"The present study is designed to assess the trend of episodic and thematic media framing on child-abusing news and its relation with the adaptation of The Children Act along with UNICEF's reporting principles. With media framing theory this paper executed a quantitative study through content analys
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is. A total of 1091 news articles were studied from two broadsheets and one tabloid newspaper within a timeline of one year. Results revealed that episodic news has a higher tendency of violating reporting principles than thematic. Incidents of sexual abuse received most of the coverage in Bangladeshi newspapers where girls were found most likely to be the victims of misrepresentation. Finally, the tabloid newspaper was found guiltier of unethical reporting than the broadsheets which established a significant connection between the tendency of principles violation and newspaper type. The paper recommended policymakers, child welfare institutes, and mass media promote children's rights to decrease the rate of abuse cases in Bangladesh." (Abstract)
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"Comprising 41 chapters by a team of international contributors, the companion is divided into three parts: histories; approaches; thematic considerations. The chapters offer wide-ranging explorations of how forms of mediation influence communication, social relationships, cultural practices, partic
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ipation, and social change, as well as production and access to information and knowledge. This volume considers new developments, and highlights the ways in which anthropology can contribute to the study of the human condition and the social processes in which media are entangled." (Publisher description)
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"The Hindu Group (THG), a 143-year-old old legacy news brand, dove into subscriptions in 2019. The Hindu approached subscriptions with the mindset of revenue optimisation while being agnostic to the source." (Summary)
"The Bangladesh Digital Ecosystem Country Assessment (DECA) report presents the findings and recommendations of the Bangladesh DECA. It outlines the key aspects of Bangladesh's digital ecosystem and provides 10 recommendations for creating a more inclusive, safe, and enabling environment. Guided by
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three USAID/Bangladesh priorities, which include i ) improved democratic systems that promote transparency, accountability, and integrity; ii) enhanced opportunities for an inclusive, healthy, educated society, and a robust economy; and iii) strengthened resilience to shocks and stressors, the DECA process included desk research, consultations with USAID/Bangladesh technical offices, and 81 key informant interviews with stakeholders from civil society, academia, and the private and public sectors. Key findings include: Bangladesh’s digital ecosystem has steadily evolved over the last decade; the Government of Bangladesh (GoB)'s Vision 2021 and Vision 2041 underscore the importance of Digital Bangladesh and have been drivers for digital transformation across the country. However, undefined roadmaps and uneven knowledge of digitalization among government officials undermine GoB’s efforts; limited digital literacy is a key barrier across all aspects of the ecosystem; connectivity is affected by poor quality of services and lack of affordable data; a growing ecosystem of locally relevant content is key to closing the usage gap; barriers in terms of funding and understanding user needs remain; Bangladesh ranks Number One in South Asia on the e-government academy’s National Cybersecurity Index (NCSI) in terms of the availability of necessary laws and policy, but there is significant room for improvement when it comes to the strength of implementation across the ecosystem; misinformation and disinformation are widespread in the digital sphere; mobile financial services are expansive in Bangladesh and increasingly inclusive; e-commerce and the tech startup environment have grown quickly due to an increase in international and domestic investments and an active private sector; an expansive digital talent pool exists, but they are not trained to their fullest potential, hindering their income potential and Bangladesh’s growth trajectory." (https://www.usaid.gov/digital-development)
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"The book Videogames in the Indian Subcontinent. Development, Culture(s) and Representations is the first ever comprehensive presentation and discussion of material spanning over all nations of South Asia, including Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. Discussed b
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y the leading expert on the theme, it offers both an overview of as well as numerous detailed examples of both, historical and contemporary developments. Appropriately, this work also situates the regional characteristics in larger global contexts and cultural flows, and contemporary developments in historical contexts." (Review by Xenia Zeiler, CyberOrient, Vol. 17, Iss. 1, 2023, pp. 70-73)
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"By the summer of 2020, when the coronavirus had fully entered our everyday vocabulary and our lives, religious communities and places of worship around the world were already undergoing profound changes. In Asian and Asian diaspora communities, diverse cultural tropes, beliefs, and artifacts were m
