"While there exists a wide range of material covering violence against women, very little scholarly attention has been paid to international media treatments of gendered violence. This volume addresses the gap by providing a broad overview of contemporary representations of gendered violence, enabli
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ng comparison and contrast in forms of violence and constructions of gender across a wide range of political and geographic contexts. From nonfictional accounts of the mass rapes during the Rwandan genocide to the sexual objectification of women in Serbian media and depictions of prostitute murders in the Chinese media, this book provides an overview of media representations of gendered violence around the globe. In addition to documenting specific challenges and shortcomings of mainstream representations, chapters present insight into the various forms of resistance and hope that exist in each particular area, and analytical essays open up new lines of inquiry by offering an assessment of the uneven changes that feminist activism has enabled around the world." (Publisher description)
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"1. The media development community should work within individual media houses to create in-house, publicly reported complaint systems rather than relying solely on outside press councils to do the job. 2. Funding groups should encourage media criticism, in forms such as local journalism reviews. 3.
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Press councils and ombudsmen should be adequately funded from a variety of sources (NGOs, media organizations, international donors) while safe-guarding their independence. 4. In the establishment of a press council, there must be an effective mechanism to avoid, or greatly reduce, the possibility that complainants will take advantage of defamation laws and take their issues to court rather than to the council. 5. To be effective, press councils and ombudsmen should focus on journalistic standards: ethical behavior (such as not accepting payment for stories), fairness, balance, and using appropriate and varied sources for information." (Summary of recommendations, page 7)
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"This book examines, from theoretical and empirical perspectives, the claims that new information and communication technologies (ICTs) are catalysts of democratic change in Africa. Contributors do so from optimist, pragmatist-realist, and pessimist stances through analyses of various forms of evide
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nces—including words and deeds of various political actors and organizations or institutions, from government units to political parties and party leaders to civil society organizations and minority or marginalized groups. The main focus is, therefore, on the interrelated concepts of e-participation and e-democracy." (Preface)
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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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"This book is meant to present the basics of freedom of information or right to information, defined as the universal right to access information held by public bodies. It presents in an easy-to-understand and non-technical fashion the basic principles of freedom of information, such as maximum disc
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losure, obligation to publish, promotion of open government, limited scope of exceptions and the process to facilitate access. In this new edition, the introduction, the comparative chapter, and the section on international standards and trends, have been totally revised. The country chapters provide an in-depth-analysis to the right of access in Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, India, Jamaica, Japan, Kyrgyzstan, Mexico, Peru, South Africa, Sweden, Thailand, Uganda, United Kigdom and the USA. According to the author "since the last edition five years ago, we can now say that every region of the world has adopted right to information laws." (CAMECO Update 2-2008)
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"This study reviews and analyses what has already been documented on the links between radio-based communication strategies and rural development outcomes, particularly with regards to smallholder farming and food security outcomes. The report explores best radio practices, including issues related
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to optimal formats, schedules, production qualities, and station management, based on 17 case studies from India, the Philippines, Tanzania, Mali, Malawi, Mozambique, Ghana, and South Africa. The key findings include: testimonials and jingles facilitate the best recall and comprehension of messages (Philippines); radio forums strengthen rural decision-making structures (Tanzania); radio programmes created by communities attract high listenership (Malawi); and farm radio is more effective when linked with new information and communication technologies (Ghana). The research also identified some knowledge gaps: the lack of evaluation as an integrated element in radio campaign planning; the need to conduct regular audience surveys; the limited use of non-participatory effectiveness studies and the limited scope of evaluations focusing on the impact of just one or two programmes." (CAMECO Update 5-2008)
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"Aims to explore the nature and the reasons behind the self-publishing of academic textbooks in the higher education environment of South Africa. Through the collection of secondary data the authors describe the academic publishing landscape in relation to current trends in higher education in South
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Africa and explain what constitutes self-publishing as an alternative publishing model. Primary data obtained through surveys proves many of the myths associated with self-publishing false and establishes that academic authors have valid and just reasons for opting to self-publish. Some final conclusive findings are offered by the authors that could assist the commercial academic publishing sector in acting accordingly on this increasing trend in the higher education environment." (Hans M. Zell, Publishing, Books & Reading in Sub-Saharan Africa, 3d ed. 2008, nr. 2547)
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"South Africa offers a rich context for the study of the interrelationship between the media and identity. The essays collected here explore the many diverse elements of this interconnection, and give fresh focus to topics that scholarship has tended to overlook, such as the pervasive impact of tabl
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oid newspapers. Interrogating contemporary theory, the authors shed new light on how identities are constructed through the media, and provide case studies that illustrate the complex process of identity renegotiation taking place currently in post-apartheid South Africa. The contributors include established scholars as well as many new voices. Collectively, they represent some of South Africas finest media analysts pooling skills to grapple with one of the countrys most vexing issues: who are we?" (Publisher description)
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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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"The essays in this volume reflect a wide-range of issues and concerns related to children’s media culture in Africa. For example, several address the role of entertainment television in Addis Abba, Ghana, South Africa, Kenya, and Zambia and in the lives of Muslim children. Other essays introduce
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us to children-centered media from Ghana, South Africa, and Zimbabwe, and the innovative programs of PLAN-International. In addition to entertainment media and children-centered media, media education and digital media literacy are also discussed." (Publisher description)
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"In this second publication in our Access to Communications Publication Series, the authors examine real-life examples of and trends in wireless technology solutions being used to drive change in the areas of health, humanitarian assistance, and environmental conservation. The compelling stories por
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trayed in this report demonstrate that telecommunications can be a powerful tool for positive change in our world." (Foreword)
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"The objectives of this handbook are as follows: to provide resources to civil society organisations in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) which are seeking to achieve independent broadcasting regulation and an independent public broadcaster; to share South Africa’s experiences of s
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etting up and running independent statutory communications bodies, focusing specifically on teh Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA) and the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC); to provide a user-friendly but in-depth analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of the South African ‘model’ in relation to independent broadcasting; to explore the role of civil society activism in amplifying the strengths, while addressing the weaknesses of independent broadcasting in South Africa; to explore whether a balance has been struck between independence and accountability in relation to the SABC, and to look at what the challenges are on both these levels; to develop recommendations on how to strengthen the South African ‘model ‘ of public broadcasting and broadcasting regulation, while avoiding its pitfalls. Each section of the handbook will end with a series of discussion points." (Page iv)
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