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Static: Race and Representation in Post-Apartheid Music, Media and Film

Adam Haupt

Cape Town: HSRC Press (2012), xvi, 240 pp.

"Static: Race and Representation in Post-apartheid Music, Media and Film critically examines music, cinema, social media and the politics of change after apartheid. It cuts across academic disciplines, the creative arts and the media and poses two central questions: Is South Africa changing for the ... more

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Women and the Web: Bridging the Internet Gap and Creating New Global Opportunities in Low and Middle-Income Countries

Yana Watson Kakar, Vicky Hausman, Andria Thomas, Chris Denny-Brown

Santa Clara, Calif.; New York: Intel;Dalberg Global Development Advisors (2012), 100 pp.

"This report [is] the first compilation of the global data on how women in developing countries access and use the Internet. I am convinced this report provides key insights for policy makers, the development community and industry. Based on interviews and surveys of 2,200 women in developing countr ... more

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The Palgrave Handbook of Global Radio

John Allen Hendricks (ed.)

Houndmills, Basingstoke; New York: Palgrave Macmillan (2012), xxxiv, 590 pp.

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Promoting National Unity: The Role of Radio Broadcasting in the Process of Decolonisation in Namibia and Zambia

Robert Heinze

Universität Konstanz, Doctoral Thesis (2012), iv, 313 pp.

"This thesis operates from the observation that "Decolonising the Mind", i.e. a cultural decolonisation process, was needed after the independence of African countries to support and flesh out political decolonisation. Culture, as shown, played a major role in the mobilisation of support for nationa ... list movements, but after independence nationalist culture was just one among many. In both cases presented here, the most pressing issue after political independence was how to deal with the different identities that had previously existed and were onyl partially cushioned by political and cultural nationalism. Now that the political kingdom had been attained, the different language, cultural and political groups started to ask questions about their place in this kingdom. Although many politicians shared the idea that "once you have a national identity, the question of culture becomes something which flows automatically", it soon turned out to be misguided. Media and education were seen to be the major tools in "decolonising the mind". However, a close analysis of the electronic media in the two cases presented here shows that the policies for promoting national unity in programmes were largely ineffective. Instead, radio programmes, both before and after independence, provided a space to negotiate issues of national identity. This space was sometimes more, sometimes less restricted, but listeners used it as much as they could. Colonial media had, for all their focus on political control and censorship, accompanied and mediated social change. As described, this happened specifically in cultural programmes, where broadcasters were much freer in their work. However, Northern Rhodesian media were supposed to work as a catalyst to further the process of modernisation, and to help its listeners come to terms with the transition from being 'traditional' to becoming 'modern' Africans. In the Apartheid broadcasting system, culture was used consciously to construct a specific 'ethnic' identity, emphasising cultural traditions of the different language groups. But while the intentions were different, both broadcasting institutions were at the centre of negotiating ideas of tradition and modernity. Both were also established because there was a need to legitimate the respective political system. Be it the Central African Federation or a 'democratic' "South West Africa/ Namibia", the political models promoted by the authorities could not just be imposed on the people. The radios were established to give reality to these constructs, to make listeners identify with a social, political and cultural space that had been defined by colonial authorities. As shown, colonial ideologies not only surfaced in obvious propaganda programmes but also significantly determined the technical and managerial setup of the stations. While radio infrastructure was formed and reformed to structure that space – by linking three territories with different political and social power structures or, following Apartheid ideology, by assigning each language group their own space according to the homeland system – culturally as well as geographically. As shown, infrastructure mirrored the proposed political models, not just in its technical aspects (i.e., the stations' footprints, transmitting posts and frequencies), but also in management structure. As the Federal Broadcasting Services were subdivided in European and African Services, respectively catering for the whole White or Black population of all three territories, the South West African Broadcasting Corporation separated first Black and White, then subdivided the three Departments in the several language Services, each broadcasting to the designated "homeland". This infrastructure not only formed the whole process of programme production and reception but was also part of it as it imparted ideological considerations. The first order of business for independent countries was therfore to restructure the radio according to the needs of the new nations." (Conclusion, page 274-275) more

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Country Case Study: South Sudan. Support to Media Where Media Freedoms and Rights Are Constrained

Kate Noble, Carol Morgan

London: BBC Media Action (2012), 20 pp.

Presenting the challenges in meeting the information needs of the people of South Sudan, this report highlights a need for long-term and harmonised efforts to support media.

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Support to Media Where Media Freedoms and Rights Are Constrained: What Works and Why? Global Synthesis Report

Mary Myers

London: BBC Media Action (2012), 32 pp.

