"According to a survey conducted by Reporters without Borders (RSF) in December 2021, from 10,790 people working in Afghan media (8,290 men and 2,490 women) at the start of August 2021, only 4,360 (3,950 men and 410 women) were still working and the number may reduce even further. For this survey, d
...
ata were collected through online and in-person manual surveys in May 2022. The questionnaire included 23 questions and was completed by 308 respondents in Dari (75.97%) and Pashto (24.03%). All 100 percent respondents were female. The survey largely represented reporters (54.87%), followed by journalists (19.16%), producers (9.74%), presenters (3.90%) and others (12.01%). [...] A majority of respondents (67.86%) reported that they have lost their jobs since the de facto authorties’ takeover of Afghanistan in August. The highest ratio of respondents having lost their jobs compared to the respondents interviewed were in Bamyan (100%), followed by Kandahar (91%), Balkh (85%), Badakhshan (68%) and Kabul (62%). 60.39% of respondents reported that they have felt ‘major changes’ since the collapse of the former government. In addition, 28.90% respondents reported changes in some cases. As for the level of restrictions imposed on reporting since the de facto authorities’ takeover of power, an astounding 80.52% of respondents reported the case to be ‘very restricted’. As far as the reporting autonomy is concerned, 45.13% respondents mentioned that ‘Government Interferences have Increased’, while 35.71% responded as ‘Bad’ meaning the independency in journalists’ reporting is bad.
46.75% of respondents mentioned that the de facto authorities’ spokespersons do not respond to female journalists, followed by 29.55% who mentioned that they do respond, but just in some cases. All 100% of the respondents reported that they have received some kind of threat since the de facto authorities have taken over the power, and reported the major threat against female journalists to be the new restrictions imposed by the de facto authorities (52.9%), followed by the gender-based discrimination (18.8%), and threats posed by extremist groups (16.9%). A majority of the respondents (55.19%) reported that they were restricted from their work specifically due to their outfit/sense of clothing and some (27.92%) reported that they have experienced the same but to some extent only." (Executive summary, pages 5-6)
more
"After nearly 20 years of international investment and successful efforts to build a diverse media landscape and strengthen journalism standards, the Afghan media sector has fundamentally changed for the worse since the Taliban (also referred herein to as the de facto authorities) takeover on 15 Aug
...
ust 2021. Before mid-August 2021, dedicated initiatives and investment focused on increasing the number of women working in the media across a diversity of roles, training and equipping them with valuable skills and expertise, as well as a substantive focus on women’s rights and gender equality in the media content, including on how gender inequality is a driver of conflict. The Taliban has sought to bring the Afghan media under its control, prohibiting broadcasts and publications that criticize Taliban rule and/or are incompatible with the group’s interpretation of Islamic and Afghan values. There is no universal experience across the changed media environment as the level of subnational variation is notable. The position of individual de facto leaders on media freedom varies according to their personal viewpoints and relationship to the media in the past, and their perception of the value of media to extend the credibility and authority of the Taliban in the eyes of the target audience. Despite subnational variations, nationwide trends are becoming increasingly discernible, clear and solidified. Although in some cases the level of discretion may be higher, rules and practices are consistent and congruent – continuous harassment, attacks, and detention of journalists, the requirement for women journalists to cover their face when on air, and various tactics which combined lead to self-censorship and exclusion of women from the media. This indicates a systematic and coherent effort to
muzzle the media and exclude women – their faces, perspectives, and experiences – from public spaces." (Summary)
more
"Media, during Taliban five years period from 1996–2001, had been totally suffocated. Only limited number of print media would publish to spread the propaganda of Taliban Emirate under Sharia Law. Post-Taliban era, media landscape obtained new image with the establishment of democratic government.
...
