"To advance interdisciplinary understanding, Shifting Dynamics of Contention in the Digital Age outlines a communication-centered framework that articulates the intricate relationship between technology, communication, and contention. It systematically explores the influence of mobile technology on
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political contention in China, the country with the world's largest number of mobile and internet users. Using first-hand in-depth interview and fieldwork data, Shifting Dynamics of Contention in the Digital Age tracks the strategic choice of mobile phones as repertoires of contention, illustrates the effective mobilization of mobile communication on the basis of its strong and reciprocal social ties, and identifies the communicative practice of forwarding officially alleged "rumors" as a form of everyday resistance. Through this groundbreaking study, Shifting Dynamics of Contention in the Digital Age presents a nuanced portrayal of an emerging dynamics of contention--both its strengths and limitations- through the embedding of mobile communication into Chinese society and politics." (Publisher description)
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"Transnational Korean Television: Cultural Storytelling and Digital Audience provides previously absent analyses of Korean TV dramas' transnational influences, peculiar production features, distribution, and consumption to enrich the contextual understanding of Korean TV's transcultural mobility. Ev
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en as academic discussions about the Korean Wave have heated up, Korean television studies from transnational viewpoints often lack in-depth analysis and overlook the recently extended flow of Korean television beyond Asia. This book illustrates the ecology of Korean television along with the Korean Wave for the past two decades in order to showcase Korean TV dramas' international mobility and its constant expansion with the different Western television and their audiences. Korean TV dramas' mobility in crossing borders has been seen in both transnational and transcultural flows, and the book opens up the potential to observe the constant flow of Korean television content in new places, peoples, manners, and platforms around the world." (Publisher description)
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"Media Imperialism: Continuity and Change advances applied theoretical research on 21st century media imperialism. The volume includes established and emerging researchers in international communications who examine the geopolitical, economic, technological and cultural dimensions of 21st century me
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dia imperialism. The volume highlights and challenges how news, entertainment and social media uphold unequal power relations in the world. Written in an accessible style, this volume marries conceptual, theoretical sophistication, and concrete illustration with rich case studies and global examples. Chapters cover the complete media spectrum, from social media to Hollywood, to news and national propaganda in national and transnational analyses. Readers will find discussions that range from soft power and China to the USA's empire of the internet to the rise of "Chindia" in a post-American media world." (Publisher description)
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"The Routledge Companion to Media and Activism is a wide-ranging collection of 42 original and authoritative essays by leading contributors from a variety of academic disciplines. Introducing and exploring central debates about the diverse relationships between both media and protest, and communicat
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ion and social change, the book offers readers a reliable and informed guide to understanding how media and activism influence one another. The expert contributors examine the tactics and strategies of protest movements, and how activists organize themselves and each other; they investigate the dilemmas of media coverage and the creation of alternative media spaces and platforms; and they emphasize the importance of creativity and art in social change. Bringing together case studies and contributors from six continents, the collection is organized around themes that address past, present and future developments from around the world." (Publisher description)
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"This fully updated second edition of the popular handbook provides an exploration of thinking on media ethics, bringing together the intellectual history of global mass media ethics over the past 40 years, summarising existing research and setting future agenda grounded in philosophy and social sci
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ence. This second edition offers up-to-date and comprehensive coverage of media ethics, including source ethics, social media, the roots of law in ethics, and documentary film. The wide range of contributors include scholars and former professionals who worked as journalists, public relations professionals, and advertising practitioners. They lay out both a good grounding from which to begin more in-depth and individualized explorations, and extensive bibliographies for each chapter to aid that process. For students and professionals who seek to understand and do the best work possible, this book will provide both insight and direction. Standing apart in its comprehensive coverage, the Handbook is required reading for scholars, graduate students, and researchers in media, mass communication, journalism, ethics, and related areas." (Publisher description)
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"China is making a sustained effort to become a ‘cyber superpower’. An integral part of this effort is the propagation by Beijing of the notion of ‘internet sovereignty’ – China’s supreme right to govern the internet within its borders and keep it under rigid control. Chinese companies w
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ork closely with Chinese state authorities to export technology to Africa in order to extend China’s influence and promote its cyberspace governance model. This contribution argues that the rapid expansion across Africa of Chinese technology companies and their products warrants vigilance. If African governments fail to advance their own values and interests – including freedom of expression, free enterprise and the rule of law – with equal boldness, the ‘China model’ of digital governance by default might very well become the ‘Africa model’." (Abstract)
