commbox Asia

Indigenous Knowledge for Climate Change Assessment and Adaptation

Douglas Nakashima, Igor Krupnik, Jennifer T. Rubis (eds.)

Cambridge; Paris: Cambridge University Press;UNESCO (2018), xx, 298 pp.

"This unique transdisciplinary publication is the result of collaboration between UNESCO’s Local and Indigenous Knowledge Systems (LINKS) programme, the United Nations University’s Traditional Knowledge Initiative, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), and other organizations. Ch ... more

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WHO’s Media Guidelines in the Press and in Public Perception

Kuang-Kuo Chang, Eric Freedman

Journal of Media Ethics, volume 33, issue 1 (2018), pp. 14-25

"This study based on a content analysis and a nationwide survey examines Taiwan’s suicide coverage and general public evaluations of the World Health Organization media guidelines, alongside the copycat effect. Key findings show the daily newspaper Apple Daily essentially failed to follow the guid ... more

Trauma, Memory and Religion

Freek Bakker, Lucien van Liere (eds.)

Journal for Religion, Film and Media (JRFM), volume 4, issue 1 (2018), pp. 7-77

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Social Media as a Gateway for Young Feminists: Lessons from the #IWillGoOut Campaign in India

Divya Titus

Gender & Development, volume 26, issue 2 (2018), pp. 231-248

"Over New Year’s Eve in 2016, a slew of sexual assault cases against women came to light in India’s tech hub of Bengaluru. Four years prior, against the backdrop of a violent rape in the nation’s capital of Delhi, prominent feminists and activists took to the streets as part of mass public pro ... more

Media Sustainability Index 2018: The Development of Sustainable Independent Media in Europe and Eurasia

Linda Trail (ed.)

Washington, DC: IREX (2018), xx, 314 pp.

"Macedonia and Montenegro saw the largest overall score increases this year, in comparison to 2017. The improvement across all objectives this year for Macedonia’s media sector can be attributed to political changes that prioritize media in democratic reforms. Although Montenegro’s score improve ... more

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Safety and Security of Journalists: Yet Awaiting Intervention from Indian Academy and Industry

C. S. H. N. Murthy

Asia Pacific Media Educator, volume 28, issue 1 (2018), pp. 131-149

"The article is an overview of the growing concerns about escalating violence against journalists in India and a matching lack of interest in Indian academy to understand the various implications of such violence both pedagogically and sociologically. The fact that about six journalists were killed ... more

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Korrespondenten des Wandels: Lokale Akteure der globalen Nachrichtenindustrie

Martin Heidelberger

Bielefeld: transcript (2018), 325 pp.

"Der Auslandsjournalismus des 21. Jahrhunderts stützt sich zunehmend auf lokale Akteure der globalen Nachrichtenindustrie, die häufig als lokale »Stringer« oder »Fixer« bezeichnet werden. Auf Basis von Feldforschungen in Indien und Europa untersucht Martin Heidelberger diese lokale Teilhabe an ... more

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Buchmarkt China (2018)

Peking: Buchinformationszentrum (BIZ) Peking (2018), 20 pp.

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Japan's International Democracy Assistance as Soft Power: Neoclassical Realist Analysis

Maiko Ichihara

London; New York: Routledge (2018), xiii, 149 pp.

"Most of Japan's civil society assistance targets media. JICA's policy guideline on peace-building assistance regards media assistance as one of the target categories of Japan's democracy assistance (Japanese International Cooperation Agency JICA, 2009). The International Peace Cooperation Council ( ... Kokusai Heiwa Kyoryoku Kondankai), which was established within the Cabinet Office. recommended boosting Japan's media assistance in its report published in December 2002 (Council on International Peace Cooperation 2002, 42). Japan has assisted media through grants, technical assistance, expert dispatch, expert training, and the provision of materials related to broadcasting (JICA 20046, 50). Japan has provided media assistance mainly to TV and radio stations. According to Masakazu Sakashita (2006, 122), 127 TV media assistance projects and 56 radio assistance projects had been conducted by September 2005, while Japan has never provided media assistance to print media such as newspapers and magazines. This is because Japan regards telecommunication and broadcasting technology as its comparative advantage and thus focuses on those projects that require it. Indeed, the chief characteristic of Japan's media assistance is that it focuses on facilities such as information and telecommunication networks instead of media content. Project contents include the improvement of production capacity and broadcasting skills, repair of ground communication systems, and provision of studio equipment. Seminars are provided to teach how to use and maintain the equipment provided through such projects as well (JICA 20046, 50). Expert training has been conducted for countries such as Indonesia and Sri Lanka in addition to broadcasting infrastructure assistance, which provided training for program production. However, this training tends to be a mere supplement to broadcasting in frastructure assistance projects (Sakashita 2006, 122). Within JICA, while it is the former Public Policy Department and the current Industrial Development and Public Policy Division that is in charge of democrac y assistance, the Information and Telecommunication Technology Division is in charge of media assistance. This shows that Japan's media assistance is conducted mainly as broadcasting technical assistance rather than democracy assistance, as Sakashita (2006, 122) notes. Japan's media assistance to Afghanistan in 2002 helped broadcast the country's Loya Jirga, or national assembly, on TV via satellite. Its aim was to show the discussion at the national assembly and the process of choosing the interim president of the country to increase the legitimacy of the new administration (JICA 2004a). The political character of this assistance project was distinct compared with Japan's media assistance until then. However, the project assisted only a state hroadcasting station and did not intend to Increase the capacity of primate media's watchdog functions. In this sense, the actual content of this assistance project was state, not civil society assistance. In addition, the contents of this assistance were to upgrade broadcasting in frastructure and provide equipment and training on how to use the equipment. No assistance was provided in terms of the content of the broadcasting. No expert on free and fair broadcasting was included in its preliminary study group, and all the experts were broadcasting technical specialists, which shows the weakness of Japan's interest in supporting the role of media in democracy (JICA 2002). The project document did not set contribution to democracy as an evaluation criterion of the project, either (Sakashita 2006, 124)." (Pages 51-53) more