Independent media were allowed to operate in accordance with the formation of new constitution of 2004. Since the two decades of war after 9/11, media have still been maintaining its responsibility in Afghanistan to rise and promote the voice of right, equality and justice, defend human rights and spread public awareness in order to serve for social responsibilities. Despite continued challenges media outlets and journalists have made tremendous progress which it has resulted in harm of their personal life from time to time due to threats of insecurity, war, warlords, strongmen, corrupted actors in government as well as in attacks of Taliban and ISIS insurgents. Hence, media outlets and journalists have been carrying on their responsibilities despite of availed risks to them and their families. In this paper, it has been viewed the status of media freedom, process of development and continued challenges to media freedom and journalists." (Abstract)
more
"Beginning in August 2017, the Myanmar security forces undertook a brutal campaign of ethnic cleansing against Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar’s Northern Rakhine State. A UN investigation found that the role of Facebook in the violence was “significant”. This report is based on an in-depth investi
...
gation into Meta (formerly Facebook)’s role in the serious human rights violations perpetrated against the Rohingya. It reveals that in the months and years leading up to the 2017 atrocities, the Facebook platform became an echo chamber of virulent anti-Rohingya content in Myanmar. Meta’s algorithms proactively amplified and promoted content which incited violence, hatred, and discrimination against the Rohingya – pouring fuel on the fire of long-standing discrimination and substantially increasing the risk of an outbreak of mass violence. Despite its partial acknowledgement that it played a role in the 2017 violence against the Rohingya, Meta has to date failed to provide an effective remedy to affected Rohingya communities. However, Amnesty International’s systematic legal analysis of Meta’s role in the atrocities perpetrated against the Rohingya leaves little room for doubt: Meta substantially contributed to adverse human rights impacts suffered by the Rohingya and has a responsibility to provide survivors with an effective remedy." (Back cover)
more
"The major earthquake that struck central Nepal in April 2015 inspired a flurry of literary and cultural production, including the creation and online publication of over 50 earthquake-related music videos. Although they share a common thematic focus, these videos’ representations of the earthquak
...
e aftermath and the Nepali people’s response to the disaster diverge from one another in some important respects. Through a detailed analysis of the lyrical, musical and visual content of a selection of five of these videos, and drawing upon recent research on digital cultures, the article asks to what extent these divergences reflect an attempt by online content creators to address Nepali publics (whether domestic, diasporic, urban, rural or gendered) that they imagine and construct in different ways." (Abstract)
more
"This article starts by taking a closer look at the general characteristics of China’s digital economy. Some of its strengths and weaknesses are further illustrated by two relevant case studies. First, we show that China is a front runner in the digitalisation of financial services (digital paymen
...
t systems, new forms of credit) and the development of its central bank digital currency. Conversely, in a second case study, we find that China has been much less successful at mastering the cutting-edge technologies needed to produce the most advanced semiconductors, leaving China dependent on foreign suppliers of such critical technologies. In the second part of the article, we look at China’s unique policy approach towards fostering innovation-driven economic growth and president Xi Jinping’s vision for the digital economy. The third and final part gives an overview of the most important policy actions undertaken by the US and the EU in response to China’s rise as a digital power." (Introduction)
more
"The book evaluates unique civic challenges, responsibilities, and opportunities for media worldwide, exploring pandemic social norms that media promote or discourage, and how media serve as instruments of social control and resistance, or of cooperation and representation. These chapters raise sign
...
ificant questions about the roles mainstream or citizen journalists or netizens play or ought to play, enlightening audiences successfully about scientific information on COVID-19 in a pandemic that magnifies social inequality and unequal access to health care, challenging popular beliefs about health and disease prevention and the role of government while the entire world pays close attention." (Publisher description)
more
"When a large-scale natural disaster occurs, such as an earthquake, volcanic eruption, hurricane, or Covid-19, there will be "maldistribution or gap" in various aspects. Disparities in the shelter, gaps in aid or food items, gaps in access to health care, vaccine gaps, and so on. Inequality creates
...
differences that are not found in everyday life, and these differences will lead to the destruction of the community. The most serious issue is a lack of information. It is critical that people can get accurate information fairly when recovering from a disaster because it is critical in solving all inequality problems. Community radio can be a real solution in this case." (Back cover)
more
"While community media audiences and broadcasters have themselves been the subject of research, how a sense of community identity is created through content production is less understood. This article details a critical discourse analysis of programming from ten different community radio stations wi
...
thin the same geographic location. The findings of this research reveal the very different approaches that stations take to developing a mediatized community identity. Several stations approach identity expression by engaging in overt performances of ‘localness’, while the growing influence of commercialization was also observed among many stations. What this research highlights is that the performance of community identity on community radio is integral in shaping the listening communities, as well as delineating community radio from its commercial and state-run counterparts." (Abstract)
more
"The project Promotion of Resilient Communities: Addressing COVID-19-related Poverty by Community Radios in South and Southeast Asia was implemented by the World Association of Radio Broadcasters (AMARC) Asia-Pacific regional office to support community radios in four countries - Bangladesh, India,
...
