"This book explores the role of media in democratic societies and specifically that of PSB's in Asia. It presents case studies from Bangladesh, Bhutan, Kampuchea, Hong Kong, India, Malaysia, Macau, Sri Lanka, and Singapore. These studies document the Asian experience in PSB while exploring if there
...
is a role that such networks are playing (or can play) in creating a civic conscious society." (Back cover)
more
"This investigation is about how Chinese overseas online commentators (COOCs) respond to political discourses on China. COOCs present the ideological heterogeneity of Chinese overseas. Their diverse responses to different ideological debates show patterns that manifest how the Chinese diaspora enact
...
their positional cultural identification. The analysis of the data showed that on both sides of the divide, the debate leads commentators to assume positions of attachment to, or detachment from, their Chinese cultural affiliations not in a set of binary oppositions but as a continuum with varying degrees. Along this division line, internal fragmentation can be further identified by different views of China’s external tension with other world powers. The notable internal complexity can arguably represent the nation’s maturation." (Abstract)
more
"GISWatch 2012 explores how the internet is being used to ensure transparency and accountability, the challenges that civil society activists face in fighting corruption, and when the internet fails as an enabler of a transparent and fair society. The eight thematic reports and 48 country reports pu
...
blished ask provocative questions such as: Is a surveillance society necessarily a bad thing if it fights corruption? And how successful have e-government programmes been in fighting corruption? They explore options for activism by youth and musicians online, as well as the art of using visual evidence to expose delusions of power. By focusing on individual cases or stories of corruption, the country reports take a practical look at the role of the internet in combating corruption at all levels." (Back cover)
more
"Despite the country’s long history of censorship, Burmese do not currently appear to be apathetic about news coverage. Almost half (47.5%) say they access some type of news – whether via radio, TV, Internet, newspapers, etc. – at least daily, and 78.5% do so at least once a week. Radio remain
...
s the primary medium to which Burmese turn for news. Currently, 62.8% of Burmese say they listened to a radio program in the past week. The results indicate past-week FM listenership continues to rise -- and suggest that AM listeners have migrated heavily toward new options on the FM spectrum. In 2012, just 18.3% of Burmese say they used a MW/AM band to listen to the radio in the past week. However, shortwave radio use remained steady in 2012, continuing to garner a strong weekly audience at 34% of all Burmese. Television is the secondary source, with almost half (44.7%) tuning in for news at least weekly. Overall, 56.8% of Burmese have a working television in their household, with TV ownership far more concentrated in urban areas (82.9%) than small towns and rural areas (45.7%). Just under half of Burmese overall (45.2%) say they watched television in the last seven days, again with a stark difference between those living in urban areas (68.9%) and those in small towns and rural areas (35.1%)." (Page 1)
more
"Perlas na Silangan – Perle des Ostens – werden die Philippinen genannt. Das gesellschaftspolitische Handbuch, das nunmehr bereits in vierter, vollständig überarbeiteter und aktualisierter Auflage erscheint, liefert einen kompakten Einblick in Geschichte und Gegenwart, Land und Leute. Es verdi
...
chtet die Informationen und Diskussionen zu zentralen gesellschaftspolitischen Problemfeldern in zahlreichen Beiträgen – zu Landwirtschaft und Landreform, zu Arbeitsmigration und sozialer Sicherung, zu Bildung, Gesundheit und Gender, Wirtschaft, Politik, Zivilgesellschaft und vielem mehr. Geschrieben von langjährigen PhilippinenkennerInnen skizziert das Buch die Lebenswelten und politischen Kämpfe in einem Land des globalen Südens. Es soll den LeserInnen dabei behilflich sein, eigene Einblicke zu unternehmen beziehungsweise zu vertiefen und neue Erkenntnisse zu gewinnen. Darüber hinaus möchte es bei zahlreichen Menschen Interesse für die Philippinen wecken sowie eventuelle touristische Erfahrungen bereichern." (Verlagsbeschreibung)
more
"The rise of new media in Thailand has occurred during one of the toughest periods in Thailand’s recent political history. A political crisis since 2005 has created an increasingly divided society. Whilst Thailand’s press freedom was previously considered “free,” existing political challenge
...
s are immense and challenge directly Thailand’s taboo topic - the monarchy. The state controlled and anti-competitive nature of Thailand’s traditional media has meant a siding with the status quo. State censorship and even self-censorship in the media is common. New media seems to be the only way people can discuss freely their political beliefs. Or is that really so? This report is an investigation into the political usage of new media in Thailand from varying viewpoints of politicians, activists and Thai internet users." (Abstract)
more
"Donor funded media development is a relatively new phenomenon, resulting in minimal impact. Modest gains have been made: technical improvements in television production, some better skilled journalists, development of journalists’ associations and a code of ethics, and greater citizen engagement.
...
