"This book outlines how African language media is affected by politics, technology, culture, and the economy and how this media is creatively produced and appropriated by audiences across cultures and contexts. African language media can be considered as a tool for communication, socialization, and
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community that defines the various identities of indigenous people in Africa. This book shows how vernacular media outlets including radio and television, as well as native formats such as festivals, rituals and dance, can be used to influence all facets of local peoples' experience and understanding of community. The book also explores the relationship between African language media sources and contemporary issues including the digitalization conundrum, peace and conflict resolution, identity formation, hate speech and fake news. Furthermore, it shows how local media can be used for development communication purposes during health and environmental crises. The book includes cases studies demonstrating the uses, experiences and activities related to various forms of media available in African languages." (Publisher description)
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"Die CONTOC-Studie hat in ökumenischer und internationaler Ausrichtung die digitale kirchliche Praxis unter den Bedingungen der Corona-Pandemie im Frühsommer 2020 erforscht. Dieser Band dokumentiert die Rahmenbedingungen und Umfrageergebnisse in den beteiligten Ländern. Daran schließen sich Pers
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pektiven zu den zukünftigen Herausforderungen für die digitale Angebotspraxis und das Selbstverständnis der kirchlichen Akteur*innen an." (Verlagsbeschreibung)
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"The first major collection of its kind published in the COVID-19 era, this unique volume frames a wide range of issues relevant to the gender and communication agenda within a human rights framework. An international panel of feminist academics and activists examines how media, information, and com
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munication systems contribute to enabling, ignoring, questioning, or denying women's human and communication rights. Divided into four parts, the Handbook covers governance and policy, systems and institutions, advocacy and activism, and content, rights, and freedoms. Throughout the text, the contributors demonstrate the need for strong feminist critiques of exclusionary power structures, highlight new opportunities and challenges in promoting change, illustrate both the risks and rewards associated with digital communication, and much more." (Publisher description)
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"This edited collection brings together voices from the margins in underrepresented regions of the Global South, within the context of scholarship focusing on indigenous languages and development communication. Contributors bring together research from often-overlooked parts of the world to engage i
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n dialogue towards an understanding of the similarities and differences between issues of language and development in the Global South, presenting cases as a starting point for further research and discussions about indigenous language and development communication in Latin America, Africa, and Asia." (Publisher description)
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"Combining an innovative mix of traditional chapters, autoethnography, case studies, and dialogue within an intercultural framework, the handbook focuses on the future of media education and provides a deeper understanding of the challenges and affordances of media education as we move forward. Topi
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cs range from fighting disinformation, how vulnerable communities coped with disadvantages using media, transforming educational TV or YouTube to reach larger audiences, supporting students’ wellbeing through various online strategies, examining early childhood, parents, and media mentoring using digital tools, reflecting on educators’ intersectionality on video platforms, youth-produced media to fight injustice, teaching remotely and providing low-tech solutions to address the digital divide, search for solutions collaboratively using social media, and many more." (Publisher description)
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"The report has, in summary, shown that although there are positive developments across the Southern African region, meeting the international standards is still work in progress and in some instances, states are regressing. There is evidence of a plethora of challenges that hinder the practice of i
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ndependent journalism and also the continuation of restrictive measures that do not promote press freedom. Journalists who face intimidation, harassment and other forms of violence, in most instances are confronted with the reality of impunity and diminishing political will to protect media workers. As a way forward, it is imperative for states in Southern Africa to adopt the necessary practical measures and implement the 2019 Declaration of Principles on Freedom of Expression and Access to Information in Africa. The calls on States to create a conducive environment for the exercise of freedom of expression, and ensure protection from interference both online and offline." (Conclusion, page 23)
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"The book identifies and explains the unequal power relations in place that limit the possibilities of communication justice, the challenges and difficulties faced by activists and communities, the ways in which communities and movements have confronted power structures through discourse and materia
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l action, and their successes and limitations in creating new structures that promote the right to, and facilitate a future for, communicative justice. The volume features contributions based on experiences of resistance and transformation in the Global South—Bolivia, Ecuador, India, Malawi, and collaborations between the continents of Latin America and Africa—as well as notable studies from the Global North—Japan, Spain, and the United Kingdom—that defy hegemonic models." (Publisher description)
