"Historical anthropologist Deirdre de la Cruz offers a detailed examination of several appearances and miracles of the Virgin Mary in the Philippines from materials and sites ranging from the mid-nineteenth century to the present. By analyzing the effects of the mass media on the perception and prol
...
iferation of apparition phenomena, de la Cruz charts the intriguing emergence of new voices in the Philippines that are broadcasting Marian discourse globally. Based on two years of ethnographic fieldwork and hitherto unexplored archives in the Philippines, the United States, and Spain, Mother Figured documents the conditions of Marian devotion's modern development and tracks how it has transformed Filipinos' social and political role within the greater Catholic world." (Back cover)
more
"Die Entfaltung der E-Demokratie legt die Probleme der demokratischen Praxis in Südkorea offen: da sich die Bürger durch die politischen Institutionen nicht repräsentiert fühlen, suchen sie neue Wege, ihre Meinung zu äußern. Dabei sind die Netizens den politischen Akteuren und staatlichen Stel
...
len zwar in der Nutzung der neuesten Programme und Medien zu politischen Zwecken einen Schritt voraus, aber sie setzen sich noch nicht positiv oder langfristig mit dem politischen Alltag auseinander." (Seite 156-7)
more
"Set against the backdrop of tensions in East Asia, this book analyzes how East Asia's "new middle powers" and emerging powers employ public diplomacy as a key element of their foreign policy strategy and in so doing influence regional power dynamics. The volume brings together contributions from an
...
international and influential group of scholars, who are leading debates on public diplomacy within East Asia. Where the study of public diplomacy has so far focused primarily on the West, the essays in this book highlight the distinct strategies of East Asian powers and demonstrate that understanding public diplomacy requires studying its strategies and practices outside as much as within the Western world. A focus on public diplomacy likewise gives us a more varied picture of state-to-state relations in East Asia." (Publisher description)
more
"In the transitional states of South East Asia, an alternative media helped mobilize support for popular uprisings against authoritarian rule. In a democratizing context which promoted press freedom, joumalists emphasized their role as ‘watchdogs‘, striving to ensure that new political leaders d
...
id not betray the ideals of that anti-dictatorship movement. This media watchdog attitude in transitional South East Asia has not always been conducive to democratic stability, however. Press-based anti-corruption campaigns have sometimes had destabilizing effects. In weakly institutionalized transitional systems, harsh and sustained criticism of the moral integrity of a sitting president or prime minister and their inner circle have helped mobilize large civilian protests that in turn provided justification for the rapid removal of the executive or even military intervention against elected leaders, resulting in illiberal ‘people power‘ coups." (Page 277)
more
"Tatsächlich erfreuen sich koreanische Fernsehserien und Filme sowie die koreanische Popmusik (K-pop) im Ausland, insbesondere in Ost- und Südostasien, ganz unerwartet großer Beliebtheit. In Südkorea selbst ist man stolz darauf, es - zumindest in der eigenen Wahrnehmung - endlich geschafft zu ha
...
ben, in der Welt als "Kulturnation" zu gelten. Die öffentliche Hallyu-Debatte ist dabei allerdings stark von nationalistisch inspirierten Selbstbehauptungsdiskursen geprägt. Ein Strang der südkoreanischen Debatte kreist um Hallyu als Wirtschaftsfaktor. Dieser stützt sich weniger auf reale Effekte, sondern auf Erwartungen und Hoffnungen, die mit besseren Exportchancen, vor allem mit der Aufwertung des internationalen Images Südkoreas verbunden sind." (Fazit, Seite 401)
more
"The history of Catholic mission in China has revealed the fact that the encounter of the Gospel with Chinese culture and people, beginning with the folk customs and the further dialogue with Buddhism, Daoism and Confucianism. The summit of Church mission is in the period of Ming Dynasty. Matteo Ric
...
ci, a Jesuit missionary, is considered the apostle of China. Since then, his missionary approach – the accommodation missionary strategy affirmed by the Second Vatican Council as the model of “Inculturation” – is widely studied not only in China but the entire world. The key to understand Ricci’s missionary method is Ricci himself. It is the initial step to explore his ministry and missionary activities in history, the Ming Dynasty. Pastoral and Evangelizing communication centers on the ministers, precisely, discussing the ways and means of pastoral and evangelizing ministry of the Church ad extra and ad intra. The decisive element to foster a competent communicator requires the communicative disposition, which means to open. Pastoral and Evangelizing communication also highlights to proper use the mass means of social communication to achieve the proclamation of Christ in Chinese context. Time has changed. Today, the Church in China needs to deal with the Sino-Vatican relationship, the divisions inside the Church and the social-economic challenges. The study tries to further investigate Ricci’s Missionary activities and approaches and to analyze it from the perspective of pastoral and evangelizing communication, so as to help pastoral ministers living in the 21st century in China." (Abstract)
more
"Having spent some time in the living rooms of 12 families across Greater Jakarta, West Java and East Nusa Tenggara, we found that audience has their own ways of consuming media and capacity to reflect on the content they are served. This capacity differs varyingly, fundamentally depending on three
...
