"Recent scholarship on trans-oceanic exchanges between the Persian Gulf and South Asia has delved into previously neglected minutiae of everyday migrant life beyond labour. Combining ethnographic research and media content analyses, I build on this scholarship through a novel study of vernacular rad
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io as a critical means of sustaining South Indian (Malayali) diasporic communities betwixt and between their home and host societies. This paper shows, firstly, the interwovenness of work and leisure in the everyday lives of Malayali migrants in Qatar; and secondly, the role played by radio listenership and production practices in crafting distinctive ethnolinguistic spatialities of sound (sabdam) via sonic connections that transcend the binary between being at home and abroad. Paying attention to sonic waves and networks that bind together radio stations and audiences in Qatar across work and home spaces, I argue that diasporic vernacular radio both reinforces and challenges notions of ‘Malayali-ness’ within the Gulf Malayali community (bandham) and beyond." (Abstract)
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"The eight articles in the publication can be broadly grouped into two main sets. The first set discusses the different types of digital skills required from a more academic perspective, in particular in the context of the pandemic and post-pandemic period, as countries accelerate their move towards
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the digital transition. It also features an article that looks at a specific development sector – humanitarian assistance – and demonstrates how digital skills training can help communities affected by crisis. The second set of articles presents concrete examples, from countries in different regions, of digital skills initiatives, policies and programmes; and provides insights on lessons learned and recommendations on the way forward." (Page 4)
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"Salali and Uysal (2020) found in their study that vaccine acceptance significantly increased when people believe in the natural origin of the virus. Therefore, mis/disinformation and conspiracy theories about how the virus started need to be debunked, especially in countries having high vaccine hes
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itancy rates. Fact-checking agencies and independent fact-checkers have a major role to play. Banerjee et al. (2010) found in their study that providing incentives boosted immunization rates. This strategy is currently being applied in the COVID-19 vaccination drive [...] Government and health authorities should be aware of anti-vaccine campaigns and take necessary actions. Necessary services should be provided in areas with high illiteracy rates or poverty to help those people get vaccinated. Media needs to get better at reportage. Spreading the truth about the harmful effects of not taking COVID-19 vaccine can help in lowering vaccine hesitancy. Balance needs to be maintained in reporting incidents like deaths or side effects which might not be related to vaccines. Mis/disinformation spread on national media outlets about the virus or vaccine should be condemned. Boosting transparency and the spread of accurate and sufficient information related to the virus and vaccines can help in mitigating the peoples’ fears and doubts. Therefore, government needs to be more upfront in providing latest information about COVID-19 vaccines. Public concerns should be handled by public health authorities. Communication helpline should be developed where people can explain their fears and doubts about vaccines and gain insights on the situation. Religious and opinion leaders can help encourage their followers to get vaccinated. Policymakers and public health officials need to come up with targeted health communication strategies for subgroups with high vaccine hesitancy." (Conclusion, page 318)
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"Intimate partner violence (IPV) impacts the physical and mental health of one in three women globally, with equally high rates in rural Nepal. The risk of physical violence, stalking, harassment, and homicide between intimate partners increases when alcohol is used by the perpetrator. This study ev
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aluates the impact of Change Starts at Home, a nine-month intervention to prevent IPV in which 360 married couples in the Terai region of Nepal listened to a serial radio drama and engaged in Listening Group Discussions. A sub-sample of 18 couples were selected for individual in-depth interviews that were taken at the end of the intervention and 16 months later. Participants strongly and consistently associated alcohol use with IPV against women in their own and others’ relationships. Husbands and wives agreed that men sustained reductions in alcohol use, conflict, and perpetration of IPV, attributed to improvements in communication, conflict resolution, and a reduction in alcohol expenditure following the intervention. The results of this study suggest that integrating programming on alcohol reduction within IPV prevention interventions in the Terai region of Nepal has benefits on couple functioning, alcohol consumption, and IPV perpetration." (Abstract)
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"The online harassment of female journalists is a rising concern around the world and also in South Asia. Bangladesh, a South Asian country, recently, has experienced an increasing number of harassments against female journalists online. Various studies explored the online harassment, mostly from th
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e Western perspectives. Scholars have argued that the online harassments may negatively affect the freedom of expression. But little is known about Bangladesh. Drawing upon feminist theory, this study investigated the experiences of online journalists in Bangladesh. The objectives were to explore the nature and forms of online harassment and to find how this experiences of harassments affect the freedom of expression of the victims. Data were collected through content analysis, semiotic analysis of the uncivil comments available in the online news feedback and in-depth interviews. Results of the study indicate that online harassment is a frequent phenomenon where the victim journalists feel vulnerable in the ‘unsafe' online ‘patriarchal' environment." (Abstract)
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"The contents of this book deals with an overview of traditional folk media, characteristic elements of the study, empirical data of Jathara, Importance of Jathara as a medium of communication for the development of society. The analyzed the role of Jathara as a local and traditional mode of communi