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"The essays in this collection focus on [...] the organization of material and immaterial resources necessary for local cinema to endure as a valuable and vibrant alternative to other forms of cinema. In line with the mission of applied research, the main normative goal inspiring our project is rath
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er practical: to support local cinema and the education of local filmmakers in addressing the cultural effects and challenges brought about by globalization and digitalization. The essays in this collection pick up particular aspects of these challenges and invite the reader to problematize local cinema as a cultural form that is both vulnerable and valuable." (Preface)
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"Placed at the crossroads of diverse disciplines – medical sciences, information and communication science, sociology of food, agricultural sciences – this book focuses on media, food and nutrition. Contributors to this volume come from different countries including the United Kingdom, Germany,
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Mexico and Romania, and consider comparatively their native cultures. The book answers several questions: How are food and nutrition made visible and publicized? What is the role of media in relation to food and nutrition? What are the strategies of discourses surrounding food and nutrition within new public spaces?" (Publisher description)
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"The issue of ‘China colonizing Africa’ received significant attention in both traditional and social media in the periods before, during and after the Forum on China Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) 2018 meeting. This study traces these discourses on YouTube [...] The study finds that the themes and
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the sentiments reflect the dominance of pessimistic and optimistic perspectives on the Africa–China relationship. Furthermore, the study shows that the themes discussed have not offered new perspectives but instead the discussions have repackaged old narratives as part of agenda building efforts by the protagonists. The study, therefore argues that social media have become important platforms for activation of issues on the Africa–China relationship, hence the persistence of these old narratives is attributed to lack of effective responses to issues on social media by both African countries and Chinese officials." (Abstract)
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"This edited volume gives voice to pluralised avenues from visual communication and cultural studies regarding the Global South and beyond, including examples from China, India, Cambodia, Brazil, Mexico and numerous other countries. Defining visual communication and culture as an umbrella term that
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encompasses imagery studies, the moving image and non-verbal visual communication, the first three chapters of the book describe de-Westernisation discourse as a way to strengthen emic research and the Global South as both a geographical concept and, even more so, a category of diversity and pluralism. The subsequent regional case study-based chapters draw on various emic theories and methodologies and find a complex arrangement of visuality between sociocultural and sociopolitical practices and institutions." (Publisher description)
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"An increasing number of media platforms - from newspapers and television to Internet social media networks - are the major providers of indispensable information about the natural world and environmental risk. Despite the dramatic changes in the news industry that have tended to reduce the number o
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f full-time newspaper reporters, environmental journalists remain key to bringing stories to light across the globe. With contributions from across the world broken down into five key regions - the United States of America, Europe and Russia, Asia and Australia, Africa and the Middle East, and South America - this book provides support for today's environment reporters, the providers of essential news in the 21st century." (Publisher description)
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"The Chinese state has demonstrated a propensity for controlling and shaping the information environment of the Chinese diaspora—including via WeChat. The meteoric growth of TikTok has now put the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in a position from which it can shape the information environment on a
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largely non-Chinese-speaking platform—with the help of the highest valued start-up in the world and its opaque advanced AI-powered algorithm. Chinese party-state leverage over these companies is considerable, is exercised internally via CCP committees and is enforced by a suite of cybersecurity and intelligence laws. As Chinese companies, Tencent and ByteDance are not only required to participate in intelligence work, but they’re also legally mandated to promote CCP propaganda. China’s censorship and propaganda apparatus is a responsibility that’s pushed down to media and technology companies such as Tencent and ByteDance. As Chinese companies, they’re obligated to comply with strict government regulations on what content is allowed to be published on their platforms, and they both invest heavily in automated systems for content filtering and human curation. The demands of the PRC’s surveillance and propaganda apparatus on these technology companies are such that, at least in the case of WeChat, they’re even prepared to surveil the foreign users of their apps in order to better train the censorship algorithms used on Chinese citizens within the PRC." (Conclusion, page 47)
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"Weltweit nutzen 3,3 Milliarden Menschen ein Smartphone, Tendenz weiter steigend. In nahezu allen Ländern des Südens ist die Verbreitung besonders groß. Nicht immer handelt es sich dabei um teure Topmodelle, aber gerade wegen ihrer Erschwinglichkeit sind allein in afrikanischen Ländern 700 Milli
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onen internetfähige Smartphones und nicht-internetfähige Mobile Phones im Gebrauch. Selbst in Ländern wie Somalia, wo Infrastrukturen gleich welcher Art kaum existent sind, funktioniert eines recht zuverlässig: das Mobilfunknetz. In einer High-Tech-Fabrik in Ruanda laufen seit neuestem täglich zehntausend »MaraPhones« genannte Smartphones vom Band.