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obilized to make sense of Covid, including a repertoire of gods and demons like Coronasur, the virus depicted with the horns and fangs of a traditional Hindu demon. Various kinds of knowledge were invoked: theologies, indigenous medicines, and biomedical narratives, as well as ethical values and nationalist sentiments. CoronAsur: Asian Religions in the Covidian Age follows the documentation and analysis of the abrupt societal shifts triggered by the pandemic to understand current and future pandemic times, while revealing further avenues for research on religion that have opened up in the Covidian age. Developed in tandem with the research blog CoronAsur: Religion and COVID-19, this volume is a “phygital” publication, a work grounded in empirical roots as well as digitally born communication. It comprises thirty-eight essays that examine Asian religious communities—Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu, Daoist, and Christian as well as popular/folk and new religious movements, or NRMs—in terms of the changes brought on by and the ritual responses to the Covid pandemic." (Publisher description)
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"The impacts of media, mainly social media, have attracted greater scholarly attention. However, their effects on public policy development and the decision-making procedure of a government have not been examined so far. Thus, this study examines such effects in pre-Taliban Afghanistan before August
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2021. Theories of signal detection and agenda-setting are adopted. Five variables (problem identification, media attention, perceived change, social media intensity, and relevance of social media) were conceptualized and operationalized to understand and measure the impact. Two data sets, qualitative and quantitative, were chosen on the eve of a presidential election (September 2019). For the first data set, a 63-question questionnaire was developed and piloted, and a purposive sample was chosen (N = 385). The second set contains in-depth interviews with government employees and bloggers. Findings show that social media influences public policy formulation and decision-making procedures. The results further reveal that social media are an essential vehicle for governance, have the potential to provide a networked public sphere, and bridge the communication gap between government and the public in a fragile state like Afghanistan." (Abstract)
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"The Routledge Handbook of Collective Intelligence for Democracy and Governance explores the concepts, methodologies, and implications of collective intelligence for democratic governance, in the first comprehensive survey of this field. Illustrated by a collection of inspiring case studies and edit
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ed by three pioneers in collective intelligence, this handbook serves as a unique primer on the science of collective intelligence applied to public challenges and will inspire public actors, academics, students, and activists across the world to apply collective intelligence in policymaking and administration to explore its potential, both to foster policy innovations and reinvent democracy." (Publisher description)
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"Bringing together 15 journalism scholars from around the world, this book explores and offers solutions to the common issues and inadequacies of reporting on sexual violence in the media. Presenting a range of conceptual, methodological, and empirical chapters, the book tackles issues related to, o
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r missing, from journalism in three parts: Part I acknowledges and surveys the role journalism plays in shining a light on social injustices and critiques research deficits in reporting on sexual violence; Part II employs cutting-edge research linked to an intersectional lens to amplify the voices that have been silenced in the media coverage; Part III explores how advocacy, campaign, and solutions journalism offers frameworks for ethical reporting on the shadow epidemic of sexual violence during these COVID-normal times." (Publisher description)
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"The book identifies and explains the unequal power relations in place that limit the possibilities of communication justice, the challenges and difficulties faced by activists and communities, the ways in which communities and movements have confronted power structures through discourse and materia
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l action, and their successes and limitations in creating new structures that promote the right to, and facilitate a future for, communicative justice. The volume features contributions based on experiences of resistance and transformation in the Global South—Bolivia, Ecuador, India, Malawi, and collaborations between the continents of Latin America and Africa—as well as notable studies from the Global North—Japan, Spain, and the United Kingdom—that defy hegemonic models." (Publisher description)
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"This book showcases the online activism of women's groups around the world in the post-#MeToo era, and presents an overview of the diversity of its current expressions. The focus of this book extends beyond campaigns against rape culture to include women's struggles on other political and environme
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ntal issues, such as the campaign against the radical right-wing in Austria. Moreover, the book's chapters highlight the genuine complexity of the efforts of women activists who are not only challenging the patriarchal order within male-controlled digital platforms but are also challenging the hegemonic voices within the women's movements. The book's case studies attest to the proliferation of digital campaigns aimed not only against discrimination of women but against discrimination based on their color, age, ethnicity, and nationality. The internet helps them to voice their agenda and strive for social change as well as to create both connective and collective identities." (Publisher description)
