"Talkback radio programs (TBP) were established to educate the Cambodian public on governance issues and provide a channel through which they could communicate with authorities directly. Programs were broadcast in 4 provinces: Battambang, Kampong Cham, Siem Reap, and Kampot. This impact briefing rev
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eals the progress made by the radio program towards building political accountability and political participation. TBP listeners displayed consistently better knowledge and understanding of governance than non-listeners. Radio staff also reported strong governance competencies. Crucially, TBP led directly to 122 promises being met or partially met by local authorities." (https://www.abc.net.au/abc-international-development)
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"The 2019 Europe and Eurasia Media Sustainability Index (MSI) saw another improvement in the combined average score for the 21 countries studied: In 2018, the combined average score was 1.84, and in 2019 this increased to 1.86. In comparison with the previous year’s study, there were modest gains
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at the regional level in Objectives 1 (Freedom of Speech), 2 (Professional Journalism), and 3 (Plurality); the largest increase happened in Objective 5 (Supporting Institutions), which moved from 1.99 in 2018 to 2.04 in 2019. Objective 4 (Business Management) saw a slight decline, reflecting the financial and economic challenges media across Europe and Eurasia continue to experience. At the country level, Armenia moved into the highest ranking position (by overall score) of all countries studied by the MSI with an overall score of 2.60 – powered by, in the words of the chapter’s author, “[a] momentous revolution, dubbed “velvet” by its leader, Nikol Pashinyan, [that] changed the Armenian political landscape, turned the media world upside down, and made 2018 a truly unprecedented year in Armenia’s modern history.” Following Armenia, the top five highest ranked countries included Kosovo (2.53), Albania (2.49), and Montenegro and Romania (tied at 2.45)." (Executive summary, page ix)
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"Despite the efforts of the news industry, we find only a small increase in the numbers paying for any online news – whether by subscription, membership, or donation. Growth is limited to a handful of countries mainly in the Nordic region (Norway 34%, Sweden 27%) while the number paying in the US
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(16%) remains stable after a big jump in 2017. • Even in countries with higher levels of payment, the vast majority only have ONE online subscription – suggesting that ‘winner takes all’ dynamics are likely to be important. One encouraging development though is that most payments are now ‘ongoing’, rather than one-offs. In some countries, subscription fatigue may also be setting in, with the majority preferring to spend their limited budget on entertainment (Netflix/Spotify) rather than news. With many seeing news as a ‘chore’, publishers may struggle to substantially increase the market for high-priced ‘single title’ subscriptions. As more publishers launch pay models, over two-thirds (70%) of our sample in Norway and half (50%) in the United States now come across one or more barriers each week when trying to read online news. In many countries, people are spending less time with Facebook and more time with WhatsApp and Instagram than this time last year. Few users are abandoning Facebook entirely, though, and it remains by far the most important social network for news. Social communication around news is becoming more private as messaging apps continue to grow everywhere. WhatsApp has become a primary network for discussing and sharing news in non-Western countries like Brazil (53%) Malaysia (50%), and South Africa (49%). People in these countries are also far more likely than in the West to be part of large WhatsApp groups with people they don’t know – a trend that reflects how messaging applications can be used to easily share information at scale, potentially encouraging the spread of misinformation. Public and private Facebook Groups discussing news and politics have become popular in Turkey (29%) and Brazil (22%) but are much less used in Western countries such as Canada (7%) or Australia (7%). Concern about misinformation and disinformation remains high despite efforts by platforms and publishers to build public confidence. In Brazil 85% agree with a statement that they are worried about what is real and fake on the internet." (Summary, page 9)
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"The 2019 Indian general election saw the widespread and innovative use of digital media and technology. Most political parties employed digital media extensively for campaigning and voter mobilisation. This extensive use of digital media was due to nearly half of India’s 900 million eligible vote
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rs having access to the Internet and social media. The country has around 300 million Facebook users and over 200 million on WhatsApp, which is more than any other country. Indeed, the 2019 election was dubbed by many as the ‘WhatsApp’ election. In addition, millions in India use other media platforms such as the regional language platform ShareChat and the globally popular TikTok. The Institute of South Asian Studies at the National University of Singapore and the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung organised a joint workshop titled ‘Digital Media, Politics and Elections in India’ on 28 June 2019. The event brought together researchers, policymakers and representatives of digital media companies. This report largely draws upon the discussions at the workshop. It focuses on two key areas. First, the new campaign strategies used in 2019, such as different types of political rhetoric, the use of vernacular language mediums and the seamless transition between the online and offline space. Second, the imperatives of regulation and how they relate to artificial intelligence, ethics and state institutions." (Executive summary)