Indonesia and Nepal - in producing programmes that serve as an “emergency response” to help the most marginalised and needy people in the local communities, who have been impacted by the pandemic. In all four countries included in the project, the lockdowns deprived the poorest sections of the population - such as migrant workers and day labourers - of their livelihoods. The people in the rural and especially the hard-to-reach regions are hardly noticed in the public discourse, and some are completely cut off from the general flow of information due to technical, financial and/or language barriers. In contrast, community radios have key characteristics that make them stand out: they are perceived as a trusted part of the community, and their programmes are mostly produced in partnership with and with the participation of community members. 32 community radio journalists from 16 community radios in four countries participated in the training workshops that were organized early this year. There were eight participants from four radio stations in Bangladesh – Radio Jhenuk, Radio Mahananda, Radio Sarabela and Radio Sagorgiri, six participants from three radio stations in India – Gurgaon ki Awaaz, Radio Benziger, and Saiyere Jo Radio, six participants from three radio stations in Indonesia – Lintas Merapi FM, Pass FM, and Rasi FM and two from the community radio association of Indonesia, JRKI and 10 participants from five radio stations in Nepal – Radio Dhading, Radio Parasi, Radio Rudraksha, Radio Sindhu and Radio Udayapur. This publication is a document that summarizes the training workshop sessions and serves as reference/training material for not just the participant radios but the member radios of the association." (Executive summary, page 2)
more
"[...] this article contributes ethnographically grounded and comparative research of two democratic Southeast Asian countries dealing with urgent threats to media freedom and democracy: Indonesia and the Philippines. Our research identifies the main disinformation work models in Southeast Asia, mos
...
t notably through the use of buzzers (Indonesia) and trolls (the Philippines). Our research examines the increasingly gray area between trolls, buzzers and disinformation, and their increasing relationship to political elites. By explaining recent practices of political disinformation campaigns and journalist harassment, we aim to deepen understanding as to how these campaigns are organized in order to prevent them in the future. This article ultimately calls for a critical collaboration with diverse stakeholders in countering 'fake news' by examining four dominant disinformation work models." (Abstract)
more
"This article examines how documentary film can be employed as visual evidence to create a thick description of environmental injustice among low-social-economic status communities in China. In particular, this article exemplifies the approach with a case study of a 2022 research project on transiti
...
onal injustice during China’s phase out coal strategy in the case study of Liupanshui, the largest coal mine in southern China since the 1950s. Drawing upon the author’s environmental documentaries that explored the local struggles and sufferings of environmental injustice in China, the article explores how we can examine environmental injustice via a multidisciplinary approach that combines public policy, environmental studies and documentary filmmaking." (Abstract)
more
"In January 2022, Kazakhstan’s government shut down internet access for several days while enacting a violent crackdown on initially peaceful protests triggered by hikes in fuel prices. This policy brief examines Kazakhstan’s internet and media landscape, the (re)actions of civil society and the
...
state, and the factors that set the stage for this extreme act of digital repression, which created a disturbing precedent for the country and the Eurasia region more broadly. The paper concludes by briefly exploring the potential implications for Kazakhstan’s governance, economic development, and collective memory nearly a year on from the events." (Abstract)
more
"This document was produced by the IFJ and focuses on the following issues that the media faces in India: rise of government pressure and fear towards it, the growth of digital users, journalists´ lives lost during the pandemic, intimidation and harassment of the journalists across the country, the
...
steady erosion of democratic institutions, the challenges for female journalists, raids towards journalists and media houses, escalation of internet shutdowns, rise of detentions, among other issues". (commbox)
more