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"In Myanmar and Pakistan, anti-democratic forces including an alliance of military and right-wing political factions are dominating political affairs despite both countries’ constitutions defining democratic processes. Consequently, the authoritarian rule has been looming in these countries. The a
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bove forces have kept tight control over traditional media (television, print) by silencing the voices of common people using force and violence. However, social media has empowered pro-civilian rule activists to raise their voices and has helped to mobilise the public in favour of political change in their societies. How are these activists using social media to bring political change in Myanmar and Pakistan? This policy brief seeks answers to this question by examining the activism of political and civil society activists on social media in Myanmar and Pakistan. The brief explains the methods, strategies, and their impact on political and social space in Pakistani and Myanmar societie." (Summary)
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"The American Psychological Association defines trauma as “an emotional response to a terrible event. . . .” Trauma can be experienced as a response to either physical or emotionally disturbing circumstances. The Journalism and the Pandemic Project from the International Center for Journalists (
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ICFJ) and the Tow Center for Digital Journalism at Columbia University, in their global survey of journalists, have studied the impact of the pandemic on journalists across the globe. The COVID-19 pandemic has caused varying degrees of disruptions in the personal and professional lives of journalists. Traumatic experiences like covering traumatic events up close, COVID-induced health issues, job loss, pay cuts, and insecurity at the workplace have consumed journalists like never before. Overwhelming emotions like shock, helplessness, loneliness, depression, and anxiety are some of the reactions observed by mental health experts. Indian journalists, too, like their counterparts across the globe, have had to take on the challenges posed by this unprecedented crisis. This article intends to study the impact of the pandemic on Indian journalists both from physical and emotional perspectives. The objectives of the study include—(a) to analyze the journalists’ response to traumatic experiences during the pandemic, (b) to study the nature of trauma experienced by journalists during the pandemic, (c) to analyze how traumatic experiences affected the journalists, and (d) to explore and analyze how journalists managed to cope with the traumatic experiences. The study adopts social cognitive theory (SCT) as the framework. SCT comprises four goal realization processes: self-observation, self-evaluation, self-reaction, and self-efficacy. The four components are interrelated, and all influence motivation and goal attainment. Social cognition includes diverse processes linking the perception of social information with a behavioral response, including perception, attention, decision-making, memory, and emotion. The post-traumatic reactions include re-experiencing the traumatic event in flashbacks, recurrent nightmares, and intrusive memories, hypervigilant arousal, impaired concentration, depression, sleep disturbances, self-devaluation, avoidance of reminders of traumatic experiences, emotional detachment from others, and disengagement from aspects of life that provide meaning and self-fulfillment, which impair intrapersonal, interpersonal, and occupational functioning. The scope of the study covers the journalists’ responses to traumatic experiences specific to the pandemic. The study adopts a mixed research method with a thematic analysis of the qualitative data from interviews of journalists followed by a factor analysis of the quantitative data from the survey of the journalists." (Abstract)
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"Journalists in Pakistan are losing their lives during the course of their duty. This study identifies the factors and actors behind the killings of Pakistani journalists and the role of stakeholders and media owners in compromising journalists’ safety, under the lens of social responsibility theo
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ry, by unearthing the case study of slain journalist Arshad Sharif. This study looks into the complete picture of Pakistani journalists’ killings. In order to collect data, in-depth interviews of 15 seasoned journalists are conducted through snowball sampling and 10 recent tweets of Arshad Shairf has been examined by applying the framework of critical discourse analysis (CDA) to uncover the rhetoric. The findings show that the journalists in Pakistan are performing their jobs in grave situation and get exposed to life threats when they blur the line between journalism and politics. State and non-state actors, land mafias and criminal gangs threaten journalists. Stakeholders and media owners use media workers for their interests. The case of Arshad Sharif’s murder has raised questions on the safety of journalists and the journalistic ethics in Pakistan. It is recommended to revisit the freedom of expression and media code of ethics in the light of findings of this research." (Abstract)
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"This book focuses on China’s media diplomacy and its interplay with a range of international conflicts. It assesses the representation and framing of China, as well as the perception and reception of China’s media communication in relation to various crises and conflicts. Including detailed ana
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lyses of many cases, it highlights the complex, fluid and dynamic relationship between media and conflict, and discusses how this both exemplifies and also affects China’s relations with the outside world." (Publisher description)
