commbox Africa

Types and Sources of Threats to Media Freedom in Uganda

Florence Namasinga Selnes, Gerald Walulya

In: Handbook of Research on Combating Threats to Media Freedom and Journalist Safety

Sadia Jamil (ed.)

Hershey, PA: IGI Global (2020), pp. 257-276

"This chapter contributes to journalism research from the Uganda's context by investigating the types and sources of threats to journalists' safety and media freedom in the country. The authors achieve this by examining relevant documents on the state of journalism in Uganda and interviewing journal ... more

External Link (8)

The Digital Lives of Refugees and Kenyans with Disabilities in Nairobi: A Human-Centred Design Approach to Identifying Mobile-Enabled Opportunities

London: GSMA (2020), 46 pp.

Google Scholar (9)

Justice and journalism during transitions

Nicole Stremlau

International Communication Gazette, volume 82, issue 7 (2020), pp. 646-663

"Since the collapse of the Somali state in the early 1990s, the country has been one of the most dangerous places in the world for journalists. Many have been killed with impunity and the majority of those that have been killed where the perpetrator is known have been connected to political groups, ... more

WorldCat (11)

Media Freedom in South Africa Today: Unravelling Multifarious Threats toward a Research and Advocacy Response

Julie Reid, Glenda. Daniels, Kate Skinner

Communicatio: South African Journal for Communication Theory and Research, volume 46, issue 3 (2020), pp. 1-19

"This article assesses the multiple factors which are barriers to media freedom in South Africa. These include crises of financial sustainability of the media sector which have recently been compounded by the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic; widespread job losses in journalism; and harassment and phy ... more

Google Scholar (11)

WorldCat (11)

Silencing the Media and Chaining the Watchdog: Threats to Journalist Safety During Elections in Nigeria

Adamkolo Mohammed Ibrahim, Umaru A. Pate, Abdulsamad Muhammad Usman

In: Handbook of Research on Combating Threats to Media Freedom and Journalist Safety

Sadia Jamil (ed.)

Hershey, PA: IGI Global (2020), pp. 214-240

"Over the last two decades, Nigeria has been struggling to consolidate its democratic processes to ensure peaceful campaigns and free and fair polls. But electoral processes require the free flow of verified electoral information and citizen's participation – phenomena that only free media can gua ... more

Threats to Media Freedom and the Safety of Journalists in Nigeria

Umaru A. Pate, Sharafa Dauda

In: Handbook of Research on Combating Threats to Media Freedom and Journalist Safety

Sadia Jamil (ed.)

Hershey, PA: IGI Global (2020), pp. 241-256

"This chapter interrogates long-established and wide-sprung threats to media freedom and journalists' safety in Nigeria. The study used semi-structured interviews to explore field and newsroom experiences. The findings revealed the types of threats to media freedom and journalists' safety, non-exist ... more

Google Scholar (12)

WorldCat (12)

Smartphones: Die Macht in der Hand

iz3w, issue 376 (2020), pp. D1-D31

"Weltweit nutzen 3,3 Milliarden Menschen ein Smartphone, Tendenz weiter steigend. In nahezu allen Ländern des Südens ist die Verbreitung besonders groß. Nicht immer handelt es sich dabei um teure Topmodelle, aber gerade wegen ihrer Erschwinglichkeit sind allein in afrikanischen Ländern 700 Milli ... onen internetfähige Smartphones und nicht-internetfähige Mobile Phones im Gebrauch. Selbst in Ländern wie Somalia, wo Infrastrukturen gleich welcher Art kaum existent sind, funktioniert eines recht zuverlässig: das Mobilfunknetz. In einer High-Tech-Fabrik in Ruanda laufen seit neuestem täglich zehntausend »MaraPhones« genannte Smartphones vom Band. Die durch Smartphones und Mobile Phones entstehenden Möglichkeiten werden überall auf der Welt ausgiebig genutzt. Tiefgreifende gesellschaftliche und wirtschaftliche Veränderungen sind die Folge. Familiäre Beziehungen werden neu gestaltet und klassische Modelle sozialer Interaktion wie »Freundschaft« neu definiert. Praktisch jeder Wirtschaftssektor ist gründlich von den Handys auf den Kopf gestellt worden. Auch in der kleinbäuerlichen Landwirtschaft in Ostafrika gehören Smartphones längst zum Alltag. Ohne dem Kulturpessimismus zu frönen: Es liegt auf der Hand, dass all diese Entwicklungen nicht nur Chancen, sondern auch große Gefahren bergen. Mit keiner anderen systemrelevanten Technologie lassen sich Manipulation und Überwachung von Individuen besser bewerkstelligen als via Smartphone. Die mit erpresserischen Methoden exekutierte Datensammelwut der großen Konzerne hat durchaus eine Entsprechung in der Überwachung durch autoritäre Regime. Dagegen klingen frühere Dystopien à la »Big Brother is watching you« harmlos. Im Bereich des Politischen wird besonders deutlich, wie groß die partizipatorischen Potenziale einer Demokratie von unten via Social Media sind, aber auch, wie schnell diese in Regression, Manipulation und Repression münden. Der Arabische Frühling galt zu Recht als »Facebook-Revolution«, das hierarchische Sender-Empfänger-Prinzip war partiell aufgehoben. Was aber vor staatlicher Verfolgung nicht nur nicht schützte, sondern sie oft überhaupt erst ermöglichte. Perfektioniert wird politische Kontrolle via Smartphone einmal mehr von der KP der Volksrepublik China. Sie hält ihre 90 Millionen Parteimitglieder via App auf Kurs – und wehe, jemand liest zu wenig Beiträge und sammelt nicht genügend »Lernpunkte«! Beim Smartphone ist es eben wie beim Beton: Es kommt drauf an, was man draus macht." (Editorial, Seite D2) more

