"This book focuses on the impact of digital media use for political engagement across varied geographic and political contexts, using a diversity of methodological approaches and datasets. The book addresses an important gap in the contemporary literature on digital politics, identifying context dep
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endent and transcendent political consequences of digital media use. While the majority of the empirical work in this field has been based on studies from the United States and United Kingdom, this volume seeks to place those results into comparative relief with other regions of the world. It moves debates in this field of study forward by identifying system-level attributes that shape digital political engagement across a wide variety of contexts. The evidence analyzed across the fifteen cases considered in the book suggests that engagement with digital environments influences users' political orientations and that contextual features play a significant role in shaping digital politics." (Publisher description)
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"Bringing together the perspectives of more than 40 internationally acclaimed authors, The Handbook of Global Media Research explores competing methodologies in the dynamic field of transnational media and communications, providing valuable insight into research practice in a globalized media landsc
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ape; provides a framework for the critical debate of comparative media research; posits transnational media research as reflective of advanced globalization processes, and explores the role and responsibility this bestows it with; articulates the key themes and competing methodological approaches in a dynamic and developing field; showcases the perspectives and ideas of 30 leading internationally acclaimed scholars; offers a platform for the discussion of crucial issues from a variety of theoretical, methodical and practical viewpoints." (Publisher description)
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"Whether at a local, national, or international level, radio has played and continues to play a key role in nurturing or denying—even destroying—people’s sense of collective identity. The essays in this volume provide a historical and contemporary overview of radio in small nations. A number o
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f representative small nations are featured: some grappling with new postcolonial identities and others still operating under repressive regimes; some struggling to find a new common purpose in the postindustrial age and others unifying previously ignored ethnic or language groups. As a whole, the collection strives to present diverse voices commenting on the influential and essential place of radio within these countries." (Publisher description)
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"Audience segmentation is generally associated with strategic communication (such as advertising and public relations), where content is manipulated to suit reader preferences. News has generally been considered truth-telling unvarnished by such concerns. This article compares how news of the same h
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umanitarian crisis [in Darfur, Sudan] was designed by 10 news organizations in seven countries for different market segments. Comparisons showed statistically significant differences in representation, influenced in part by what the audience-market was. Like advertising, news seemed to share an attribute with the strategic design of advertising and public relations. Increasingly carried online, news will be vulnerable to click-based customization of content like advertising is, taking us beyond currently observed geopolitical influences on segmentation to advertiser and market-based differences." (Abstract)
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"Profit (and therefore entertainment) and politics drive media content and audience engagement in Cambodia, not public service values. Significant donor investment over the past 20 years has sought to redress the balance and overcome these challenges to improved governance in Cambodia. This investme
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nt has included a focus on media and communication as a primary mechanism to achieve change, with very little research on its actual impact. This case study seeks to examine this investment in the context of evolving power structures and the media and communication landscape of Cambodia. It concludes that donors would be wise to continue to invest in impact research, maintain a strong focus on governance in their support, and pay greater attention to young audiences and the Internet as a growing source and focus of public dialogue." (Executive summary)
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"Cambodia Communications Assistance Project (CCAP) is a two-year initiative (2012-2013) funded by Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID) to contribute to the development of the media in Cambodia. The project is in its initial stage and is being implemented by ABC ID, in collaborati
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on with three Cambodian Government Provincial Departments of Information (PDI) in Battambang, Kampong Cham and Kampot, and the Department of Media and Communication (DMC) at Royal University of Phnom Penh (RUPP). The objective of this research is to provide baseline measures and understanding of the current state of the media in Cambodia, with a particular focus on PDI in Battambang, Kampong Cham and Kampot. These measures will help track progress of the project outcomes and impact over the project lifetime and provide a clearly defined scope for the Cambodia Communication Assistance Project. The research design uses a mixed methods approach with focus group discussions, in-depth interviews and survey questionnaires for PDI staff and directors. This report examines understanding of governance issues within an audience and PDI context and assesses the capacity level of PDI staff and directors. More specifically it seeks to gain knowledge and perceptions on audience understanding of governance, transparency and accountability issues, and to determine audience perceptions on PDI content and issues concerning voice, transparency and accountability. It also assesses PDI knowledge on governance issues and skill development needs at the three targeted provinces. The findings are summarised into three key areas: understanding of governance and audience context from different perspectives; reflections on media environment; and PDI capacity needs assessment. Finally, key considerations are outlined to inform PDI activities and programs related to governance including both training and content activities which can be supported by CCAP." (Executive summary)