Die durch Smartphones und Mobile Phones entstehenden Möglichkeiten werden überall auf der Welt ausgiebig genutzt. Tiefgreifende gesellschaftliche und wirtschaftliche Veränderungen sind die Folge. Familiäre Beziehungen werden neu gestaltet und klassische Modelle sozialer Interaktion wie »Freundschaft« neu definiert. Praktisch jeder Wirtschaftssektor ist gründlich von den Handys auf den Kopf gestellt worden. Auch in der kleinbäuerlichen Landwirtschaft in Ostafrika gehören Smartphones längst zum Alltag. Ohne dem Kulturpessimismus zu frönen: Es liegt auf der Hand, dass all diese Entwicklungen nicht nur Chancen, sondern auch große Gefahren bergen. Mit keiner anderen systemrelevanten Technologie lassen sich Manipulation und Überwachung von Individuen besser bewerkstelligen als via Smartphone. Die mit erpresserischen Methoden exekutierte Datensammelwut der großen Konzerne hat durchaus eine Entsprechung in der Überwachung durch autoritäre Regime. Dagegen klingen frühere Dystopien à la »Big Brother is watching you« harmlos.
Im Bereich des Politischen wird besonders deutlich, wie groß die partizipatorischen Potenziale einer Demokratie von unten via Social Media sind, aber auch, wie schnell diese in Regression, Manipulation und Repression münden. Der Arabische Frühling galt zu Recht als »Facebook-Revolution«, das hierarchische Sender-Empfänger-Prinzip war partiell aufgehoben. Was aber vor staatlicher Verfolgung nicht nur nicht schützte, sondern sie oft überhaupt erst ermöglichte. Perfektioniert wird politische Kontrolle via Smartphone einmal mehr von der KP der Volksrepublik China. Sie hält ihre 90 Millionen Parteimitglieder via App auf Kurs – und wehe, jemand liest zu wenig Beiträge und sammelt nicht genügend »Lernpunkte«! Beim Smartphone ist es eben wie beim Beton: Es kommt drauf an, was man draus macht." (Editorial, Seite D2)
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"Offering a collection of invited contributions from scholars across the world, the volume is structured in seven parts, each exploring a particular aspect of local media and journalism that provide the framework to bring together and consolidate the latest research and theorisations from the field,
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and fresh understandings of local media from a comparative perspective and within a global context. Addressing the significant changes local media and journalism has undergone in the last decade, the companion explores the history, politics, ethics and contents of local media, as well as delving deeper into the business and practices that affect not only the journalists and media-makers involved, but consumers as well. For students and researchers in the fields of journalism studies, journalism education, cultural studies and media and communications programmes, this is the comprehensive guide to local media and journalism." (Publisher description)
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"Beijing is running an extensive and sophisticated long-term outreach campaign which cuts across the developed and developing world, focusing on both legacy and digital media. This is a strategic, long-term effort to reshape the global news landscape with a China-friendly global narrative. Through f
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oreign media acquisitions and large-scale telecommunications ventures, China is increasing its share in critical information infrastructure overseas. In this way, Beijing is moving to build control over the messaging infrastructure, as well as subsidising the messaging through content-sharing and reprogramming the messagers through training schemes. Through journalism tours and education, Beijing is cultivating a cadre of third-party supporters, outsourcing its influence operations to individual journalists. There is a more pronounced focus on journalists from developing countries with repressive and ineffective governments. To this end, Beijing is also leveraging global journalism bodies to serve its ends, contracting cooptation through MOUs, a classic United Front strategy. One corollary of the journalism exchanges is the exportation of a different model of journalism than that practiced in the West. China is offering concrete aid in the form of technical support, equipment and training to journalism organisations depending on need. The perception towards China’s outreach is generally positive. Beijing’s key objective is boosting coverage overseas that aligns with its policy priorities, in particular gaining favourable media for its Belt and Road Initiative and deflecting attention from the 1 million Uighurs in political indoctrination camps in Xinjiang. China’s overall strategic objectives are the same across the board, but its ability to achieve these goals is dependent upon the responsiveness of respective governments and the media’s commitment to a free press." (Conclusion)
