"The importance of hate radio pervades commentary on the Rwandan genocide, and Rwanda has become a paradigmatic case of media sparking extreme violence. However, there exists little social scientific analysis of radio's impact on the onset of genocide and the mobilization of genocide participants. T
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hrough an analysis of exposure, timing, and content as well as interviews with perpetrators, the article refutes the conventional wisdom that broadcasts from the notorious radio station RTLM were a primary determinant of genocide. Instead, the article finds evidence of conditional media effects, which take on significance only when situated in a broader context of violence." (Abstract)
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"This overview is based on data obtained from a wider analysis of the state of media development in Africa – the African Media Development Initiative (AMDI). The analysis draws on a sample of university lecturers and department heads of mass communication, media and journalism studies from across
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17 countries to explore key developments in the media sector and the impact of these changes on their field of expertise – journalism training. A key finding is that more must be done by NGOs and donors to gain a stronger understanding of the operational environment, resources and/or work practices prior to engaging in a media development project." (Abstract)
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"Struggles over the meaning of the past are common in postcolonial states. State cultural heritage programs build monuments to reinforce in nation building efforts—often supported by international organizations and tourist dollars. These efforts often ignore the other, often more troubling memorie
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s preserved by local communities—markers of colonial oppression, cultural genocide, and ethnic identity. Yet, as the contributors to this volume note, questions of memory, heritage, identity and conservation are interwoven at the local, ethnic, national and global level and cannot be easily disentangled. In a fascinating series of cases from West Africa, anthropologists, archaeologists and art historians show how memory and heritage play out in a variety of postcolonial contexts. Settings range from televised ritual performances in Mali to monument conservation in Djenne and slavery memorials in Ghana." (Publisher description)
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"Ce manuel est destiné particulièrement aux formateurs qui seront amenés à intervenir in situ dans des radios souhaitant un renforcement de leurs capacités dans le domaine de la pratique du journalisme radio ou dans celui du management. S’inspirant de cette première expérience pilote menée
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au Burkina Faso, mais également d’autres interventions initiées auprès des entreprises de presse écrite du Mali et de la République démocratique du Congo, la première section de ce manuel capitalise la méthode in situ en attirant l’attention sur ses avantages, mais aussi son caractère délicat et les précautions nécessaires à adopter par le formateur. La seconde partie constitue un outil de formation pratique au journalisme radiophonique et s’accompagne d’extraits sonores et d’exercices disponibles sur le CD-Rom ci-joint. La troisième partie propose un module de spécialisation des personnels chargés de l’administration et de la gestion d’une station de radio communautaire ou commerciale : elle s’appuie également sur des documents de référence qui seront utiles pour la mise en oeuvre concrète des recommandations." (Préface)
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"Some recommendations can be made to Radio Progress and its community. The station seems to provide the Upper West people with what they needed – a voice to make themselves heard and to communicate with each other. Since the research showed that most limitations are due to the restraints in financ
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ial stability some stronger effort to receive funding would be advisable. Without undermining the non-profit character, Radio Progress could put more emphasise on some fundraising activities. More financial flexibility could solve most of the limitations the station is facing. Furthermore, the station board should pay more attention to a stable coordination of the station. The formerly absent and recently not existing coordination might bear negative impact on the staff motivation. Moreover, this rather unorganised coordination possibly restricts a consequent performance and a stringent development of the programming as well as potential improvement strategies. Some advice can be addressed to the listening communities. The research showed how vital the listeners handle information and educative input they receive through the station and as such also from other villages. By internal clustering of information and output through internal reflection they could even intensify the mutual learning effect the programming offers. Communities could form a committee to which people can address their grievances, demands and ideas on a frequent basis and which could present these collected information to the station. Such an organised information collection and transfer could overcome a crucial obstacle to participate for many people - the restriction to call or visit the station on their own." (Recommendations, page 98)
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"Live News: A Survival Guide for Journalists, is carefully tailored to help journalists to prepare themselves mentally, physically and psychologically before engaging on an assignment that can be very dangerous. The guiding tips provided in the text help to prepare the journalists mentally before, h
