"Afghan presence in India dates back centuries. It exists in the form of goods, language, cultural and political influences, and other subtler yet significant forms. The influx of Afghan students, traders, and medical tourists in India, especially post the 2001 regime change in Afghanistan, has give
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n a boost to the relations between the two historical neighbors. The Afghan diaspora in India has, however, maintained its distinct cultural identity through language, food, crafts, and commodity exchanges, giving rise to transnational social formation. In recent years, among other ways, Afghans have maintained these transnational connections through the media. While the transnational flow of Indian media, including its consumption and influence in Afghanistan, has been thoroughly looked into by scholars, the role and influence of Afghan media among the Afghan diaspora in India have largely remained unexplored. This paper looks into how the Afghan diaspora in Delhi engages with media from their homeland. By using ethnographic tropes and by taking a cue from works of transnational media studies, the paper attempts to trace the flows, media consumption, and its influence in keeping the idea of ‘Afghaness’ thriving away from the ‘homeland’." (Abstract)
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"The study revealed the macro and micro media threats that come to light in the digital and physical media environments prior to and following elections. The media environment observed during the 2021 self-government elections was representative of the reality seen through the eyes of media workers,
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and it was revealed that, compared to previous years, the media environment has changed for the worse. The study confirmed that political polarization and public crises have a negative impact on the media environment and the safety of journalists in Georgia, while changes in the political landscape can have a positive impact on the media environment. It has also been demonstrated that the media themselves can reduce or enhance the effects of polarization.
The study confirmed that media threats in Georgia increase self-censorship and fear, reduce media credibility and weaken the viability of the media institution. The study revealed an additional effect of political polarization, a new tactic to combat critical media: “Use the media themselves against the journalists”, which leads to media polarization in itself, inciting conflict between journalists and exposing this macro-threat across the media field. In this regard, polarization in Georgia is an obstacle to solidarity. On the other hand, polarization has a so-called demonizing effect that can be manifested through the stigmatization of journalists by politicians, political labelling, and demolition of credibility, which ultimately harms the media.
The research confirmed that the ruling political force in Georgia uses all the components and mechanisms required to create and strengthen self-censorship of journalists. These mechanisms are: fear, impunity for crime, ridicule, discrediting, insecurity, dissemination of misinformation, etc. Enhancing journalists' self-censorship creates an invisible field of censorship in newsrooms when, for security reasons, the journalist is forced to avoid covering specific topics, sources, or facts. Critical questions are replaced by silence." (Conclusion, pages 51-52)
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"This article focuses on a work published in 1883 by a German Christian press associated with a missionary society. The book provides a visual panorama of all the world’s cultures in 1,690 engravings. Most images were reproductions of material that had initially appeared in a variety of other cont
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exts, ranging from missionary periodicals to secular travel magazines and British colonial literature. This study examines the message that the volume’s editors wanted to convey: the extra-European world was portrayed as devoid of historical agency, non-Christian religions as false, and the presence of western agents – in particular, missionaries – as providential. Retracing the life story of a few images, I show that some of them communicated these notions better than others. For example, engravings based on photographs were often not as polemical as those based on drawings, simply because of the characteristics of photography as a medium. Complicating the critical reading of the images as simply missionary propaganda, I argue that a volume like the one examined here is best understood when placed within a transnational (or connected) history of visual practices." (Abstract)
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"This report provides an overview of trends and developments in information and communication technology (ICT) infrastructure, access and use in the CIS region, which includes 9 Member States and is home to a population of 240 million people. The report highlights changes in ICT adoption since the l
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ast World Telecommunication Development Conference in 2017 (WTDC-17) and during the COVID-19 pandemic, tracks the evolution of regulation, and reviews progress and challenges in implementing the ITU regional initiatives for the CIS region. Its objective is to serve as a reference for the ITU membership in reviewing progress and identifying ICT development priorities in the CIS region." (Abstract)
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"TV is the most popular media platform. Majority of TV viewers and radio listeners watch and listen to those media weekly. Urban, educated and younger people watch TV more than rural, less educated and older people. Men listen to radio and use internet more than women [...] A nationally representati
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ve sample of 2,729 adults aged 18+ in Afghanistan were interviewed over the phone in February and March." (Page 1)