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cation for rural development. In addition, it has portrayed the historical perspective of Raj Gonds' Nagobha Jathara as a conduit of communication and development, Paatha Pantala Jathara of Sangham women, Deccan Development Society, Zaheerabad region of Telangana State." (Back cover)
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"The book discusses the socio-historical contexts which allowed community radio to thrive in India. It highlights its potential to create alternative spaces of representation, and opportunity and its importance in preserving and disseminating local knowledge and traditions. The author weaves togethe
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r ethnographic research and literature, as well as personal narratives and stories of those involved in the field. Further, the monograph critically examines the impact of development agendas on community projects and processes, discussing in detail the pervasiveness of the development discourse in every aspect of community radio and how it manifests on air. It also illustrates the limitations of community radio, within the context of its participation in the 'spectacle of development'." (Publisher description)
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"[This publication] is a manual aimed at enhancing women’s participation and reducing gender inequalities in all aspects of the operations of community radio stations in India. This gender-sensitivity manual is an outcome of a project granted by the International Programme for Development of Commu
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nication (IPDC), UNESCO, to the UNESCO Chair on Community Media at the University of Hyderabad. As the name suggests, the overarching objective of the manual is to foster and reinforce best practices, policies, and programmes concerning gender in community radio (CR). It also seeks to ensure that the editorial content of CR stations remains gender sensitive at all times. The impetus of the project is also that the use of this gender-sensitivity manual by CR stations will contribute directly to the achievement of the key targets of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), especially the stand-alone Goal 5, which aims to “achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls.” (About the manual)
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"The two objectives that this compilation set for itself were documenting community radio best practices and creating a robust sector through knowledge sharing and collaborative learning. The 96 stories [from Bangladesh, India and Nepal] included in the compilation capture the various ways in which
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the diverse sector is identifying, prioritizing, and addressing concerns in the community’s vis-a-vis the SDGs. These stories describe the creative ways in which content has been developed by using the folk format, engaging the community through discussions, games, and cultural events, and innovative outreach activities. Further, they also highlight collaborations with local institutions and civic administrations and the way in which CRS’ core strengths like youth power especially in educational institutions are harnessed to provide inclusive community programming that truly provides a voice to the voiceless. Finally, the stories also highlight how social media and internet have been co-opted for a wider and on-demand access. The stories embody within them elements worthy of replication and emulation. Several community radio stations are already networking and sharing content and ideas. If these stories are also shared across content aggregation platforms and through the community radio networks, they could reach much wider audiences and initiate new conversations and exchange of ideas building a robust community of practice." (Way forward, page 34)
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"The COVID-19 pandemic and the nationwide lockdown have made community radio broadcasting more important than before. Using case studies and interviews, we explored the kind of programming adopted by selected community radio (CR) stations in India during the pandemic and how they fight fake news. We
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also analyzed other issues they addressed during this period. We identified more dedicated programming services concerning COVID-19, fake news, and mental health using two-way communication by CR stations. The latter shared personalized and fact-checked information disseminated to the community. Issues related to rising domestic violence and mental health were also highlighted in their broadcast during the nationwide lockdown. Fake news percolated quickly in the communities where most members are illiterate and have little access to fact-checked information. CR stations indeed play a pivotal role in engaging the community in verifying fake news through personalized storytelling, using folk and traditional media, and engaging COVID-19 warriors from the community to authenticate the information." (Abstract)
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"In 2020 Internews launched the Rooted in Trust project to counter rumors and misinformation about COVID-19. They commissioned Translators without Borders (TWB) to map community radio stations and investigate the language and translation challenges community radio broadcasters face when relaying off
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icial COVID-19 risk communication to their audience. To better understand these challenges, TWB conducted a survey and interviews with 65 community radio broadcasters, representing a quarter of all community radio stations across Afghanistan. Based on our survey, we mapped community radio stations and the reach of each radio signal to estimate overall radio coverage across the country. Where possible, we triangulated our findings with data from Internews’ Information Ecosystem Assessment in Kabul, Kandahar, and Herat. Community radio stations remain an important source of information, especially for rural populations, less literate individuals, and in remote provinces. During public health emergencies, broadcasters can turn into health communicators and support the relay of risk communication, but they face several challenges.
• Radio signals don’t cover all provinces: Based on the radio signals we were able to map, radio coverage doesn’t reach people equally across the country. Speakers of marginalized languages have especially limited access to radio broadcasts. Relative to population density, speakers of Turkmeni, Brahui, Balochi, and Uzbeki have especially limited access to radio broadcasts.