aspects: 1) the differing degrees of access and infrastructure available around the area, 2) the knowledgeability of the person in question and 3) the societal values that tie their ways of living. Across the demographics, despite their heterogenous profile, audience has common reflections about the quality of television content. As they are aware that their identities and worldview are strongly constructed by television, their criticisms and utterance are abound but find no way of channelling to the industry. Direct means of feedback to content producers are scarce, which impedes the production of a more diverse content needed to represent the heterogeneity of audience." (Executive summary)
more
"Internet freedom around the world has declined for the fifth consecutive year, with more governments censoring information of public interest and placing greater demands on the private sector to take down offending content. State authorities have also jailed more users for their online writings, wh
...
ile criminal and terrorist groups have made public examples of those who dared to expose their activities online. This was especially evident in the Middle East, where the public flogging of liberal bloggers, life sentences for online critics, and beheadings of internet-based journalists provided a powerful deterrent to the sort of digital organizing that contributed to the Arab Spring. In a new trend, many governments have sought to shift the burden of censorship to private companies and individuals by pressing them to remove content, often resorting to direct blocking only when those measures fail. Local companies are especially vulnerable to the whims of law enforcement agencies and a recent proliferation of repressive laws. But large, international companies like Google, Facebook, and Twitter have faced similar demands due to their significant popularity and reach." (Page 1)
more
"Although female media practitioners are well-represented in newsrooms making up for over 50% of staff on average, media institutions remain male dominated on levels of decision making. This results in two main challenges for women within the industry: a lack of opportunity to advance their careers
...
and an absence of institutional mechanisms supportive of female media workers." (Fojo website)
more
"This book approaches the memory sharing of groups, communities and societies as inevitable struggles over the interpretation of, and authority over, particular stories. Coming to terms with the past in memory work, alone or with others, is always unsteady ground and the activation of memory will al
...
ways relay imaginations of futures we want to shape and inhabit. The contributors all explore in different ways how citizens can actualize a public and how citizens and groups struggle with their pasts and presents - and other group's understandings - in their work for futures they dream of, or envision. This implies an engagement with the notion of social justice, which in turn entails trial and revision of ideas and procedures of how to share the world. But to share also requires some kind of common ground and distributed power. The anthology thus engages with a range of cases that bring views and voices back in public, demanding justice, recognition, sometimes literally triggering new trials. Some of the memory work is done strategically, in the context of communication for development and social change interventions where NGOs, community-based organizations, governments or UN agencies pursue not just voice and views, but also very material demands for social justice and social change." (Publisher description)
more
"In The Dragon's Voice, Australian journalist Bunty Avieson provides a glimpse of life beyond the country's exotic exterior. As a consultant to local newspaper Bhutan Observer, she admires the paper's strong social conscience, but finds her expectations challenged in a country where spirituality and
...
personal happiness are prioritized over work. Avieson also witnesses the tensions that arise as a Buddhist kingdom makes the transition to democracy. The courtship ritual of night-hunting and the nation's first public demonstration become controversial news items, while journalists must overcome traditional social hierarchies to keep politicians accountable. With a unique blend of memoir and reportage, The Dragon's Voice is both a deeply personal story and a vivid portrait of a nation on the cusp of revolutionary change." (Publisher description)
more
"Youth Voice was launched in July 2012 by the Battambang Provincial Department of Information (PDI) in Cambodia, as a weekly youth-oriented program. It provides information that aims to give young people the confidence and understanding to participate in governance processes. The program delivers in
...
formation through a mix of entertainment, personal story sharing, current affairs, discussion, and news. The program encourages listeners to call into the program live on-air to share their stories, ask questions, and discuss issues important to them in order to promote youth civic participation and engagement." (Page 2)
more
"This report examines self-regulation in challenging times. Journalism is increasingly a single stream of information disseminated simultaneously across different platforms of media, but its regulation remains dominated by old-fashioned notions of how media work. Usually there are two ways of regula
...
ting journalism at national level: a voluntary system for the press and legal controls over broadcasting. These structures were created for yesterday’s media landscape and are increasingly out of date. Today’s digital journalists work on video, print and audio simultaneously. That’s why it makes sense to have only one national regulator, and one that covers all platforms of journalism. Another testing issue is the question of funding. Ideally, journalists and media should pay the bills for press councils, but in these cash-strapped days can media continue to afford it? Increasingly, the answer is no. So who will pay in future? Perhaps we should think about using public funds, after all, independent regulation of media is a public interest activity. But if we use taxpayers’ money how do we ensure it won’t compromise editorial independence? Finally, as this report shows, making self-regulation work at enterprise level is perhaps what counts most. Building trust with the audience should be an issue in every newsroom and the growth in the number of in-house ombudsmen or readers’ editors is a welcome sign that more media are taking the issue seriously. However, in the face of editorial cuts some managements still question money being channelled into cleaning up the mistakes of the newsroom. But as this report illustrates, keeping journalism honest is money well spent for media and, for the public at large, it’s a good investment in democracy." (Introduction, page v)
more
"This project is conducted in response to Global Disaster Preparedness Center’s (GDPC) initiative of developing flood hazard preparedness mobile apps in the four target countries (Indonesia, Myanmar, the Philippines, and Vietnam)." (Executive summary)