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"Recent scholarship on trans-oceanic exchanges between the Persian Gulf and South Asia has delved into previously neglected minutiae of everyday migrant life beyond labour. Combining ethnographic research and media content analyses, I build on this scholarship through a novel study of vernacular rad
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io as a critical means of sustaining South Indian (Malayali) diasporic communities betwixt and between their home and host societies. This paper shows, firstly, the interwovenness of work and leisure in the everyday lives of Malayali migrants in Qatar; and secondly, the role played by radio listenership and production practices in crafting distinctive ethnolinguistic spatialities of sound (sabdam) via sonic connections that transcend the binary between being at home and abroad. Paying attention to sonic waves and networks that bind together radio stations and audiences in Qatar across work and home spaces, I argue that diasporic vernacular radio both reinforces and challenges notions of ‘Malayali-ness’ within the Gulf Malayali community (bandham) and beyond." (Abstract)
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"The eight articles in the publication can be broadly grouped into two main sets. The first set discusses the different types of digital skills required from a more academic perspective, in particular in the context of the pandemic and post-pandemic period, as countries accelerate their move towards
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the digital transition. It also features an article that looks at a specific development sector – humanitarian assistance – and demonstrates how digital skills training can help communities affected by crisis. The second set of articles presents concrete examples, from countries in different regions, of digital skills initiatives, policies and programmes; and provides insights on lessons learned and recommendations on the way forward." (Page 4)
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"A clustered randomized trial in two states of India examines alternate strategies to reduce child marriage, increase girls' education and change gender attitudes. GPs were randomized into four treatment and one control group in a 1:1:1:2:2 ratio. The GP level intervention from November 2012 deliver
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ed to treatment groups i) A Full Package, comprising mass-media, training and community mobilization programs; ii) a Training Package comprising a combination of mass media and a training program at the block level; iii) a Community Mobilization Package comprising a combination of mass-media and a community mobilization program; iv) and an only Mass Media program. Data from 2,542 households seven years after the start of the program shows that the intervention made significant improvements in impact indicators on girls' education and incidence and age at marriage. As compared to the control GPs, the Full Package intervention increased the age at marriage for girls aged 13-25 on an average by 6.5 months and their education by 9 months. The Full Package also increased the percentage of girls enrolled in school by an additional 9% over the level that control group achieved (92% in Full Package vs 83% in Control Group). The program impacts were similar after controlling for stratification and other household and GP level characteristics.
We found that the intervention made an outcome indicator - gender attitudes - more progressive; GP with Full Package had a 0.407 standard deviation (equivalent to approximately 16%) higher gender attitude index than control GPs (p < 0.01). The measure of attitudes is an index of aggregated indices on gender equality, education, marriage, mobility and knowledge. Attitude change was larger for education and mobility indices. For example, the households in the Full Package had 0.26 and 0.33 standard deviations more positive attitude towards girls’ education and mobility than control GPs. We did not find any significant effect on attitudes pertaining to marriage and girl’s work and responsibility. There is little change in norms related to gender roles within the home and education has mostly been perceived as a vehicle for better management of the home, rather than for empowering women to work and be independent." (Summary)
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"Giga, a joint collaboration between ITU and UNICEF, is an initiative to connect every young person in the world to information, opportunity and choice. Devised before the onslaught on COVID-19, the project addresses the underlying inequities in access to the Internet. However, it is also a platform
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for creating the infrastructure necessary to provide digital connectivity to an entire country, for every community and for every citizen. With schools as a focal point, Giga seeks to build robust digital ecosystems, so communities everywhere can cope with shocks such as COVID-19 and ensure that no one is left behind. To achieve this goal, Giga builds on four pillars: map, finance, connect, empower.
Map. Mapping of schools helps identify the connectivity problems and gauge the magnitude of the challenge in each country. Top-down and bottom-up approaches to mapping school connectivity support this endeavour [...]
Connect. There are various infrastructure and technology solutions available that could bring affordable connectivity to the unconnected schools identified by the mapping exercise, including established technologies such as Wi-Fi, satellite, and fibre [...]
Finance. The selection of appropriate financing mechanisms depends on the magnitude of the challenge. The costing analysis can only take place after mapping connectivity gaps and determining fit-for-purpose connectivity solutions. Government budgets or universal service funds (USFs) could address small- to medium-sized connectivity gaps [...]
Empower. Bringing connectivity to schools will have a limited impact if e-learning solutions are not in place and if educators do not have the digital skills to empower learners. There are many case studies from Asia and the Pacific of initiatives that aim to empower digital learning [...]