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"Exposure to misinformation can affect citizens’ beliefs, political preferences, and compliance with government policies. However, little is known about how to reduce susceptibility to misinformation in a sustained manner outside controlled environments, particularly in the Global South. We evalua
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te an intervention in South Africa that encouraged individuals to consume biweekly fact-checks—as text messages or podcasts—via WhatsApp for six months. The intervention induced substantial consumption and internalization of fact-checks, while increasing participants’ ability to discern political and health misinformation upon exposure— especially when consumption was financially incentivized. Fact-checks that could be quickly consumed via short text messages or via podcasts with empathetic content were most impactful; short messages further increased government approval and compliance with COVID-19 policies. Conversely, we find limited effects on news consumption choices. Our results demonstrate the benefits of inducing sustained exposure to fact-checks, but highlight the difficulty of shifting broader media consumption patterns." (Abstract)
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"According to the most recent Afrobarometer survey, Angolans broadly agree that the media should act as a watchdog over the government, constantly investigating and reporting on government mistakes and corruption. Citizens value media freedom and reject the notion that public information should be t
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he exclusive preserve of government officials. However, views are mixed on whether media freedom exists in practice. Television and radio still outpace social media and the Internet as popular news sources in Angola, but not by much – especially among young and educated citizens." (Summary)
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"De acordo com a mais recente pesquisa do Afrobarometer, os Angolanos concordam amplamente que a imprensa deve agir como um fiscalizador do governo, investigando os seus erros e os casos de corrupção para os reportar. Os cidadãos valorizam a liberdade de imprensa e rejeitam a noção de que a inf
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ormação pública deva ser propriedade exclusiva dos funcionários do governo. No entanto, as opiniões divergem sobre se a liberdade de imprensa existe na prática. A televisão e a rádio continuam a ser as principais fontes de notícia da maioria dos Angolanos, comparativamente as redes sociais e a Internet, embora a diferença não seja tão expressiva, sobretudo entre os cidadãos jovens e mais educados." (Resumo)
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"Community radio has gained traction with the grassroots in South Africa, especially subaltern groups excluded from the public sphere during the colonial and apartheid years. This paper argues that rural audience acceptance of and participation in community radio is closely associated with indigenou
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s language, which invokes cultural affinity. The paper used a qualitative methodology within the framework of the theories of cultural affinity to interrogate community radio listeners in Northwest Province, South Africa, looking at how local languages might influence listeners’ preferences and interactions with the stations. The results suggest language was essential for listening in and participating in community radio programmes among those interviewed. Community radio provides listeners with the outlet, social and linguistic resources to evoke and express their cultural heritage and participate in national dialogues. It also offers subordinated communities the opportunity to deconstruct dominant frames of reference and representations of themselves and others." (Abstract)
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"This study examines the role of community radio in increasing climate change awareness in Malawi. The article broadly reaffirms the importance of community radio in Africa in democratizing media access, more interestingly by using radio listening clubs in the production process and participation. T
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he study used focus group discussions, participant observation and analysis of radio programs produced by members of Chanco Community Radio listening clubs. The study found that although spaces in which communities participate are controlled by experts, community radio and radio listening clubs have emerged as spaces for marginalized voices to share knowledge, and experiences about climate change and influence change." (Abstract)
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"Recent legislation on data linking national security and cybersecurity undermines the creation of a trustworthy data environment. Restrictions on information flows have immediate and medium-term costs to digital economic activity, which in turn have knock-on effects for the prospect of any subseque
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nt tax revenue. Extended economic instability is the main limiting factor for the growth of a digital society, but other limiting factors can be alleviated with mild targeted reform. A new policy agenda is required for the state to aid Zimbabweans to improve their life-chances, livelihoods and wellbeing with digital means. A policy framework to create enduring, affordable access through infrastructure extension and reliable connectivity can allow Zimbabweans to trade their goods and services online. These actions can help realise the principles of the African Declaration on Internet Rights and Freedoms and facilitate Zimbabweans innovating within the global digital economy." (Key points)
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"This topical volume illuminates ethical issues brought to the fore by the COVID-19 pandemic. Drawing on a broad range of case studies from different regions, it provides insights into the multiple and complex ways in which the pandemic has shaped media ethics. Chapters employ a wide range of innova
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tive theoretical and methodological approaches to dissect enduring and emerging ethical questions during the pandemic, providing lucid accounts of axiological dimensions in pandemic discourses, ethics of emotional mood, ethical challenges and dilemmas in news reporting, propaganda, misinformation, disinformation, and Othering. While the case studies in this book are unique, the authors have extrapolated common strands from their analysis of ethical issues applicable to any other country or region during the pandemic, contributing unique perspectives on how media ethics are circumscribed by global health pandemics." (Publisher description)
