"On 16 October 2017, the editors of two popular Ugandan newspapers—the Daily Monitor and Red Pepper—were summoned to the Criminal Investigations Directorate in Kampala following the publication of stories revealing the allocation of a Ugandan Shillings 715 m (almost £150,000) budget for a plann
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ed 10-day cross-country consultation, to be undertaken by the Parliamentary Affairs Committee." (Abstract)
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"This article critically assesses the possibilities and limitations of strategic communication initiatives to enhance cultures of governance among youth in Northern Ghana. The analysis is embedded within contemporary debates about communication and social change, with particular focus upon dynamics
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between citizen media development, youth-centred citizen journalism, and processes of community mobilisation and development. Findings suggest that the project has opened up to dynamic, youth-led social change processes, evidenced by the creative, proactive enactment of citizen engagement. Youth changed not only their self-perception around agency and ability to act, but also influenced community development in a variety of ways." (Abstract)
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"In this chapter we have offered an interpretation of the first twenty years of mobile telephony in marginal zones in Africa. With case-studies from central Mali, anglophone Cameroon and south-east Angola, we focused on the changes in both communication and mobility patterns, specifically in connect
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ion with marginality and social hierarchies. We started the chapter with a discussion of the concepts of marginality and mobility. The two next sections offered both positive evaluations of mobile telephony and more balanced or even negative views. Our subsequent discussion of social hierarchies made it clear that the mobile phone has indeed offered possibilities for marginalised people in Africa. Yet at the same time, social hierarchies have been reinforced through the new means of communication, and in some cases even deepened. We then showed that the changes in the realm of mobility have not overcome the patterns of inequality. Social hierarchies may even be exported into new contexts, and the possibilities therefore have not increased." (Conclusion, page 237)
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"The study concluded that the media in Zimbabwe falls short of standards of fair and balanced coverage of political actors in the country. ZANU PF and MDC T dominated the media’s coverage and combined for 94% of the space and time dedicated to political parties whilst the remaining 15 parties acco
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unted for 6% of the coverage. This is a reflection of the lack of diversity in the representation of political actors, given that over 100 political parties are contesting the upcoming elections." (Executive summary)
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"Seit mehr als 20 Jahren herrscht Bürgerkrieg im Kongo. Über drei Millionen Menschen haben bereits ihr Leben verloren. Der Kampf um Rohstoffe wie Coltan, Zinn und Kupfer, an denen der Ostkongo reich ist, spitzt sich weiter zu. 2015 inszenierte der Schweizer Regisseur und Theaterautor Milo Rau das
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Kongo Tribunal - ein politisches Theaterstück -, um den Konflikt und seine Widersprüchlichkeiten öffentlich darzustellen und die gegensätzlichen Positionen, die Interessen und Unvereinbarkeiten zu entschleiern. Durch ein symbolisches Urteil am Ende des Tribunals sollten die Verantwortlichkeiten festgestellt und öffentlich gemacht werden. Milo Rau lud Opfer, Milizionäre, Regierungsvertreter, Oppositionelle, Unternehmer und Vertreter internationaler Organisationen ein und verhandelte mit ihnen drei Fälle, die symbolisch für den Konflikt stehen sollten. Dieses Buch ist eine Verschriftlichung des Tribunals. Milo Rau gewährt Einblicke in sein Regietagebuch und verdeutlicht durch Bilder und Fotos die Eindringlichkeit des Theaterstücks. Im Buch eingebunden sind zudem Interviews, Zeitungsartikel, Reden und Reaktionen. Auch wenn es eine symbolische Verhandlung war, weckt das Theaterstück Hoffnung auf die Möglichkeit eines solchen Tribunals." (Verlagsbeschreibung)
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"Despite having a robust child protection framework and a burgeoning media, child rights abuse still occurs in Uganda. This takes the form of child neglect, defilement, torture, trafficking. The researchers set out to investigate media coverage of child rights issues in Uganda. A triangulation of me
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thods was used, and as will be shown later, reporting on child rights abuses is not systematic due to fragmentation of actors. The researchers found out that 185 child abuse stories were published in The New Vision in 2015. Most of the published stories were from the country’s capital – Kampala. The other obstacles to effective child rights reporting identified are as follows: concentration of reporters in urban areas, lack of special training in child rights reporting and commercial interests of media houses. The researchers recommend recruiting and training journalists to specifically report on issues of child rights and empowering upcountry reporters where many cases are committed." (Abstract)
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"IsiZulu is one of South Africa’s Lingua francas and has two successful news publications, iLanga and iSolezwe, both written in isiZulu but vastly different in how they convey, craft and package news. This article aims to examine how iSolezwe, an isiZulu-language tabloid, used two editorials to sh
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ape its stance on the May 2008 xenophobic riots. Through the editorials agenda-setting execution, we are able to analyse the tabloids ideology; even when the news reports, and photo-journalistic pieces offered ‘impartially full’ accounts, but, metaphors stray from headline to headline, photographs that are meaningless in themselves become significant when juxtaposed to a piece of text (Fowler 1991: 225) [...] ISolezwe’s coverage began with ambivalence, exhibiting sympathy towards the frustrated South African perpetrators, but was shocked at the level of violence. The news reports were more ‘balanced’ in their coverage, without assuming a position in contrast to the editorials. Examining the entire coverage, a theme is evident, from ambivalent editorials, to news reports that were more balanced. The second editorial dovetailed from the then president of the African National Congress (ANC) Jacob Zuma’s condemnation of the violence but the tabloid did not condemn the xenophobic riots outright, and its reporting ends with a repatriation theme and the tabloid never explored notions of integration." (Abstract)
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"This article aims to analyse the process of emergence of China-related stereotypes in Angola, which have started to appear with an increasing number of Angolans establishing direct and non-direct contacts with the Chinese. The article investigates this issue based on the content of China-related ar
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ticles and netizens’ opinions published online from 2010 to 2015 in Angolan media (altogether 5005 cases) supplemented with coded results of 61 in-depth interviews. The results of qualitative and quantitative analysis suggest that the general image of the Chinese held by Angolans is rather positive. However, the influx of Chinese migrants into this country and a relatively high number of problematic situations involving members of the Chinese diaspora have resulted in gradual worsening of the image of this specific group. Such problematic issues include the low quality of engineering projects, maltreatment of Angolan workers and a possibility of Chinese neo-colonization of Angola." (Abstract)
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"In summary, this study recommends improving and promoting journalistic ethical standards in media education and professional identity as necessary tools for the growth of sustainable development, knowledge generation and authentic African cultural identity. This is possible because the media and in
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particular well-trained journalists play critical roles in media information to advance society, critique events, fight corruption and balance the social, economic and political environ-ment." (Conclusion, page 121)
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"[...] despite the welcome increase in the number of journalism and communication qualifications offered by public and private journalism training colleges in Malawi, the quality of the output is still lackluster. This is overwhelmingly because practical skills courses are taught inadequately, hapha
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zardly and theoretically due, partly, to inadequate human and material resources and lack of a national policy to guide the formation of journalists. It recommends that to improve the quality and relevance of journalistic output, Malawi should draft and publish a journalism education and training policy to guide all journalism training colleges. It also recommends that training colleges should partner with the industry, multilateral organizations with interest in communication and media development, government departments and NGOs not only for industrial attachment but also for these to sponsor communication and journalism training programmes. Partner institutions should consider procuring training materials and assets for the training institutions. The study further recommends that partner institutions need to consider sponsoring academic staff for higher education in journalism and media studies." (Abstract)
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