• Few broadcasts are in languages other than Dari and Pashto: Dari and Pashto are the main broadcasting languages, but not everyone understands them. Broadcasts in other languages are largely limited to adverts, short audio clips, and sporadic language mixing in talk shows and call-in shows. Dedicated programs providing in-depth information in another language are rare.
• Language barriers reduce the quality and timeliness of broadcasts: Community radio stations lack resources and translation capacity to broadcast in languages other than Dari or Pashto. As a result, some important information is delayed, and some is never broadcast at all. The quality and level of detail of broadcasts in other languages is also reduced.
• Broadcasters face difficulties accessing available information: Most community radio stations have limited access to the internet and experience electricity failures. This makes accessing and validating available information on COVID 19 extremely difficult. Also, background information is often passed to broadcasters in English, but with limited internet access this information can’t readily be translated.
• Information needs to be provided in plain language: Broadcasters don’t relay information that uses complicated language or technical and medical terms. New terms and complex new information around medical issues need to be rewritten and presented in plain language for a general audience. Yet community radio stations often can’t provide plain-language editing, so don’t relay more complex information." (Overview, page 1)
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"The book is a collection of perspectives and creative possibilities of programming on CR, not exclusive to disaster. The book is for anyone who believes in employing reflective creative practices as an approach to their work. It proposes a different way of seeing and listening. It also includes exe
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rcises and games that can be adapted to their own context. The book is a step forward in collectively thinking of a utopia in times of a pandemic, through creative practices." (Metamorphosis: a call for transformation)
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"Many Voices, Many Worlds: Critical Perspectives on Community Media in India is a critical reflection on governance and policymaking, development, disability, knowledge and other social markers in the context of community media. Bringing together different modes of community media—such as video, r
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adio, theatre, information and communication technologies (ICTs) and new media—into a productive conversation with each other, the book focuses on how communities through their communicative practices, negotiate the politics of caste, class, gender, and access to funding and technology." (Publisher description)
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"Featuring contributions from a diverse range of internationally-recognized experts and practitioners, this timely volume discusses recent developments in the field in the context of related scholarship, public policy, formal and non-formal teaching and learning, and DIY and community practice. Offe
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ring a truly global perspective, the Handbook focuses on empirical work from Media and Information Literacy (MIL) practitioners from around the world. The book’s five parts explore global youth cultures and the media, trans-media learning, media literacy and scientific controversies, varying national approaches to media research, media education policies, and much more." (Publisher description)
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"This year's report reveals new insights about digital news consumption based on a YouGov survey of over 92,000 online news consumers in 46 markets including India, Indonesia, Thailand, Nigeria, Colombia and Peru for the first time. The report looks at the impact of coronavirus on news consumption a
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nd on the economic prospects for publishers. It looks at progress on new paid online business models, trust and misinformation, local news, impartiality and fairness in news coverage." (Overview)
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"A clustered randomized trial in two states of India examines alternate strategies to reduce child marriage, increase girls' education and change gender attitudes. GPs were randomized into four treatment and one control group in a 1:1:1:2:2 ratio. The GP level intervention from November 2012 deliver
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ed to treatment groups i) A Full Package, comprising mass-media, training and community mobilization programs; ii) a Training Package comprising a combination of mass media and a training program at the block level; iii) a Community Mobilization Package comprising a combination of mass-media and a community mobilization program; iv) and an only Mass Media program. Data from 2,542 households seven years after the start of the program shows that the intervention made significant improvements in impact indicators on girls' education and incidence and age at marriage. As compared to the control GPs, the Full Package intervention increased the age at marriage for girls aged 13-25 on an average by 6.5 months and their education by 9 months. The Full Package also increased the percentage of girls enrolled in school by an additional 9% over the level that control group achieved (92% in Full Package vs 83% in Control Group). The program impacts were similar after controlling for stratification and other household and GP level characteristics.
We found that the intervention made an outcome indicator - gender attitudes - more progressive; GP with Full Package had a 0.407 standard deviation (equivalent to approximately 16%) higher gender attitude index than control GPs (p < 0.01). The measure of attitudes is an index of aggregated indices on gender equality, education, marriage, mobility and knowledge. Attitude change was larger for education and mobility indices. For example, the households in the Full Package had 0.26 and 0.33 standard deviations more positive attitude towards girls’ education and mobility than control GPs. We did not find any significant effect on attitudes pertaining to marriage and girl’s work and responsibility. There is little change in norms related to gender roles within the home and education has mostly been perceived as a vehicle for better management of the home, rather than for empowering women to work and be independent." (Summary)
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"The fifth edition [...] cuts across print, TV, film, music, radio and digital media. In the process, the book takes you through the current trends, history, business dynamics and regulation in media, and provides a glimpse into the future of each of these segments." (Back cover)