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e/she moves into a hostile environment or an area that he/she is not familiar with. In trying to bring the news “home” so many journalists have been killed in the process. Some are deliberately targeted, while others are killed in what is now termed as “friendly fire”. A lot more die in accident related cases or at times fall seriously ill while on such mission or sustain serious injuries through natural causes. Live News: A Survival Guide for Journalists tries to minimise such occurrences by giving survival tips to journalists who might find themselves in critical conditions." (Preface)
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"The use of comics as a campaigning tool for grassroots organisations is a relatively new phenomenon and has been tested so far only in India, some other South Asian countries and in a few countries in Africa. This manual on the creation of comics as a medium for communication of development ideas s
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hares the experiences the authors gained in seven countries. It gives a number of examples of comics from these countries, photographs from workshops on grassroots comic creation, and manuals that demonstrate how to approach this communication medium with local non-governmental organisations (NGOs) or with community members. It explains how to make wall poster comics, booklet comics, strips, and accordion folded mini comics for local distribution - at meeting places, bus stops, shops, offices, schools, on notice-boards and electricity poles, etc. Reproduction methods include: photocopying for issues up to 30-40 copies, screen printing for issues from 100 copies upwards, and offset printing for issues from 200-300 copies upwards." (CAMECO Update 4-2008)
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"This evaluation of Andrew Lees Trust’s Projet Radio (ALT/PR) in Southern Madagascar examines the impact of radio broadcasts on audience knowledge and attitudes relating to certain MDGs. It finds that the project is achieving some notable success in changing and enhancing knowledge and attitudes o
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n topics including HIV/AIDS, family planning, mother and child health, environmental issues, social and administrative issues and gender inequality. Radio is also having a positive impact on uptake of health services, enrolment in literacy classes, construction of environmentally-friendly woodstoves, tree-planting, agricultural yields, and awareness of strategies for poverty reduction through incomegeneration and community associations. This evaluation looks at ALT/PR’s methods and organisation and finds many advantages to its particular three-way process of working. This involves radio stations, communities and local service-providers in a mutually advantageous partnership for the production, distribution and broadcasting of radio programmes. The provision of radio-sets to listening groups appears to be a very successful strategy, and our surveys show a high level of commitment and enthusiasm on the part of listeners, especially women. The ability of radio to scale-up and extend the on-the-ground work of local service-providers emerges quite clearly. Our study also looks at challenges that ALT/PR has tackled and, in some cases, is still facing. These are challenges involving management and networking in what is a particularly poor and disadvantaged area. The project still faces issues relating to ensuring its radio programmes are consistently and truly participative. Demand for its services is high and there is a risk of staff becoming over-stretched, particularly for senior management. ALT/PR is demonstrably cost effective and has a good local reputation, but fundraising continues to be a time-consuming preoccupation. ALT/PR is already tackling the major long-term challenge of sustaining the networking mechanism it has set up, and we highlight some encouraging signs of sustainability." (Abstract)
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"This article explores what the study of witchcraft in an African setting can contribute to current efforts to theorize mass mediation and the imagination it fosters. Recent ethnographies of witchcraft discourses in Africa have continued to associate them with the formation of small-scale groups, bu
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t evidence from Malawi shows how they enable subjects to imagine sociality on an indeterminate scale. The article deploys the concept of mediation to theorize how in this imagination witches mediate sociality as the unrecognized third parties who give rise to recognized social relationships of varying scale. The ethnography of witchcraft discourses in radio broadcasting and an impoverished peri-urban area demonstrates not only their relevance to apparently disparate contexts but also their potential to exceed the impact of the mass media. The case of a violent conflict involving Pentecostal Christians, South Asian entrepreneurs, Muslims, and members of a secret society provides an example of how arguments about witchcraft had a greater impact on the popular imagination than a mass-mediated report of the same conflict. The article concludes by arguing that witchcraft discourses should be accorded weight equal to the mass media in theorizing the imagination." (Abstract)
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"Liberation and the Media takes a look at the development of the South African daily newspaper market since the end of apartheid. It covers the country's most important political, social and economical developments since 1990 and explains correlations between South Africa's general development and i
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ts newspaper's market between 1990 and 2006. By looking at changes of ownership and new ideas of publishing for a society as divided as South Africa, Liberation and the Media explains what the factors for successful publishing in South Africa are since the end of apartheid, and asks to what extent the market is still influenced by apartheid." (Publisher description)
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