External Link (14)

Google Scholar (13)

WorldCat (13)

Digital Inequalities in the Global South

Massimo Ragnedda, Anna Gladkova (eds.)

Cham: Palgrave Macmillan (2020), xvii, 372 pp.

"This book discusses how digital inequalities today may lead to other types of inequalities in the Global South. Contributions to this collection move past discussing an access problem - a binary division between 'haves and have-nots' - to analyse complex inequalities in the internet use, benefits, ... more

External Link (13)

Google Scholar (12)

WorldCat (12)

Theorising Media and Conflict

Philipp Budka, Birgit Bräuchler (eds.)

New York; Oxford: Berghahn (2020), x, 339 pp.

"Theorising Media and Conflict is the result of a joint and interdisciplinary effort to set the theoretical and empirical agenda in theorising upon the complex relationship between media and conflict. By considering the theorisation work accomplished by the ‘Anthropology of Media’ series forerun ... more

External Evaluation of Mobile Phone Technology-Based Nutrition and Agriculture Advisory Services in Africa: Mobile Phones, Nutrition, and Health in Tanzania. Business Modelling Endline Report

Nigel Scott, Simon Batchelor, Jones. Tom

E-pact Consortium;Institute of Development Studies (IDS) (2020), 118 pp.

"mNutrition is a global initiative supported by FCDO, managed by GSMA, and implemented by in-country MNOs and third party providers to use mobile technology, that sought to improve the health and nutritional status of children and adults in the developing world. The potential to utilise mobile techn ... more

External Link (9)

Double-Edged Sword? Ghanaians See Pros, Cons of Social Media, Want Access But Not Fake News

Josephine Appiah-Nyamekye Sanny, Edem Selormey

Afrobarometer (2020), 12 pp.

"The Afrobarometer survey conducted in late 2019 shows that although radio and television remain the most dominant news sources, daily news consumption via social media (by 22% of Ghanaians) and the Internet (19%) is steadily increasing. Social media is less trusted as a source of information – on ... more

External Link (11)

China Colonizing Africa Narrative on Social Media: An Issue Activation and Response Perspective

Simon Matingwina

Journal of African Media Studies, volume 12, issue 1 (2020), pp. 23-39

"The issue of ‘China colonizing Africa’ received significant attention in both traditional and social media in the periods before, during and after the Forum on China Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) 2018 meeting. This study traces these discourses on YouTube [...] The study finds that the themes and ... more

External Link (7)

Essentials of the Right to Information Law (989): Ghana. A Guide Book

Accra: Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) (2020), ii, 28 pp.

IPA Global Report on Copyright & Publishing

Vera Castanheira, Natalie Joy Marrer (eds.)

International Publishers Association (IPA) (2020), 257 pp.

"The first edition of the IPA Global Report on Copyright & Publishing aims to provide an overview of aspects of copyright law and policy in the 69 countries where IPA’s members are established, based on the issues that are most relevant to the publishing industry. The objective of this report is t ... more

Prospect for Change in the Gambia: Collaborative Support to Combat Impunity. Exploring Criminal Justice and Human Rights Mechanisms

International Media Support (IMS) (2020), 41 pp.

"This International Media Support report explores criminal justice and human rights mechanisms to protect journalists, media workers and human rights advocates in an effort to combat impunity in The Gambia. It is the culmination of an innovative approach to hold perpetrators of attacks, killings and ... more

Social Media and Conflict in Sudan: A Lexicon of Hate Speech Terms

Will Ferroggiaro et al.

Washington, DC: PeaceTech Lab;Andariya;Sudanese Development Initiative (SUDIA);Regional Center for Training and Development of Civil Society (RCDCS) (2020), 53 pp.

"PeaceTech Lab, in partnership with Andariya and the Sudan Development Initiative (SUDIA), intends this effort to contribute to understanding language and the context for potential conflict during the transition to civilian government and to eventual elections in Sudan. This project seeks to tackle ... more

External Link (11)

More-Troll Kombat: French and Russian Influence Operations Go Head to Head Targeting Audiences in Africa

Graphika (2020), 83 pp.

"On December 15, Facebook announced that it had taken down three separate networks that it had discovered for “coordinated inauthentic behavior” that targeted communities across Africa. One, centered on the Central African Republic (CAR) and Mali, was linked to individuals associated with the Fr ... more