However, balanced and in-depth reports are scant and there remains limited space for freedom of expression. Professional media reports based on fact rather than opinion, on a range of sources (especially on a range of political sources) are the exception rather than the rule [...] Improvements require considerable time and effort which often extends beyond the life of a short to medium term donor horizon. AusAID, KAF, UNDP and USAID are current donors who understand this." (Conclusion, page 39)
more
"In order to maintain competitive edge over both domestic rivals and international competition, Chinese television companies have been looking abroad for ideas. A number of political and commercial concerns have come together to inform a sudden interest by Chinese media companies in creativity and i
...
nnovation. Hunan TV has been at the forefront, carefully deciding on the United Kingdom and selecting partners with which to work. In the course of its explorations abroad, Hunan has changed its objectives from narrowly technical and managerial ones to strategic ones. It now buys foreign formats, develops its own ideas, and looks forward to exporting those ideas and perhaps formats abroad, a hitherto inconceivable ambition that reflects urgent Chinese government concerns about the country's need to expand its international 'soft power'. Meanwhile, Hunan TV's initiatives have not gone unnoticed elsewhere in China, and other television companies are following suit. This article describes how this came about and what measures are being undertaken as a result of it, and discusses the implications of such ambitions." (Abstract)
more
"En las décadas de 1970 y 1980 varias salas limeñas se llenaban de familias que iban a ver las largas y melodramáticas producciones de cine que llegaban desde la India. Hoy esas salas ya no existen, pero eso no impide que la incidencia del cine indio se haya mantenido –dvd piratas mediante– n
...
i que este atraiga a nuevos fans. Ya no se trata únicamente de espectadores pasivos: además de mirar y escuchar, muchos jóvenes de origen popular se han decidido a bailar y cantar, imitar y reinventar. Esta breve etnografía propone algunas claves de lectura para la nueva dirección que el cine de Bollywood está tomando en Perú." (Página 133)
more
"At the request of the Norwegian, Swedish and subsequently Danish Embassies in Bangkok, International Media Support (IMS) conducted an assessment of the current media environment inside Myanmar during two missions between July and November 2011. The assessment was motivated by a democratic reform pr
...
ocess initiated in March 2011 when the 50-year reign of the military was replaced by a civilian government. A number of small steps taken so far by the Myanmar government in relation to media have provided an opening to expand the country’s freedom of expression space. The objective of the assessment was thus to identify opportunities and provide a set of recommendations for potential international interventions on media development within the country for the short and long-term perspective." (Executive summary)
more
"The Report is composed of four thematic parts. Part 1 describes the conceptual framework and relates the findings of the Networked Readiness Index (NRI) 2012. In addition, Part 1 features selected expert contributions on the general theme of hyperconnectivity. Part 2 includes two case studies showi
...
ng the efforts that two countries, Azerbaijan and Mauritius, are making to develop ICT and fully leverage their potential benefits. Part 3 comprises detailed profiles for the 142 economies covered in this year’s Report, providing a thorough picture of each economy’s current networked readiness landscape and allowing for international comparisons of specific variables or components of the NRI. Part 4 includes data tables for each of the 53 variables composing the NRI, with rankings for the economies covered as well as technical notes and sources for the quantitative variables used." (Executive summary, page xi)
more
"Using a controversial issue in South Korea, a government plan to relocate the administrative capital, this study examines attribute agenda setting. Linking survey data to an analysis of news coverage, more specifically, the article explores how television news has influenced the way the public eval
...
uates the plan and its various attributes, i.e. potential benefits and problems of the relocation. Findings support the idea that the media could increase public salience of certain attributes by placing them more prominently in news coverage. An important outcome of attribute agenda setting was its priming effect. Issue attributes emphasized in the media were functioning as important standards by which the audience evaluated the plan. These findings, taken together, enhance the intercultural validity of attribute agenda setting by demonstrating that the theory can be applied to South Korea, a country with a unique cultural tradition." (Abstract)
more
"Traces China's media engagement in Africa since the 2000s, including a list of financed projects (pp. 13-15), and explains how strategies have changed. While the extension of hardware assistance continues to play an important role, China's media engagement in Africa started to diversify after the 2
...
006 Beijing Summit. According to the author "China has begun to express its opinion on media practices to African media practitioners. For instance the Chinese government invited African journalists to learn about its development experience, including the development of Xinhua as an international news agency. The Third Workshop for African Journalists, under the supervision of FOCAC (Forum on China-Africa Cooperation), covered topics that included discussions on Chinese journalism. The result is clear in a country such as Equatorial Guinea, where qualified media professionals are divided into those journalists who were trained in Spain three decades ago, and the newer generation who are increasingly being trained in Cuba or China. Such media training introduces the Chinese media system, in addition to the usual education on media equipment and other types of hardware supplied by China. China-Africa media ties have therefore developed on the back of official ties." (Page 16)
more
"It has not been uncommon in the history of Jesus in film for commercial movies of Jesus' life to be conscripted for Christian evangelism around the world. Cecil B. DeMille's The King of Kings (1927), John Krish and Peter Sykes' Jesus (1979), better known today as The Jesus Film, and Mel Gibson's Th
...
e Passion of the Christ (2004) are but three notable examples. Each of those movies, however, was first produced in America for American audiences. In the case of Karunamayudu (1978), a Telugu commercial movie of Jesus' life, the target audience was South Indian viewers raised on a steady diet of mythological and social films and immersed in a pluralistic religious environment unlike any Western society at the time. In this essay I explain how and why this film, with its unique production history, was co-opted by evangelicals for Christian witness in India." (Abstract)
more