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"Climate and Sustainability Communication builds upon traditional approaches to understanding the role of mass media in shaping social issues by amplifying diverse perspectives of opinion leaders, as well as voices of those affected by climate and sustainability issues. From South Korea and China, t
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o the United States and Zambia, the studies reported in this book—compiled using a variety of formal research methods, including content analysis, interview, and survey—emphasize cultural orientation and global implications of climate and sustainability concerns and issues. The contributors explore the cultures, geographies, and media systems underpinning climate and sustainability campaigns emerging around the world, how we theorize about them, and the ways in which media are used to communicate about them. The way in which complex problems and opportunities associated with globalization and power inequities interplay with climate and sustainability communication requires creative, interdisciplinary, approaches. This book opens new conversations for integrating scholarly arenas of mass media communication, science and environmental communication, political communication, and health communication, as well as their respective theory and research method sets." (Publisher description)
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"Jagendra Singh hatte wieder und wieder über einen Minister der Regierung im Bundesstaat Uttar Pradesh berichtet, der in den illegalen Abbau von Sand involviert gewesen sein soll [...] Singh ist einer von weltweit mindestens 13 Journalisten, die seit 2009 mutmaßlich getötet wurden, nachdem sie ü
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ber Ressourcenausbeutung oder Umweltverschmutzung berichteten. Zahlreiche weitere wurden angegriffen, eingeschüchtert oder mit Klagen überzogen, um ihre Berichterstattung zu behindern. Die Organisation Forbidden Stories, ein internationaler Zusammenschluss investigativer Journalisten, hat deshalb das Projekt "Green blood" - grünes Blut - ins Leben gerufen. 40 Journalisten von 30 Medienorganisationen haben in den vergangenen Monaten zusammengearbeitet, um die Arbeit von Kollegen fortzuführen, die bei Recherchen über Umwelt- und Ressourcenausbeutung getötet oder beeinträchtigt wurden. Darunter Reporter von Guardian, Le Monde, El País und den deutschen Medien Süddeutsche Zeitung, WDR und Die Zeit. Forbidden Stories hatte bereits im vergangenen Jahr die Arbeit der ermordeten maltesischen Journalistin Daphne Caruana Galizia fortgeführt, um ein Signal zu setzen: Wer einzelne Reporter zum Schweigen bringen will, muss damit rechnen, dann einer Vielzahl von Reportern gegenüberzustehen. So kam es auch im Fall von Jagendra Singh und dem verdächtigen Minister Rammurti Singh Verma. Reporter von Forbidden Stories sprachen mit Hinterbliebenen, der einzigen Zeugin des Vorfalls, ehemaligen Kollegen und anderen Journalisten vor Ort. Sie erfuhren, dass Verma der Familie des verstorbenen Journalisten umgerechnet etwa 45 000 Dollar gezahlt hatte mit der Bedingung, dass sie auf weitere Anschuldigungen gegen ihn verzichten und die von der lokalen Polizei verbreitete Darstellung der Todesumstände akzeptieren würden: Singh habe Selbstmord begangen." (https://www.sueddeutsche.de)
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"In contrast to earlier publications on Chinese propaganda and media, 'Chinese propaganda seducing the world' offers the first comprehensive analysis of propaganda from Mao to today. Here lies the book’s strength. The author, Jeanne Boden, holds a PhD in Oriental Languages and Cultures (Ghent Univ
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ersity), and draws on years of experience studying the complexity of cross-cultural cooperation, in particular, between Europe and China. She has conducted an impressive analysis of more than 2,500 photographs of propaganda in public spaces all over China taken between 1994 and 2018, and, additionally, on other formats like propaganda movies, television programs, and myriad publications. Displayed throughout the book, these materials include gems such as the unique picture taken in Lhasa in 2002 with a Chinese propaganda slogan dating back to 1966–1976 (pp.61), the somewhat surreal Communist Party Theme Park (pp.82), or the striking example of a public humiliation campaign from during the Cultural Revolution that has been turned into a tourist commodity (pp.64). Substantial context is added to the analysis. For example, how “[c]onstruction itself has become a political measure of China’s success and growth and is therefore actively put to use for political purposes” (pp.31), or how “the absence of the idea of privacy in the socialist work unit paved the way for the technologically advanced control seen in China today” (pp.142)." (Review by Jono van Belle in: Communications, vol. 45:1, 2020)
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"In this chapter I explore the challenge of gaining access, and remaining independent, in an ethnic state where you are expected to be on one side of the conflict or on the other. For decades the military junta restricted access to information and wielded a powerful propaganda strategy. This has had
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a long-lasting impact. There is a massive communication gap between the Burman lowlands and the ethnic states, characterized by historic misunderstandings and misinformation, especially now that social media platforms are the primary way to share information. This has both caused and perpetuated intercommunal conflict between Rakhine Buddhists and Rohingya Muslims. Information is a power and a weapon, with all sides distorting and exaggerating it. It is hard to trust what people say and to do accurate media coverage. Even the words you use to describe northern Rakhine and the Rohingya are highly sensitive. The fact that the military has closed off a large area in the north of the state where the Rohingya historically lived makes access and understanding all the more difficult. In this chapter I use my own experiences doing fieldwork, conducting interviews and building trust to explore identity and language politics in Rakhine State and to explain the challenges of getting to the truth." (Pages 229-230)