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"For decades, television scholars have viewed global television through the lens of cultural imperialism, focusing primarily on programs produced by US and UK markets and exported to foreign markets. Global Television Formats revolutionizes television studies by de-provincializing its approach to me
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dia globalization. It re-examines dominant approaches and their legacies of global/local and center/ periphery, and offers new directions for understanding television’s contemporary incarnations. The chapters in this collection take up the format phenomena from around the globe, including the Middle East, Western and Eastern Europe, South and West Africa, South and East Asia, Australia and New Zealand, North America, South America, and the Caribbean. Contributors address both little known examples and massive global hits ranging from the Idol franchise around the world, to telenovelas, dance competitions, sports programming, reality TV, quiz shows, sitcoms and more." (Publisher description)
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"In the field of citizen media research, considerably less attention has been paid to countries other than the US and those in Western Europe. This article is a case study that focuses on citizen media in Beijing – specifically, the Dazhalan [participatory video] project. Combining in-depth interv
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iews and textual analysis, the article demonstrates the uniqueness of citizen media under China’s state-party media system. The article also suggests that it was the collaboration among ordinary citizens, professionals and journalists that made it possible for citizen media to influence the mainstream media frame-building process." (Abstract)
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"Despite the country’s long history of censorship, Burmese do not currently appear to be apathetic about news coverage. Almost half (47.5%) say they access some type of news – whether via radio, TV, Internet, newspapers, etc. – at least daily, and 78.5% do so at least once a week. Radio remain
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s the primary medium to which Burmese turn for news. Currently, 62.8% of Burmese say they listened to a radio program in the past week. The results indicate past-week FM listenership continues to rise -- and suggest that AM listeners have migrated heavily toward new options on the FM spectrum. In 2012, just 18.3% of Burmese say they used a MW/AM band to listen to the radio in the past week. However, shortwave radio use remained steady in 2012, continuing to garner a strong weekly audience at 34% of all Burmese. Television is the secondary source, with almost half (44.7%) tuning in for news at least weekly. Overall, 56.8% of Burmese have a working television in their household, with TV ownership far more concentrated in urban areas (82.9%) than small towns and rural areas (45.7%). Just under half of Burmese overall (45.2%) say they watched television in the last seven days, again with a stark difference between those living in urban areas (68.9%) and those in small towns and rural areas (35.1%)." (Page 1)
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"The Global Journalist in the 21st Century systematically assesses the demographics, education, socialization, professional attitudes and working conditions of journalists in various countries around the world. This book updates the original Global Journalist (1998) volume with new data, adding more
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than a dozen countries, and provides material on comparative research about journalists that will be useful to those interested in doing their own studies. The editors put together this collection working under the assumption that journalists' backgrounds, working conditions and ideas are related to what is reported (and how it is covered) in the various news media round the world, in spite of societal and organizational constraints, and that this news coverage matters in terms of world public opinion and policies. Outstanding features include:"Coverage of 33 nations located around the globe, based on recent surveys conducted among representative samples of local journalist, comprehensive analyses by well-known media scholars from each country, a section on comparative studies of journalists and an appendix with a collection of survey questions used in various nations to question journalists" (Publisher description)
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"The Philippines is a palimpsest where traditional, modern and postmodern influences manifest themselves contemporaneously. Its politics is traditional, its culture modern and its media postmodern. Understanding the role of new technologies, such as digital media, under these circumstances requires
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an appreciation of incommensurable factors that are nevertheless intercalated. The surface of Philippine politics appears imperturbable but underneath it, notions of the political are being reformulated as a consequence of the new media and its globalizing influence." (Abstract)
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"This book aims to provide a context in which a clear link can be traced between the politics of memory and its manifold representations and misrepresentations in public media towards a viable politics of justice. The assumption is that public awareness and perceptions of injustice, whether they are