Giga has made significant progress since its launch. It is already active in 17 countries in three regions. Countries in Asia and the Pacific are next to join the Giga initiative. Several countries have expressed interest, including Bhutan, Pakistan, Mongolia, Bangladesh, Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu and Fiji. Each country has its own opportunities and challenges in terms of extending connectivity. The review of policies, regulatory environment, school connectivity initiatives and availability of connectivity data in potential Giga countries and the assessment of use cases strongly indicate that there is significant promise for the expansion of Giga in the region." (Executive summary, pages vi-vii)
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"Salali and Uysal (2020) found in their study that vaccine acceptance significantly increased when people believe in the natural origin of the virus. Therefore, mis/disinformation and conspiracy theories about how the virus started need to be debunked, especially in countries having high vaccine hes
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itancy rates. Fact-checking agencies and independent fact-checkers have a major role to play. Banerjee et al. (2010) found in their study that providing incentives boosted immunization rates. This strategy is currently being applied in the COVID-19 vaccination drive [...] Government and health authorities should be aware of anti-vaccine campaigns and take necessary actions. Necessary services should be provided in areas with high illiteracy rates or poverty to help those people get vaccinated. Media needs to get better at reportage. Spreading the truth about the harmful effects of not taking COVID-19 vaccine can help in lowering vaccine hesitancy. Balance needs to be maintained in reporting incidents like deaths or side effects which might not be related to vaccines. Mis/disinformation spread on national media outlets about the virus or vaccine should be condemned. Boosting transparency and the spread of accurate and sufficient information related to the virus and vaccines can help in mitigating the peoples’ fears and doubts. Therefore, government needs to be more upfront in providing latest information about COVID-19 vaccines. Public concerns should be handled by public health authorities. Communication helpline should be developed where people can explain their fears and doubts about vaccines and gain insights on the situation. Religious and opinion leaders can help encourage their followers to get vaccinated. Policymakers and public health officials need to come up with targeted health communication strategies for subgroups with high vaccine hesitancy." (Conclusion, page 318)
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"In this article, I examine how journalists working for the Turkish national mainstream televisual media represent Kurds – a significant national ‘Other’ of Turkish society – in the process of news production. My research is based on ethnographic fieldwork and interviews conducted between 20
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11 and 2014 in the newsrooms of two Turkish television channels with different political outlooks and experiences. The study reveals an unprecedented interest of mainstream television media in the inclusionary representation of Kurds during the research period due to a temporary change to the traditional Turkish state policy toward Kurds. In this new political context, I argue that the journalistic practice and discourse on Kurds is likely to be determined by political differences among Turkish journalists. The Turkish journalists working for these two different channels, for example, seek to justify and advance conflicting political agendas since they have contradicting political worldviews and political experiences. Based on these findings, this article demonstrates how the three factors of political worldview, political experience, and political context combine to shape journalistic values – the values which orient various stages of news production, at which journalists imagine, categorize, and articulate the Kurds and decide how to represent them in news outputs." (Abstract)
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"Many Voices, Many Worlds: Critical Perspectives on Community Media in India is a critical reflection on governance and policymaking, development, disability, knowledge and other social markers in the context of community media. Bringing together different modes of community media—such as video, r
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adio, theatre, information and communication technologies (ICTs) and new media—into a productive conversation with each other, the book focuses on how communities through their communicative practices, negotiate the politics of caste, class, gender, and access to funding and technology." (Publisher description)
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"The media is considered to be of utmost importance in all phases of disasters, before, during and after, with different types of media having different proactive roles to play in disaster risk reduction. Before disasters, they play essential roles not only in bringing early warning to people but al
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so in enhancing their perception of the need to take action. At during- and post-disaster response recovery phases, community radio and social media are the key. These necessitate a resilient media infrastructure as the core of uninterrupted coverage. Media literacy has become an important issue for several stakeholders, including governments. In addition, more focus is placed on media governance to look at the priorities of disaster risk reduction initiatives within the media. All of these are considered to lead to trust in the media, which further improves people's disaster response actions based on information from the media, before and during disasters." (Publisher description)
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"Intimate partner violence (IPV) impacts the physical and mental health of one in three women globally, with equally high rates in rural Nepal. The risk of physical violence, stalking, harassment, and homicide between intimate partners increases when alcohol is used by the perpetrator. This study ev
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aluates the impact of Change Starts at Home, a nine-month intervention to prevent IPV in which 360 married couples in the Terai region of Nepal listened to a serial radio drama and engaged in Listening Group Discussions. A sub-sample of 18 couples were selected for individual in-depth interviews that were taken at the end of the intervention and 16 months later. Participants strongly and consistently associated alcohol use with IPV against women in their own and others’ relationships. Husbands and wives agreed that men sustained reductions in alcohol use, conflict, and perpetration of IPV, attributed to improvements in communication, conflict resolution, and a reduction in alcohol expenditure following the intervention. The results of this study suggest that integrating programming on alcohol reduction within IPV prevention interventions in the Terai region of Nepal has benefits on couple functioning, alcohol consumption, and IPV perpetration." (Abstract)
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"The online harassment of female journalists is a rising concern around the world and also in South Asia. Bangladesh, a South Asian country, recently, has experienced an increasing number of harassments against female journalists online. Various studies explored the online harassment, mostly from th
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e Western perspectives. Scholars have argued that the online harassments may negatively affect the freedom of expression. But little is known about Bangladesh. Drawing upon feminist theory, this study investigated the experiences of online journalists in Bangladesh. The objectives were to explore the nature and forms of online harassment and to find how this experiences of harassments affect the freedom of expression of the victims. Data were collected through content analysis, semiotic analysis of the uncivil comments available in the online news feedback and in-depth interviews. Results of the study indicate that online harassment is a frequent phenomenon where the victim journalists feel vulnerable in the ‘unsafe' online ‘patriarchal' environment." (Abstract)
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"The contents of this book deals with an overview of traditional folk media, characteristic elements of the study, empirical data of Jathara, Importance of Jathara as a medium of communication for the development of society. The analyzed the role of Jathara as a local and traditional mode of communi
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cation for rural development. In addition, it has portrayed the historical perspective of Raj Gonds' Nagobha Jathara as a conduit of communication and development, Paatha Pantala Jathara of Sangham women, Deccan Development Society, Zaheerabad region of Telangana State." (Back cover)
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