation related to COVID-19 affected the free flow of information, as information became centralised within the Covid Command Centre. This had a chilling effect on freedom of expression and media freedom in South Africa. Journalists also faced further challenges regarding access to personal protective equipment and training on reporting safely during a pandemic. COVID-19 also affected the sustainability and viability of the media. Both the structure of newsrooms and business models were disrupted. The pandemic accelerated the pre-existing and long-term structural decline in print media, resulting in a devastating impact on the already fragile operations, with significant decreases in both circulation and advertising [...]" (Summary, page 5)
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