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"This edited book based on a collective effort of researchers and professionals dedicated to compile the stories of children's television around the world. With 12 national chapters, the book includes historical accounts of children's television from the following countries: Australia, Brazil, Canad
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a, China, Ecuador, Germany, India, Israel, Italy, Kenia, Netherlands and USA. It provides an exploration of each individual country, revealing striking similarities and differences, discussed in depth in the final chapter. Looking at the global field through local eyes--its main texts and active players (broadcasters, producers and creators, as well as regulators and policy makers), their ideologies, financial prospects and perceptions of childhood--offers a macro-level evaluation of an entire cultural field." (Publisher description)
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"The safety of journalists reporting from conflict zones is a complex issue as they are exposed to a variety of challenges on a daily basis. This research aims to identify those multi-dimensional challenges that make Balochistan one of the world’s riskiest places for journalists. Based on 30 in-de
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pth interviews with journalists working in the area, the authors found that the dynamics of conflict in Balochistan are different from those in other parts of Pakistan. Their findings reveal that different threatening agents – nationalist movements, separatist groups, the international agencies active there and the high level of extremism – all mean that journalists often cannot even identify the exact sources of threats. Moreover, journalists state that they receive no help from their media houses when they are reporting from conflict zones and look to the Pakistani army to protect the interests of the Baloch people while facing such challenges and risks." (Abstract)
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"In many countries, especially outside Europe and the United States, we find a significant further decline in the use of Facebook for news and a growing reliance on a range of alternatives including private messaging apps and video networks. Facebook news consumption is down 4 percentage points, acr
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oss all countries, in the last year.
• News use across online platforms is fragmenting, with six networks now reaching at least 10% of our respondents, compared with just two a decade ago. YouTube is used for news by almost a third (31%) of our global sample each week, WhatsApp by around a fifth (21%), while TikTok (13%) has overtaken Twitter (10%), now rebranded X, for the first time.
• Linked to these shifts, video is becoming a more important source of online news, especially with younger groups. Short news videos are accessed by two-thirds (66%) of our sample each week, with longer formats attracting around half (51%). The main locus of news video consumption is online platforms (72%) rather than publisher websites (22%), increasing the challenges around monetisation and connection.
• Although the platform mix is shifting, the majority continue to identify platforms including social media, search, or aggregators as their main gateway to online news. Across markets, only around a fifth of respondents (22%) identify news websites or apps as their main source of online news – that’s down 10 percentage points on 2018. Publishers in a few Northern European markets have managed to buck this trend, but younger groups everywhere are showing a weaker connection with news brands than they did in the past.
• Turning to the sources that people pay most attention to when it comes to news on various platforms, we find an increasing focus on partisan commentators, influencers, and young news creators, especially on YouTube and TikTok. But in social networks such as Facebook and X, traditional news brands and journalists still tend to play a prominent role.
• Concern about what is real and what is fake on the internet when it comes to online news has risen by 3 percentage points in the last year with around six in ten (59%) saying they are concerned. The figure is considerably higher in South Africa (81%) and the United States (72%), both countries that have been holding elections this year.
• Worries about how to distinguish between trustworthy and untrustworthy content in online platforms is highest for TikTok and X when compared with other online networks. Both platforms have hosted misinformation or conspiracies around stories such as the war in Gaza, and the Princess of Wales’s health, as well as so-called ‘deep fake’ pictures and videos." (Executive summary, page 10)
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"This topical volume illuminates ethical issues brought to the fore by the COVID-19 pandemic. Drawing on a broad range of case studies from different regions, it provides insights into the multiple and complex ways in which the pandemic has shaped media ethics. Chapters employ a wide range of innova
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tive theoretical and methodological approaches to dissect enduring and emerging ethical questions during the pandemic, providing lucid accounts of axiological dimensions in pandemic discourses, ethics of emotional mood, ethical challenges and dilemmas in news reporting, propaganda, misinformation, disinformation, and Othering. While the case studies in this book are unique, the authors have extrapolated common strands from their analysis of ethical issues applicable to any other country or region during the pandemic, contributing unique perspectives on how media ethics are circumscribed by global health pandemics." (Publisher description)
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