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Digital News Report 2018

Nic Newman, Richard Fletcher, Antonis Kalogeropoulos, David A. L. Levy, Rasmus Kleis Nielsen (eds.)

Oxford: Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism (2018), 143 pp.

"The use of social media for news has started to fall in a number of key markets after years of continuous growth. Usage is down six percentage points in the United States, and is also down in the UK and France. Almost all of this is due to a specific decline in the discovery, posting, and sharing o ... more

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Gendering Leadership in Vietnamese Media: A Role Congruity Study on News Content and Journalists’ Perception of Female and Male Leaders

Hong Tien Vu, Tien-Tsung Lee, Hue Trong Duong, Barbara Barnett

Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, volume 95, issue 3 (2018), pp. 565-587

"This study combines two research methods to explore how female leaders are portrayed in the news in Vietnam, and Vietnamese journalists’ perception of female and male leaders. Content analysis indicated that female leaders are under- and misrepresented. Female leader sources seldom appear in the ... more

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Chinese Media Engagement in South Africa

Dani Madrid-Morales, Herman Wasserman

Journalism Studies, volume 19, issue 8 (2018), pp. 1218-1235

"China’s footprint in Africa’s media sector over the last decade has reached dimensions that make it impossible to go unnoticed. In South Africa, one of the countries where this imprint is most diversified, Chinese media have been engaged in a varied range of activities, including content produc ... more

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Creative and Lucrative Da'wa: The Visual Culture of Instagram Amongst Female Muslim Youth in Indonesia

EF Nisa

Asiascape: Digital Asia, volume 5, issue 1-2 (2018), pp. 68-99

"Social media have become part of the private and public lifestyles of youth globally. Drawing on both online and offline research in Indonesia, this article focuses on the use of Instagram by Indonesian Muslim youth. It analyzes how religious messages uploaded on Instagram through posts and caption ... more

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Digital Inclusion: An International Comparative Analysis

Massimo Ragnedda, Bruce Mutsvairo, Gerard Goggin (eds.)

Lanham: Lexington Books (2018), xx, 223 pp.

"The volume examines the risks and opportunities of a digital society characterized by the increasing importance of knowledge and by the incessant rise and pervasiveness of information and communication technologies (ICTs). At a global level, the pivotal role of ICTs has made it necessary to rethink ... more

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Speech and Society in Turbulent Times: Freedom of Expression in Comparative Perspective

Monroe Price, Nicole Stremlau (eds.)

Cambridge et al.: Cambridge University Press (2018), xix, 334 pp.

"This volume explores how societies are addressing challenging questions about the relationship between expression, traditional and societal values, and the transformations introduced by new information communications technologies. It seeks to identify alternative approaches to the role of speech an ... more

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Social Media in Turkey as a Space for Political Battles: AK Trolls and Other Politically Motivated Trolling

Erkan Saka

Middle East Critique, volume 27, issue 2 (2018), pp. 161-177

"This article focuses on AKTrolls, defined as pro-government political trolls in Turkey, while attempting to draw implications about political trolling in the country in general. It examines their methods and effects, and it interrogates whether (and how) Turkish authorities have attempted to shape ... more

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Of Words, Visuals and Inclusivity

Dilrukshi Handunnetti

Internews;USAID, Strengthening Democratic Governance and Accountability Project (SDGAP) in Sri Lanka (2018), 67 pp.

"This practical guide on gender sensitivity and inclusivity is designed specifically with the working journalist in mind and to prompt the practitioner to make conscious decisions about the use of words and visuals as a means of enhancing professionalism. In our everyday life, we encounter countless ... more

Violence Against Women Within the Rohingya Refugee Community: Prevalence, Reasons and Implications for Communication

Md. Arif Al Mamun, Nicola Bailey, Moiyedul Azam Koreshi, Fariha Rahman

London: BBC Media Action (2018), 16 pp.

"To inform the development of a new radio drama for Rohingya refugees in Cox’s Bazar, BBC Media Action carried out a small scale qualitative research study that sought to understand more about Rohingya men and womens’ understanding and attitudes towards child marriage, intimate partner violence ... more

Digital in 2018: Essential Insights Into Internet, Social Media, Mobile, and E-Commerce Use Around the World

Simon Kemp

We Are Social;Hootsuite (2018), 153 slides

"Perhaps the most exciting headline in this year’s reports is that global internet users have now passed the 4 billion mark. Well over half of the world’s population now uses the internet, and a quarter of a billion new users came online for the first time during the past 12 months. People are s ... more