Examines the impact that the rise of digital communications is having on the media, and on human rights activism. The report goes on to explore the main policy issues which must be addressed at the national and international levels to shape an enabling environment. The report combines global level a
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nalysis with a specific focus on eight countries: Argentina, Brazil, Egypt, Kenya, India, Indonesia, South Africa and the United States of America.
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"A National Conversation' is a 5-year project funded by DFID's Governance and Transparency Fund (GTF) delivered by the BBC World Service Trust (BBC WST). Its purpose is to 'enhance media's capacity to cover governance issues by increasing transparency, accountability and citizen participation in med
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ia'. It covers Angola, Sierra Leone and Tanzania, has a total budget of £5 million and runs from 2008 to 2013. This mid-term review, by independent media consultant Mary Myers, finds that the quality of the work has been good and the progress to date has been fairly good. The BBC WST has taken on an ambitious task and is delivering an innovative and, at times, highly sensitive project with commitment, hard work, attention to high standards and efficiency. In terms of progress against the log-frame indicators, many of the objectives are in line to be achieved by the end of the project, despite a few short-comings. The project is particularly strong on media development and co-productions with partner broadcasters. The training and mentoring work done so far is probably the element showing the biggest impact at this stage. Some other objectives have only partially been achieved and benefits and shortcomings are finely balanced. This applies particularly to the research side of the project." (Executive summary, page 4)
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"L'Afrique dans son ensemble : 28 chapitres présentant le continent par rapport au reste du monde. Tous les aspects de la géographie physique : relief, hydrographie, climat, végétation, et aussi l'histoire, les religions, les langues. L'Afrique par régions. Les cartes de localisation avec visua
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lisation géopolitique aisée, toponymie française et toponymie des Nations unies, indexation. L'Afrique pays par pays. Par ordre alphabétique les cinquante-quatre Etats du continent et les territoires dépendants (La Réunion, Mayotte, Ceuta et Melilla, etc...) - Nombreuses cartes illustrant : relief, hydrographie, agriculture, pêche et élevage, commerce, industries et ressources du sous-sol." (Description de la maison d'édition)
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"The report presents key findings of the research in six countries: Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and Zimbabwe. Findings were that most people believe public libraries have the potential to contribute to community development in important areas such as health, employment and agriculture.
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However, libraries are small and under-resourced, and most people associate them with traditional book lending and reference services, rather than innovation and technology." (https://www.eifl.net)
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"The handbook includes case studies gathered through interviews with newspapers in Uganda, Kenya and South Africa, including the Observer and Daily Monitor in Uganda, the Standard and the Daily Nation in Kenya, and Grocott’s Mail, the Mail and Guardian, the Sunday Times and the Sowetan in South Af
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rica, as well as News24.com – South Africa’s biggest online news provider [...] In addition to the accounts of successful mobile services, the handbook includes analysis and expert advice covering the key questions media houses should ask themselves when going into mobile. The handbook also provides detailed how-to guides for potential mobile services African media houses could offer." (www.wan-ifra.org, August 9, 2011)
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"Over the last five years, Mozambique has achieved significant improvements in the supporting infrastructure for developing and expanding media and ICTs. The expansion of the optical fibre services, and of access to fixed and mobile telephony and broadband Internet, have been instrumental in helping
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broadcasters extend coverage throughout the country. Mobile phone penetration currently covers 86.7 per cent of the population, including more isolated rural areas. The radio broadcasting subsector (public and community) is the most extensive in terms of both territorial and population coverage, while commercial television stations are also beginning to expand through the country and move beyond the urban centers. However, important constraints remain in this area, in particular: obsolete and insufficient transmission and production equipment in the public radio and television sector; poor quality electricity supply, especially in the districts; unreliable connectivity; shortage of technical capacity for maintenance and repairs to radio transmitters and studios; limited use and mastery of ICTs for producing and disseminating information; high costs for the air transport of newspapers; and poor distribution networks." (Conclusions, page 81)
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"Radio has been called ‘Africa’s medium’. Its wide accessibility is a result of a number of factors, including the liberalisation policies of the ‘third wave’ of democracy and its ability to transcend the barriers of cost, geographical boundaries, the colonial linguistic heritage and low l
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iteracy levels. This sets it apart from other media platforms in facilitating political debate, shaping identities and assisting listeners as they negotiate the challenges of everyday life on the continent. Radio in Africa breaks new ground by bringing together essays on the multiple roles of radio in the lives of listeners in Anglophone, Lusophone and Francophone Africa. Some essays turn to the history of radio and its part in the culture and politics of countries such as Angola and South Africa. Others – such as the essay on Mali, gender and religion – show how radio throws up new tensions yet endorses social innovation and the making of new publics. A number of essays look to radio’s current role in creating listening communities that radically shift the nature of the public sphere. Essays on the genre of the talk show in Ghana, Kenya and South Africa point to radio’s role in creating a robust public sphere. Radio’s central role in the emergence of informed publics in fragile national spaces is covered in essays on the Democratic Republic of Congo and Somalia. The book also highlights radio’s links to the new media, its role in resistance to oppressive regimes such as Zimbabwe, and points in several cases – for example in the essay on Uganda – to the importance of African languages in building modern communities that embrace both local and global knowledge." (Publisher description)
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"Focuses on Nkhani Zam'maboma, a popular Chichewa news bulletin broadcast on Malawi’s public radio. The program often takes authorities to task and questions much of the human rights rhetoric that comes from international organizations. Highlighting obligation and mutual dependence, the program ex
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presses, in popular idioms and local narrative forms, grievances and injustices that are closest to Malawi’s impoverished public. Harri Englund reveals broadcasters’ everyday struggles with state-sponsored biases and a listening public with strong views and a critical ear." (Back cover)
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"This chapter focuses on the work practices of newspaper journalists in Zimbabwe and explores the role that the Internet plays in their information gathering and relationship with sources." (Page 57)
"This is the first monograph on the history of film culture ever for lusophone Africa. It consists of three parts: the colonial period (1896-1974), the first years of independence (1975-1991) and the years of the liberalization of the media (1992-2010). In these three periods attention is given to t
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he exhibition of films (and the African or local audience) and to the production of films in the country by Mozambicans or non-Mozambicans. The book takes an African perspective on film culture and the political evolutions in the country." (commbox)
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"At first glance, mobile technology appears to have the potential to allow countries in Africa to technologically ‘leapfrog’ across the digital divide and provide much needed Internet access to a wide range of people currently unable to participate in the Information Society. This study investig
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ates whether this potential is being actualized through the survey of a non-purposive sample population living in Johannesburg, South Africa. Studies have shown that aside from being able to engage with the new technology, people must also perceive it as reliable and user friendly. As such, this article examines user’s attitudes and current behaviour with regards to this apparently highly accessible and relatively affordable medium. It also seeks to determine whether people believe that mobile technology could eclipse (or leapfrog) the use of computer technology for online activities – and if they believe that to be true, how have their usage patterns shifted, if at all?" (Abstract)
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"This Media Toolkit for Local Governance in Lesotho is designed to encourage media coverage of news and events in Lesotho’s rural areas at local government level. According to the publication, to improve such media coverage there is a need to focus both on the providers and the collectors of news.
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The first part of the toolkit focuses on journalists covering local governance-related news items. It is intended as a workbook for journalists at community and district levels throughout the country so that media coverage enhances people’s understanding of the local government system. The second part is intended for local government officials and non-governmental organsiations, assisting them to make more effective use of the media to achieve their objectives." (www.comminit.com, June 15, 2012)
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