"This article essentially shows how the development of commercial television in Indonesia has conflicted with the country’s media democratization, as illustrated by the growth of local media in the past 15 years. Compared to print media and radio, which are decentralized, Indonesia’s television
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industry is dominated by five large media corporations that are all based in the capital city of Jakarta. As a consequence, this fails to leave much growing space to television stations at a local level, which would be needed to strengthen Indonesia’s democratization. Media owners have successfully influenced the government in establishing a set of policies that sustain their dominance of the industry. Players within the television industry have even successfully swayed the direction of the broadcasting decentralization mandated by the Broadcasting Bill during Indonesia’s early political Reform period. The influence of these ‘Jakarta television stations’ stunted the development of television stations outside of Jakarta. Not only it deprives local actors of the economic value of developing their own television industry would bring, it also has resulted in the the loss of television's potential in functioning as a public sphere facilitating social control over democratic processes. Although the Reform era promised a new age of media democratization, the centralization of commercial television actually worsened media monopolies that were thought to have been done away with in post-Suharto Indonesia." (Abstract)
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"China’s media offensive in Africa is an expression of the need to create advantageous conditions for its own trade relations and for strategic alliances, for example in international organizations. At the same time, China’s global charm offensive or »charm defensive« is also a reaction to wha
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t China often feels is unfair reporting in western media about China and China in Africa. Consequently, the Chinese leadership is investing in internationalizing and expanding its state media in cooperation with African state media and in ambitious exchange and training programmes for African journalists. The aforementioned objectives of Chinese foreign media are accompanied and supported by strategic Chinese corporate investment in information technology and telecommunications infrastructure in African countries. In other words, China’s soft power approach is flanked by hard power. German foreign and development policy should carefully analyse the growing competition and criticism of western reporting about Africa and draw conclusions for media development cooperation." (Page 1)
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"Nachdem sich die Osttimoresen 1999 mit großer Mehrheit für die Loslösung von Indonesien in einem von den Vereinten Nationen durchgeführten Referendum entschieden hatten, eskalierte die Gewalt. Einher gingen die Menschenrechtsverletzungen mit einer massiven Einschränkung der Meinungs- und Press
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efreiheit. Journalisten wurden von der indonesischen Polizei am 5. und 6. September 1999 sogar gewaltsam zum Verlassen der Insel gezwungen." (Abstract)
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"Mit Platz 139 beim Press Freedom Index von Reporter ohne Grenzen rangiert Indonesien in Sachen Pressefreiheit im weit unteren Bereich des internationalen Spektrums. Innerhalb Indonesiens ist Papua die Region, aus der am häufigsten über Einschüchterungen und Angriffe gegen Journalisten berichtet
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wird. Weder ausländische Journalisten noch UN-Beobachter dürfen frei in die Konfliktregion einreisen. Der Ruf indigener Papua nach Unabhängigkeit von Indonesien, massive Militärpräsenz in der Öffentlichkeit und fast unkontrollierter Ressourcenabbau machen Papua zu einem Konfliktherd verschiedener Interessen, in dem es regelmäßig zu ernsten Menschenrechtsverletzungen kommt." (Abstract)
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"Indonesische Radiomacher stehen momentan vor zwei großen Herausforderungen: Sie kämpfen zum einen mit dem Bedeutungsverlust des Hörfunks und sehen sich zum anderen mit pressefreiheitlichen Einschränkungen konfrontiert." (Abstract)
"Indonesien richtet sein Augenmerk auf die kommende Präsidentschaftswahl 2014. Ein Faktor, der in diesem Prozess und dessen Ausgang eine große Rolle spielen könnte, ist die Medienlandschaft. Um die Bedeutung der Medien für die Förderung von Demokratie und die Vermittlung von Grundsätzen der Me
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inungsfreiheit verstehen zu können, muss man die Auswirkungen der Reformasi auf die Wahrung der Medienrechte der BürgerInnen verstehen." (Abstract)
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"Dinh Nhat Uy forderte auf Facebook die Freilassung seines inhaftierten Bruders, jetzt wurde er selbst verurteilt. Uys jüngerer Bruder Dich Nguyen Kha hatte im Frühjahr Flugblätter verteilt, in denen die Partei und die Politik der Regierung kritisiert wurden, und erhielt dafür vier Jahre Gefäng
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nis. Das Verteilen von solchen Schriften wird seit Jahren als »Propaganda gegen den Staat« eingestuft und nach Artikel 88 Strafgesetzbuch mit bis zu 20 Jahren Haft bestraft. Nun ist auch Dinh Nhat Uy für seine Beiträge auf Facebook bestraft worden – mit 15 Monaten Haft auf Bewährung. Uys Fall erregte Aufmerksamkeit in der Online-Community, denn es ist das erste Mal, dass einem vietnamesischen Aktivisten wegen seiner Kommentare in einem sozialen Netzwerk der Prozess gemacht wurde." (Abstract)
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"Rezente Berichte über den Zustand von Religionsfreiheit und Pluralismus in Indonesien zeichnen häufig ein wenig schönes Bild. Gleichzeitig findet sich vielfach aber auch die Ansicht, Indonesien als ein Land zu sehen, das erfolgreich einen Demokratisierungsprozess in Gang setzen konnte und daher
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als Modell für einen demokratischen und moderaten Islam dienen kann – trotz all der damit verbundenen religiösen und gesellschaftlichen Probleme in Indonesien." (Abstract)
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"The use of smartphones and tablets has jumped significantly in the past year, with fewer people using their computers for news. More than a third of online news users across all countries (39%) use two or more digital devices each week for news and a fifth (20%) now say their mobile phone is their