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political, economic, or social, depend on the mass media of communication for recognition and valorization – including, today, new communication and information technologies such as social media platforms. Undoubtedly this assumption is based on a system in which mass media can operate independently, fairly, and in a balanced and unbiased way: in other words, according to a much vaunted and fast vanishing ‘public service ethos’ imbued with high standards of truthtelling, objectivity, balance, and accountability. A parallel assumption is that if the public is made aware and has access to relevant information and knowledge, it will be motivated to pressure governments for reform, reparation, and – in the best possible scenario – some kind of consensus between all parties on ways to move forward as a nation. As we have pointed out above, this argues for an a priori ‘right to memory’ that affirms and protects those frameworks and structures of collective memory that guarantee the physical, psychological, and symbolic integrity of a group of people or, indeed, a nation. There are many aspects to the debate." (Introduction, page 17)
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"This report is the third in a series of comprehensive studies of internet freedom around the globe and covers developments in 47 countries that occurred between January 2011 and May 2012. Over 50 researchers, nearly all based in the countries they analyzed, contributed to the project by researching
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laws and practices relevant to the internet, testing the accessibility of select websites, and interviewing a wide range of sources. This year's findings indicate that restrictions on internet freedom in many countries have continued to grow, though the methods of control are slowly evolving, becoming more sophisticated and less visible. Brutal attacks against bloggers, politically motivated surveillance, proactive manipulation of web content, and restrictive laws regulating speech online are among the diverse threats to internet freedom emerging over the past two years. Nevertheless, several notable victories have also occurred as a result of greater activism by civil society, technology companies, and independent courts, illustrating that efforts to advance internet freedom can yield results." (www.freedomhouse.org, January 14, 2013)
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"To help improve the flow of information among marginalized communities of West Kalimantan Indonesia, where large palm oil companies wield tremendous power, the Internews Center for Innovation and Learning initiated a three-month pilot project in September 2011 that combined the power of mobile phon
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e technologies with citizen journalism. The project created a news service based on Short Message Service (SMS) and Interactive Voice Response (IVR) technology. This report evaluates the project's success in capitalizing on existing mobile phone technology to provide needed information, in addition to empowering community members to report on issues of concern and make their voices heard by local government authorities and companies. Major successes, including high subscription rates and helping with the resolution of two local disputes with palm oil companies, were tempered by significant challenges, including low contribution rate among trained citizen journalists and limitations of the local media partner to maintain the news service. Technical challenges included West Kalimantan’s unreliable mobile phone network and the lack of locally available technical expertise." (Internews website)
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"This article is an attempt to explore the issues of online representations of orphans in China and India in the intersection of power, voice, and placement. Textual and visual representations of orphans at www.homeofhopeindia.org and www.homeofhope.org are analyzed using the theoretical frameworks
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of voicings, whiteness, and the colonial (technological) gaze. We examine how online networks are spaces for discursive reproduction of existing offline hegemonies. We pay particular attention to the reproduction and representation of the so-called voiceless Other in online settings." (Abstract)
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"Traces China's media engagement in Africa since the 2000s, including a list of financed projects (pp. 13-15), and explains how strategies have changed. While the extension of hardware assistance continues to play an important role, China's media engagement in Africa started to diversify after the 2
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006 Beijing Summit. According to the author "China has begun to express its opinion on media practices to African media practitioners. For instance the Chinese government invited African journalists to learn about its development experience, including the development of Xinhua as an international news agency. The Third Workshop for African Journalists, under the supervision of FOCAC (Forum on China-Africa Cooperation), covered topics that included discussions on Chinese journalism. The result is clear in a country such as Equatorial Guinea, where qualified media professionals are divided into those journalists who were trained in Spain three decades ago, and the newer generation who are increasingly being trained in Cuba or China. Such media training introduces the Chinese media system, in addition to the usual education on media equipment and other types of hardware supplied by China. China-Africa media ties have therefore developed on the back of official ties." (Page 16)
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"Great changes have been taken place in the patterns of China’s radio programs since 1980s. Its role has changed from the government’s “propaganda tool” to meet the multiple needs of the radio listeners; its profit mode somehow has varied from full national funding to making profit independe
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ntly; with the assistance of digital technology, the traditional broadcasting program patterns, which was all about manuscripts writing and reading, have been also altered into ones that involve audience interaction. This paper is a case study of 'Helping Each Other in Beijing', a radio program for the elderly by Public Service Frequency in Beijing Radio Station. It analyzes the program from its concept, content, audience interaction, and hosting style. It displays, in the age of new media and globalization, which is full of fierce competition, how the broadcasters in China create new philosophy and concept of radio programs, how they react to the new relationship between audience and them, and how they build up their new media image." (Abstract)
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