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"Suicide attempt rates are on the rise in predominantly Islamic Republic of Pakistan. However, there exists an indigenous academic apathy toward exploring media-suicide relationships. This study, using content analysis and interviews, examines the lack of compliance with international ethical guidel
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ines for suicide reporting by Pakistani newspapers. In 553 reported suicide cases, 2,355 guideline violations were detected. The overall tone of suicide news stories remained overwhelmingly irresponsible, and analysis indicates that both Urdu and English language newspapers made similar violations. Largely ignorant of international standards, Pakistani journalists report attempted suicide cases just like any other crime. This study suggests a prompt action on the part of appropriate bodies to amend relevant codes of ethics and eventually educate relevant journalist fraternities to report suicides in a socially responsible way." (Abstract)
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"Local fixers are becoming increasingly important for international media due to escalating security threats to international journalists, budget cuts within international media organizations, and the disappearance of long-stay correspondents. Local fixers give local color and context to news storie
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s, but their work in conflict regions is extremely dangerous. Making things worse, fixers are at the bottom of the international correspondence totem pole. This paper approaches the situation from the perspective of fixers using qualitative in-depth interviews made in northwestern Pakistan, whereby we see fixers’ problems in a wider context of post-colonial relationships. The role of Western international journalists is discussed within a cultural context of hegemony, primarily drawing on theories of Edward Said and Antonio Gramsci." (Abstract)
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"The first section of the chapter provides a brief overview of the legal framework that defines the concept of media space, with a specific focus on election day. Regulations included constraints on journalists' ability to cover the elections, which affected their access to polling stations. The sec
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ond section presents two very different -and often diametrically opposed - views held by the Union Election Commission (UEC) leadership and private media representatives. The root causes of the deeply entrenched mistrust that I observed will be placed in the context of recent private media expansion in the country following the lifting of pre-publication censorship. This includes very different institutional cultures, fundamental disagreements about the role of private media, and diverging political preferences. As a result of the mistrust, there were numerous missed opportunities that could have improved communication among key stakeholders and, in turn, increased awareness about the voting process among the general public. That being said, on election day, media played a fundamental role in legitimizing the vote and enabling a wider acceptance of the results." (Page 252)
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"This chapter is drawn primarily from Jane Madlyn McElhone's thirteen years of in-field experience in Myanmar and other nations in transition, as well as key informant interviews she conducted in 2017 and 2018 [...] Our discussion is driven by a series of interlinked questions. Who were the key medi
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a development actors during the time of the military junta, what kind of support did they offer, and who benefited from it? What were the assumptions driving the aid? With hindsight, what are the lessons learned that can be applied to Myanmar's contemporary media development sector, and to regional and international media development efforts? What is the legacy of the many years of pre-transition aid? What have we learned from the response to the Rakhine crisis?" (Pages 96-97)
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"My focus in this chapter is on civil society mobilization in Tanintharyi Region in southern Myanmar, and particularly in Kanbauk, a village of about 1,500 households in the Tanintharyi Hills, eighty kilometres north of the regional capital, Dawei. In recent years, Kanbauk villagers have contended w
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ith Delco Ltd, a Yangon-based company that runs a tin and tungsten mine in their area in a production-sharing agreement with the government-owned Mining Enterprise No. 2. Villagers have been seeking to assert some influence over company practices, especially regarding the release of wastewater into local streams. Tensions intensified after an accident in September 2015 in which a tailing pond embankment collapsed causing a flash flood that led to the death of a child and the destruction of many villagers' houses. I discuss the resistance effort that emerged in the village and the company's strategies to suppress and dismiss it. Specifically, I focus on the work of a Kanbauk writer and activist, Aung Lwin, and an evocative essay he wrote, published in May 2016 in Tanintharyi Weekly, a small regional publication. Written from the perspective of a fish dying in a stream polluted by mining waste, Aung Lwin's essay offers a sardonic view of events in the village and hints at a possible arrangement between the company and local government officials. As part of its larger effort to quash local resistance to the mine, Delco filed (and won) a lawsuit against Aung Lwin for criminal defamation under Article 500 of the Myanmar Penal Code. The case reveals the complexities of the current moment in Myanmar and the uncertain spaces in which actors in civil society are operating. It reveals as well the fraught dynamics of media, as authoritarian forces remain active and unpredictable. Although this particular lawsuit was brought against the writer rather than the publication, it has wider implications for Myanmar media, especially for smaller, more vulnerable, regional outlets." (Page 152)