"This report addresses the challenges of supporting independent media in countries where media freedoms are restricted, based on country case studies in Bangladesh, Cambodia, South Sudan, Syria and Uganda. According to Myers, the dilemmas of foreign support include short-term donor strategies, the l ... more

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Media Councils in Africa

African Communication Research (St. Augustine University Mwanza), volume 5, issue 2 (2012), pp. 135-260

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Models of and Approaches to the Station Management of Six African Community Radio Broadcasters

Linje Manyozo, Goretti Nassanga Linda, Claudia Lopes

MedieKultur: Journal of Media and Communication Research, volume 28, issue 52 (2012), pp. 7-27

"This article is a political economy critique that contributes to current scholarship on community radio and development by examining the question of the management of six networks from Mali, Mozambique and Uganda. This discussion argues that understanding the models and functions of management comm ... more

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KONY 2012, Military Humanitarianism, and the Magic of Occult Economies

Sverker Finnström

Africa Spectrum, volume 47, issue 2-3 (2012), pp. 127-135

"The global success of the film KONY 2012 by Invisible Children, Inc., manifests far greater magical powers than those of Joseph Kony and his ruthless Lord’s Resistance Army, which it portrays. The most prominent feature of the Invisible Children lobby is the making and constant remaking of a mast ... more

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Community Radio in the Twenty-First Century

Janey Gordon (ed.)

Oxford; Bern; Berlin et al.: Peter Lang (2012), ix, 403 pp.

"In the twenty-first century, community radio is fulfilling an increasingly important role in the world’s mediascape. This book documents the ways in which community radio broadcasters and activists are using the medium in countries around the world to challenge political corruption, aid the trans ... more

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Memory and Political Change

Aleida Assmann, Linda Shortt (eds.)

Basingstoke et al.: Palgrave Macmillan (2012), xviii, 223 pp.

"Examining the role of memory in the transition from totalitarian to democratic systems, this book makes an important contribution to memory studies. It explores memory as a medium of and impediment to change, looking at memory's biological, cultural, narrative and socio-psychological dimensions." ( ... more

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Country Case Study: Uganda. Support to Media Where Media Freedoms and Rights Are Constrained

Richard M. Kavuma

London: BBC Media Action (2012), 24 pp.

Examining Uganda’s increasingly fractured media landscape, this report finds that the media is vulnerable to government intimidation and self-censorship.

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Mapping with Mobiles: Lessons Learnt from the Use of Smartphones for Fast Humanitarian Surveys in Zimbabwe

Harare; Copenhagen: Humanitarian Information Facilitation Centre (HIFC);International Media Support (IMS) (2012), 10 pp.

"SMS services have become a very efficient tool to warn people of health threats such as epidemics or water pollution, but smartphones can also be utilised to stream information in the opposite direction when they are used as tools for snap surveys. In both emergency settings and well-planned nation ... more

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Factually True, Legally Untrue: Political Media Ownership in Kenya

Othieno Nyanjom

Internews (2012), 83 pp.

"This report finds that while media ownership is sometimes obvious, media owners often use their spouse, parents or trusted friends to register their media outlets, making it difficult to obtain clear data on media ownership. For instance, the researcher notes that the connection of presidential can ... more

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The Handbook of Global Health Communication

Rafael Obregón, Silvio R. Waisbord (eds.)

Chichester: Wiley Blackwell (2012), xx, 658 pp.

"The Handbook of Global Health Communication offers a comprehensive and up-to-date analysis of the role of communication processes in global public health, development and social change. It brings together 32 contributions from well-respected scholars and practitioners in the field, addressing a wid ... more

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Community Radio and Cultural Citizenship: Reflections on Radio Islam and Democratic Citizenship in South Africa

Last Moyo

In: Community Radio in the Twenty-First Century

Janey Gordon (ed.)

Oxford; Bern; Berlin et al.: Peter Lang (2012), pp. 303-320

"This chapter examines how community radio in post-apartheid South Africa is playing an important role in the cultural citizenship of ethnic minorities. Using the case study of Radio Islam, a community radio station located in Johannesburg in South Africa, it explores how the radio station provides ... more

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Global Information Society Watch 2012. The Internet and Corruption: Transparency and Accountability Online

Karen Banks (ed.)

Association for Progressive Communications (APC);Hivos (2012), 273 pp.

"GISWatch 2012 explores how the internet is being used to ensure transparency and accountability, the challenges that civil society activists face in fighting corruption, and when the internet fails as an enabler of a transparent and fair society. The eight thematic reports and 48 country reports pu ... more

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Print, Text and Book Cultures in South Africa

Andrew Edward Van der Vlies (ed.)

Johannesburg: Witwatersrand University Press (2012), 476 pp.

"This book explores the power of print and the politics of the book in South Africa from a range of disciplinary perspectives—historical, bibliographic, literary-critical, sociological, and cultural studies. The essays collected here, by leading international scholars, address a range of topics as ... more

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Tabloid TV in Zambia: A Reception Study of Lusaka Viewers of Muvi TV News

Herman Wasserman, Loisa Mbatha

Journal of African Media Studies, volume 4, issue 3 (2012), pp. 277-293

"The tabloid news genre has been chastized for depoliticizing its public by causing cynicism about the democratic process and lowering the standards of rational public discourse. Counter-arguments point to the alternative public sphere offered by popular media such as ‘tabloid TV’ which is the f ... more

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Participation Pays: The Sustainability of Community Broadcasting in Perspective

David Lush, Gabriel Urgoiti

Windhoek: Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES);fesmedia Africa (2012), 36 pp.