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"At the heart of decolonial theory is the love for woman, particularly black woman, as the most oppressed of political categories in the old colonial structures of race, class and gender hierarchy. This chapter uses decolonial theory, specifically Chela Sandoval’s concept of ‘decolonial love’
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as a political technology, to discuss the cyberbullying of women journalists in South Africa. It blends Sandoval’s decolonial love theory with Frantz Fanon’s concept of ‘damnes’ or ‘wretched of the earth,’ to analyse stories of cyber-bullying, sexism and threats of sexual violence against women journalists using the research published in Glass Ceilings: Women in South African Media Houses 2018. This chapter argues that it is a revolutionary oppositional consciousness that operates when women, particularly black women, continue in the performativity of their craft to write and to speak out in the media, despite the subjection and misogyny they face." (Abstract)
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"The Zimbabwean government has been criticized across scholarship for its lack of sincerity in ensuring media plurality, especially in the radio broadcasting sector. In 2020, when community radio stations were granted licenses for the first-time in the post-Mugabe era, the Mnangagwa-led government w
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as hailed for ushering a “new dispensation” in broadcasting. The licensing of community radio stations can be seen as initial steps to the democratization of the airwaves as well as the realization of a three-tier model of public, commercial, and more recently community broadcasting. The actual community radio broadcasting activities are off to a promising start. Although the community radio initiatives are facing several technical and financial challenges, they are taking important steps toward getting their operations underway. Through qualitative focus group discussions and in-depth interviews with some of the licensed players and policy stakeholders, this study discusses structural and sustainability issues that are albatross to the operations of newly licensed community radio stations in Zimbabwe." (Abstract)
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"Who owns the media and communications in Africa today and with what implications? The book elegantly answers this urgent question by unpacking multiple dimensions of media ownership through rare and authoritative perspectives, including both historical and contemporary digital developments. It trac
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es the evolving forms of ownership of media and communications in specific African contexts, showing how they interact with broader changes in and outside the continent. The book also shows how Big Techs, such as Meta (formerly known as Facebook), are involved in a scramble for Africa’s digital ecosystem and how their advance brings both opportunities and concerns about ownership and control. The chapters analyse evolving forms of ownership and their implications on media concentration and democracy across Africa. The book offers a nuanced account of how media ownership structures are in some instances captured with an ever-growing and complex ecosystem that also has new opportunities for public interest media. Offering a significant representation of the trends and diversity of existing media systems, the book goes beyond the postcolonial geographical divisions of North and Sub-Saharan Africa to highlight common patterns and significant similarities and differences of communications ownerships between and within African countries. The contributors expose media and communications ownership patterns in Africa that are centralised and yet decentralising and in some cases, battling, resurging and globalising." (Publisher description)
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"In 2023, Advancing Rights in Southern Africa (ARISA) through its consortium partner, Internews, undertook the most comprehensive review yet of laws affecting media practice and the freedom of expression, including cyber laws, penal codes, constitutions and acts of parliament, in the sixteen Souther
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n African Development Community (SADC) countries. The Information Ecosystem Analysis (IEA) provides an in-depth overview of the legal provisions that have been enacted or are in various stages of becoming laws in the region, and are being used by SADC governments to stifle and limit press freedom and public debate. Each of the sixteen SADC countries are included as individual country chapters in this report, providing country-specific legal analyses of the relevant Cyber security and related laws used by the respective country’s governments to stifle freedom of expression. The approach used by the researchers considered the legislative environment together with literature on the relevant topics, court cases and media reports about the application of specific laws and focused on incidents of where laws were used, dating from 2020 to present. The respective country analyses have been informed by extensive virtual interviews conducted with journalists, civil society representatives and academics in the region. Attention was also given to countries holding elections in 2023 and 2024." (Executive summary)
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"This book focuses on the politics, ethics and stereotypical pitfalls of representational practices surrounding Gender-Based Violence (GBV) from a global perspective. The originality of the volume is linked to its cross-disciplinary perspective as the topic of representing GBV is analyzed across the
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domains of philosophy/epistemology, fiction and the arts (including literature, film, television series and music) and non-fictional representations in the media (including broadcast media, online/print journalism, transmedia activism). The volume identifies contemporary representational practices and the theoretical and critical responses, examining various aspects of popular culture from around the world. In doing so, the editors put feminism in conversation with global trends to identify its cultural frontline." (Publisher description)
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