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"Through a meticulous empirical examination of the criminalization of the Turkish hacktivist group Redhack, Dogan explores the critical conflation of hacktivism with cyber-terrorism—by national security organizations and academic researchers alike —that enables states to criminalize non-violent
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hacktivist groups. The paper’s empirical sources include interviews with Turkish security agents, legal and regulatory texts, and its theoretical grounding is a combination of literatures on moral panic, hacking, social movements, critical criminology, and framing analysis. In examining how Redhack constitutes an anomaly, and in exploring how anomalies point to the necessity of grounded, context-sensitive research, Dogan contributes conceptual development beyond Turkey and beyond hacktivism." (Page 1)
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"This book focuses on the reporting of human rights in broadly defined times of conflict. It brings together scholarly and professional perspectives on the role of the media in constructing human rights and peacebuilding options in conflict and post-conflict environments, drawing on case studies fro
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m Europe, Latin America, the Middle East, Africa, and South Asia. It also provides critical reflections on the challenges faced by journalists and explores the implications of constructing human rights and peacebuilding options in their day-to-day professional activities." (Publisher description)
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"The study is comprised of three main parts: a desk study of available and accessible material – reports, documents and media material; a qualitative study comprising over 200 interviews with ordinary people, experts, and persons with direct experience with radicalization leading to violent extrem
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ism (RVE); and a quantitative component consisting of national surveys of people’s information consumption habits. For the desk study, the effort was made to gain as broad a picture as possible, that is, to cover all five countries of Central Asia – Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. However, predictably and unfortunately, Uzbekistan and especially Turkmenistan proved difficult cases to study in full. For both the qualitative and quantitative field research activities, for several reasons, only the first three countries were included. As a result, this study is able to report most robustly on these three countries and propose observations regarding Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan only to a limited extent. Based on the desk study, the drivers of extremist sympathies as established in existing research have been political grievances (injustice from state structures; identity-based discrimination; oppressive political regimes, etc), economic difficulties (unemployment; indebtedness; poverty; and desire for quick and greater income) and ideological motivations (resentment of false values; striving for the singularly just and true life; for reward in a perceived afterlife). To these push and pull factors are added a range of enabling factors, such as migration, young age, gender (women), and means of communication. All these drivers of RVE need to be treated with caution, as stressed by various authors and suggested by evidence gained in field research. A general observation, gained from the desk research and supported by evidence in both qualitative and quantitative field studies, was the difference among the countries in degree of control over the information space, or the degree of hegemony over public discourse. Of the three most fully studied countries, hegemonic discourse was the strongest in Tajikistan, followed by Kazakhstan, and the least in Kyrgyzstan. Uzbekistan, analyzed to a limited extent, would be closer to the extreme of Tajikistan, whereas Turkmenistan was too closed to make reasonably robust observations." (Page 3)
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"The Digital kids Asia-Pacific (DKAP) Framework proposes a comprehensive and holistic set of competencies across five domains: Digital Literacy, Digital Safety and Resilience, Digital Participation and Agency, Digital Emotional Intelligence, and Digital Creativity and Innovation. The framework is al
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so anchored in a rights-based approach, in full recognition of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989). The framework was then used as the basis for the creation of a self-reporting survey to measure children’s digital citizenship competencies. The survey was administered to 5,129 students aged 15 in four Asia-Pacific countries – Bangladesh, Fiji, Republic of Korea and Viet Nam. Among the five domains, children were most confident in their Digital Safety and Resilience competencies, and least confident in their Digital Creativity and Innovation competencies across all four countries. Some domains showed homogeneous levels of competencies across the four countries, while others showed wider gaps between the countries." (Executive summary, page xiii-xiv)
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"The Media Ownership Monitor – India finds out that while the ownership of media seems fairly plural at the national level, it is highly concentrated when one zooms into the regional level. More importantly, prominent national players have ceded their position of eminence at the regional level, wh
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ere local players rule." (http://india.mom-rsf.org/en)
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"The Media Ownership Monitor found that a high degree of concentration in ownership and audience share prevails in the media industry in Pakistan and a professionally weak regulatory system poses a threat to media pluralism and freedom of expression in the country." (http://Pakistan.mom-rsf.org/en)