commbox Central & South Asia

"This book examines the importance of participatory video as a catalyst for development. It shows how powerful video images have been used to promote changes in attitudes and social behaviour, helping communities identify development solutions that are within their reach. Video has been used to reac ... more

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Babel to Babri Masjid and Beyond: Pastoral Communication and Media Involvement in the Indian Catholic Church

Jacob Srampickal, Leela Joseph

Delhi: Media House (2003), 271 pp.

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Combating AIDS: Communication Strategies in Action

Arvind Singhal, Everett M. Rogers

New Delhi; London; Thousand Oaks: Sage (2003), 225 pp.

"The purpose of this book is to synthesize critical lessons learned about effective HIV/AIDS prevention programs, emphasizing the role of communication strategies. Combating AIDS focuses on communication strategies that could mobilize political action, target high-risk groups, and overcome stigma. T ... more

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Communication and Natural Resource Management: Experience - Theory
Inspiring Practice

Key Guidance

Rome: FAO (2003), ix, 98 pp.

"This book has been written as a tool for people involved or interested in communication and natural resource management who seek a better understanding of how different theories and strategic change principles relate to actual practise. It is not, however, a book of theory nor is it an argument for ... more

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Media Assistance Post the Taliban Regime and the Implications for Transforming the Afghan Social System

Noah W. Miller

London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), Master Thesis (2003), iii, 45 pp.

"In the case of media assistance in Afghanistan, financial and organizational resources originate almost exclusively from Western donors and INGOs, which largely bypass the Afghan Government. Organizations within the funding chain thus hold a functional form of power arising from the deployment of a ... llocative resources and it enables them to attempt an instigation of social change in Afghanistan. According to the notion of power associated with Talcott Parson, a functional form of power requires coordination and collaboration in order to achieve collective goals within a political process. However, conflicts may arise in Afghanistan if collective goals diverge among the various foreign and domestic participants involved in altering the media space. This could occur if the various participants do not envision the outcome of media assistance objectives as a zero-sum game. Additionally, Giddens asserts that Parson underestimates the contestation of the norms necessary to pursue collective goals in the first place. Even though the Afghan Government and international donors purportedly agree on the installation of a democracy with a free and independent media, they still need to overcome resistance from existing power holders or entrenched structural properties impeding such a development. In the context of Afghanistan, it is very conceivable that media assistance could prompt intentional or even unintentional consequences caused by social actors discontent with the normative values and goals promulgated by media assistance. Such unintentional conditions may render the desired outcomes of media assistance providers impossible and undermine the desired social transformation. It is erroneous, though, to apply a positivist view that judges the success or failure of media assistance according to the outcome of the flux between structure and interaction alluded to in chapter four. In fact, such a view would be contrary to the propositions of structuration theory that imply a lack of definable boundaries in which structure and interaction intermingles. Equally wrong is to evaluate the media assistance effort by funding amounts contributed by donors, even though financial resources are a pre-requisite for rebuilding the media infrastructure. Instead, media assistance can be conceived as a form of empowerment that imbues a target society with a collective consciousness concerning its ability to alter structural properties, which represent forms of power and domination according to Giddens. The success of media assistance therefore is to produce a collective awareness that individuals can influence the structural properties of a social system, regardless of the direction of change emanating from the mediation of structure and action. The process of change requires not only the acquisition of functional power through allocative resources, but also the acquisition of transformative power by means of controlling authoritative resources, which are involved in the coordination of a social system. Afghans need to control the actors or institutions that selectively filter information in order to reflexively “regulate the overall conditions of system reproduction either to keep things as they are or to change them” (Giddens, 1984, page 27). Yet, it remains unresolved to what extent media assistance has provided Afghans with transformative power and whether or not it allows them to influence the underlying forces that mediate the structural properties in society." (Conclusions, page 39-40) more

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Global Media Studies: Ethnographic Perspectives

Patrick D. Murphy, Marwan M. Kraidy (eds.)

New York: Routledge (2003), xiii, 313 pp.

"Global Media Studies explores the theoretical and methodological threats that are defining global media studies as a discipline. Emphasizing the connection of globalization to local culture, this collection considers the diversity of modes of reception, reception contexts, uses of media content, an ... more

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The Globalisation of Corporate Media Hegemony

Lee Artz, Yahya R. Kamalipour (eds.)

Albany, NY: State University of New York Press (2003), 309 pp.

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Spreading the Word on the Internet: 16 Answers to 4 Questions. Reflections on Freedom of the Media and the Internet. Amsterdam Conference, June 2003

Christiane Hardy, Christian Möller (eds.)

Vienna: OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media (2003), 224 pp.

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Setting Up Radio Station: Media Manager's Guide to Pakistani Broadcast Law

Muhammad Aftab Alam, Matiullah Jan, Tipu Riaz

Islamabad: Internews Pakistan (2003), 64 pp.

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Regional Profile of the Information Society in Western Asia: Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia

New York: United Nations (2003), xi, 152 pp.

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Media Sustainability Index 2002: Development of Sustainable Independent Media in Europe and Eurasia

Mark Whitehouse, Theo Dolan (eds.)

Washington, DC: IREX (2003), xxi, 232 pp.

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Medienwelten - Information und Macht

Der Überblick, issue 4 (2003), 149 pp.

"Viele autoritäre Regime fürchten den unkontrollierten Informationsfluss, gerade weil er gemeinsames Handeln ermöglicht und ihre Herrschaft gefährden könnte. Auch manche Kulturkritiker würden gerne Informationen kanalisieren, um einen Kulturimperialismus abzuwehren, bei dem sich ihrer Ansicht ... more

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Medien in Indien: Organisation, Rezeption und gesellschaftliche Implikationen

Elena Koch

[author] (2003), 28 pp.

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Policy Review of the Georgian Book Sector

Grzegorz Boguta

Council of Europe, Cultural Policy and Action Department, Directorate General IV (2003), 29 pp.

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Pathways to Critical Media Education and Beyond: Deliberations on Media Reforms and the Manila Initiative

M. Nadarajah (ed.)

Kuala Lumpur; Bangkok: Cahayasuara Communications Centre;Asian Communication Network (ACN);Signis Asia;World Association for Christian Communication (WACC) (2003), xii, 286 pp.

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