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primary access point. The number of people paying for digital news has remained stable over the past 12 months, although we have seen a significant switch to more valuable ongoing digital subscription in most countries. Our new (and unique) social media index for news shows Facebook is by far the most important network for news everywhere. Although Twitter is widely used in the US, Spain, and the UK, it is far less influential in many other European countries. Google+ is emerging as increasingly important for news, along with messaging application WhatsApp. European respondents remain strongly committed to news that tries to be neutral (or impartial) but Americans are more interested in hearing from brands and reporters that are open about their own views and biases." (Key findings, page 8)
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"This study examines how Tibetan teens use the mobile phone to maintain their social networks and how their social network connections via the mobile phone in turn affect their psychological well-being. In doing so, the study explores the effect of motives for mobile phone use and mobile phone skill
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s as antecedents. Findings of a survey of 1,135 teen mobile phone users living in Tibet showed that they actively use the mobile phone as an important means of communication and a source of social support to help reduce loneliness. The implications of the findings are discussed in terms of illuminating how the mobile phone fits into the lives of Tibetan teenagers who are geographically isolated and resource-poor." (Abstract)
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"In this chapter, Guo-Ming Chen portrays two faces of communication in Chinese culture. He thematizes harmony, one of the core Chinese cultural values, to paint a picture of the first face. According to him, in order to achieve harmony, Chinese people would (1) follow the principles of jen (benevole
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nce), yi (righteousness), and li (rite/courtesy), (2) properly adjust to shi (temporal contingencies), wei (spatial contingencies), and ji (the first imperceptible beginning of movement), and (3) strategically exercise guanxi (interrealtion), mientze (face), and power. This harmony-oriented communication can also be understood in light of other Chinese cultural concepts such as mientze (face), guanxi (interrelation), yuan (destined relations), keqi (politeness), bao (reciprocity), feng shui, and zhan bu (divination). Chen then moves on to paint a picture of the second face, which is the dark side of Chinese communication, that appears when harmony cannot be upheld." (Page 273)
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"Transversal dissent by communities whose actions and identities are no longer primarily state centric but, rather, have shifted to cross identity boundaries is one of the most important developments for understanding how politics is being transformed today. Burmese media groups, political activists
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, migrants, and refugees, while challenging the state of Myanmar and, at times, the sovereign state power of host states, have not yet been openly challenging the state system itself. In fact, they generally desire to rebuild a community within such a sovereign state system. Yet, the work of activists in exile offers insights into "the intrinsically co-Constitutive relation between the 'informal' and the 'formal' political spaces and how they transform each other" (O'Kane 2006)." (Concluding thoughts, page 158-159)
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"China’s quest to improve its international image has increased exponentially in the last decade through cultural diplomacy and the media. However, the expansion of China’s state-led media has received mixed reactions and even stereotypes in Africa. By examining scholarly responses towards China
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’s media in Africa, this paper observes that the arguments seem fall from one side to the other and new perspective is needed for better understanding of China’s media in Africa. Therefore, based on the analyses of Challenges and stereotypes against the so-called ‘positive reporting’ of China's media in Africa, the paper proposes to revisit the journalism of China's media from the concept of constructive journalism to figure out what exactly makes the engagement of China’s media different from Western media in Africa. The paper concludes that it is indeed too simple labeling China’s media with positive reporting and constructive journalism helps to offer a new perspective to understand China’s media." (Abstract)
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"The Puppetry for All Times Seminar held in September of 2013 in Ubud, Bali, was one of the most enchanting of events of its kind held anywhere in recent years. Its success revolved around the fantastic locale, the overwhelming response from performers as well as the paper presenters, and the genero
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us support of Rumah Topeng-the House of Masks and Puppets Setiadarma. In Puppetry for All Times, editor Ghulam-Sarwar Yousof offers a unique collection of papers presented at this weeklong seminar by academicians as well as performers of various traditions of Asian puppetry. The papers cover a wide range of interests and perspectives in puppetry and theater including history and tradition; heritage, preservation, and conversation; tradition and modernity; and digital puppetry and media." (Publisher description)
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"The Cambodian Communications Assistance Project (CCAP) is a sub-national governance project, working with four provincial departments of information (PDI) – Battambang, Kampong Cham, Kampot and Siem Reap. It started in May 2012 and is due to be completed in December 2014. The project, with a budg
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et of $3,554,662 is funded by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) and is implemented by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s International Development department (ABC ID) in partnership with the Cambodian Ministry of Information as well as the four provincial departments. The Department of Media and Communications (DMC) at the Royal University of Phnom Penh has also been a partner in the project [...] Overall, CCAP has been very successful in meeting the three objectives and outcomes set for the project and contributing to Australian Aid’s overall objectives. There have been a number of challenges it has had to overcome including the coinciding of the project with a turbulent time in Cambodia’s political environment as well as capacity limitations of counterparts and varying degrees of hesitancy and suspicion on the part of some senior provincial officials." (Executive summary, page 3-5)
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