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"China’s efforts to use state media as a means to increase its soft power around the world have raised concerns in many quarters. With much fanfare in late 2016, China relaunched its global television network, formerly known as China Central Television, as a new global media brand, the China Globa
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l Television Network (CGTN). Despite extensive investment and active support from the highest levels of government, including President Xi Jinping, CGTN has had limited success in improving China’s international soft power standing. For many Western observers, it is CGTN’s association with the Chinese party-state which limits its ability to shape and influence the global discourse. However, it is CGTN’s internal organisational structure and culture which really inhibits its effectiveness as a soft power tool." (Abstract)
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"The review found that while there is a growing global body of evidence around effective education programming to prevent child sexual exploitation and abuse (CSEA), much of the available evidence is from high income countries (HICs) and largely focuses on programmes which address offline rather tha
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n online abuse. The evidence that does exist on prevention of online CSEA is also from HICs, is of low quality overall and tends to focus on whether the intervention enhanced knowledge rather than changed behaviour. Further, as Internet use amongst children varies between high income and low income countries, it is important to be cautious in applying lessons learned across different contexts. Although online and offline CSEA are closely linked, it was also found that there is often an artificial division, with programmes tending to look at only online or only offline CSEA. Therefore, there is limited evidence of how programmes impact on both online and offline CSEA. In the East Asia and Pacific region, the evidence base on what works to tackle CSEA in education programming is at an early stage in scope and scale. Few comprehensive assessments or evaluations of education programmes tackling CSEA have taken place and/or are publicly available. It is also unclear whether majority of existing interventions are being evaluated and whether they were designed using evidence-informed theories of change methodology. Despite the constraints faced, this review draws on promising global and regional practice, emerging lessons and findings from available data on online risks, to highlight key factors to consider in the development of effective educational materials in East Asia and the Pacific." (Executive summary)
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"Bereits in jungen Jahren konnte sich John Mishen für die Medien begeistern und hörte sich gemeinsam mit seinen Großeltern die täglichen Radiosendungen von Radio Veritas Asia an, bis er als Seminarist dann selbst vor dem Mikrofon des großen katholischen Radiosenders in Asien stand. Als Dozent f
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ür soziale und pastorale Kommunikation schult er heute junge Menschen, bringt ihnen die kommunikationswissenschaftlichen Methoden bei. Im Interview berichtet er von seinem Werdegang und zeigt auf, warum die zwischenmenschliche Kommunikation als Geschenk Gottes zu verstehen ist." (Seite 24)
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"Drawing on a wide range of case studies addressing how people can be ‘othered’ in contemporary media, the chapters focus on analyses of hateful discourses about disability on Reddit, news coverage of disability and education, media access of individuals with disabilities, the logic of memes and
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brain tumour on Twitter, celebrity and Down Syndrome on Instagram, disability in TV drama, the metaphor of disability for the nation as well as an autoethnography of treatment of breast cancer. Providing a much-needed global perspective, Disability, Media, and Representations examines the relationship between self-representation and representations in either reinforcing or debunking myths around disability, and ways in which academic discourse can be differently articulated to study the relationship between media and disability." (Publisher description)
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