"Since the mid-1990s, the influence of satellite television broadcasting in the Middle East has become central to the shaping of public attitudes in the region and beyond. While many of the main influential mainstream satellite channels are news-focused, entertainment and religious broadcasting are
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also significant. Religious Broadcasting in the Middle East offers a synopsis of a conference held at Cambridge in January 2010. It focuses on the discourses of a selection of Islamic, Christian and Jewish religious broadcasting channels, as well as the wider factors and structures that sustain them." (Back cover)
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"Copyright laws and policies cover many controversial issues that are linked to different disciplines, in science, culture, technology, economics, law and other fields. The concepts and issues in the field are also approached from different perspectives and with different political and economic agen
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das, sometimes in a misleading context, and often in an imprecise manner. For this reason, policymaking in the area of copyright, particularly in developing countries, has at best been guesswork and at worst uninformed. At the international level, debates and rule-making on copyright, as with other IP, are punctuated with propaganda, anecdotes and dogma. This is what Nobel Laureate Joseph Stiglitz and others have called ‘faith-based’ policymaking. Evidence to justify particular policies or laws is rare. Evidence of the real world impact of specific copyright or, for that matter, other IP laws or policies, is almost unheard of. The ACA2K project is unique because the work summarised in this book provides evidence both for policymaking and of the impacts of copyright in the real world. But this book, and the work of the ACA2K project, is not pioneering only because of the illuminating findings in all the eight study countries. It is pioneering also because of the replicable research methodology developed, and the interdisciplinary collaboration in an area that is usually seen as a preserve of lawyers. The project is also of immense importance because of its focus on education and learning materials in Africa, where copyright is always associated with the positive aspects of promoting African music and culture. This research tells us that while copyright laws and policies might have positive effects in one sector, the same is not necessarily universally true. Other project outcomes, such as building networked research capacity on the areas of IP, knowledge governance and development, and the exploratory work on examining the gender aspects of copyright and access, are also ground-breaking." (Foreword)
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"Since the 1990s journalism education programs have expanded exponentially around the world, but media freedom has not. Globally comparative, this edited volume assesses journalism education and the challenging environment in which it is delivered in countries with a partly free or not free status a
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ccording to global press freedom. The countries covered include China, Singapore, Cambodia, Palestine, Oman, Egypt, Kenya, Tanzania, Brazil, Russia, Romania, and Croatia. Contributors demonstrate through careful analysis that wealthy nations are able to set the terms of their journalism education while less affluent countries are more open to the influence of foreign NGOs. Although this book evidences the disconnection between what is taught and what can be practiced, it also illustrates the degree to which journalism education can be an agent of change." (Publisher description)
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"Der vorliegende Aufsatz berichtet erste deskriptive Befunde aus einer multinationalen Studie zum Vergleich von Journalismuskulturen. Im Rahmen des Projekts wurden insgesamt 1700 Journalisten in 17 Ländern zu ihren professionellen Orientierungen befragt. Im Vordergrund standen Fragen nach dem Verst
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ändnis der eigenen gesellschaftlichen Rolle, den erkenntnistheoretischen Grundlagen und ethischen Imperativen im Journalismus. Im Ländervergleich zeigt sich dabei, dass jene Rollenmodelle, die durch Distanz und Nichtinvolviertheit gekennzeichnet sind, durchaus zu den weltweit akzeptierten journalistischen Standards zählen. Darüber hinaus ist den Journalisten global relativ übereinstimmend die Verlässlichkeit und Faktizität von Informationen sowie das strikte Einhalten von Unparteilichkeit bzw. Neutralität sehr wichtig. Umstritten sind hingegen interventionistische Aspekte der Berufsausübung, wobei sich die größten Differenzen zwischen den entwickelten Staaten des Westens und Transformationsgesellschaften zeigen. Große Länderunterschiede lassen sich auch bezüglich der Rolle von Subjektivität sowie der Vermischung von Fakten und Meinung feststellen." (Abstract)
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"This volume documents from historical and contemporary perspectives, the situations, trends and issues of cartooning in a number of African countries, and profiles the individuals, forms and phenomena that stand out. All types of cartooning are covered, including comic books, comic strips, gag and
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political cartoons, and humour magazines. The contributors are scholars, writers, and practitioners of comic art who are either residents of or research visitors to Africa. Their approaches run the gamut from historical/contemporary overviews, to problem analysis of the profession and cartoonists, to textual analysis." (Publisher description)
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"GISWatch has three interrelated goals: surveying the state of the field of information and communications technology (ICT) policy at local and global levels; encouraging critical debate; strengthening networking and advocacy for a just, inclusive information society. Each year the report focuses on
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one particular theme. GISWatch 2009 focuses on access to online information and knowledge – advancing human rights and democracy. It includes several thematic reports dealing with key issues in the field, as well as an institutional overview and a reflection on indicators that track access to information and knowledge. There is also an innovative section on visual mapping of global rights and political crises. In addition, 48 country reports analyse the status of access to online information and knowledge in countries as diverse as the Democratic Republic of Congo, Mexico, Switzerland and Kazakhstan, while six regional overviews offer a bird’s eye perspective on regional trends." (Back cover)
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"Electronic Government (e-Government) is becoming a global phenomenon that is increasingly attracting the attention of community citizens including politicians, economists, decision and policy makers amongst others. Once only regarded as a means for modernizing the public sector and increasing gover
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nment productivity and efficiency, e-Government is presently recognized as a driver and a key enabler of citizen-centric, cooperative, and seamless modern governance implying not only a profound transformation in the way government interacts with the governed but also the reinvention of its internal processes and how organizations carry their business both internally as well as externally while interacting with the other segments of the community. Based on the literature, it is frequently claimed that the availability of an effective e-Government assessment framework is a necessary condition for advancing e-Government proper implementation. The objective of this article is to develop an e-Government appraisal framework encompassing several components such as people, technology, processes, and strategic planning. The article examines the relations and interactions of these components in an emerging e-Government environment using a case study on an agency affiliated to the government of Egypt as a primary step in the process of testing the framework presented." (Abstract)
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"Depuis les années 1990, la généralisation des télévisions satellitaires et l’avènement d’Internet ont bouleversé le paysage médiatique et contribué à une modification profonde du rapport entre les populations et l’information. Désormais acteurs politiques à part entière, les méd
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ias entretiennent des liens à la fois conflictuels et ambigus avec les différents pouvoirs – politique, judiciaire, religieux, financier… – et pèsent directement sur les relations internationales. Interrogeant l’histoire, multipliant les approches et les exemples – de l’Italie au Liban, de l’analyse de la sociologie du Web au traitement médiatique du conflit israélo-palestinien –, sondant l’évolution des imaginaires politiques et religieux, cet ouvrage se propose de mieux situer la place et le rôle des médias dans les sociétés méditerranéennes, et singulièrement dans les pays arabes. Loin des amalgames et des raccourcis abusifs, ce livre offre des éléments précieux pour appréhender une réalité nouvelle et complexe." (Description de la maison d'édition)
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"kifaya! – „Es reicht!“ Lautstark protestieren Menschen auf Kairos Straßen gegen Präsident Mubarak und seine Regierung. Sie fordern demokratischen Wandel. Arabische Fernsehsender und neue Zeitungen in Ägypten berichten ausführlich über die Kifaya-Bewegung. Sie ist klein, aber nicht zu üb
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ersehen. Dieser öffentliche Protest im Wahljahr 2005 war neu in der arabischen Welt. Eine wesentliche Rolle für den Erfolg der Bewegung spielten ägyptische und andere arabische Medien. Theoretisch fundiert und auf Basis zahlreicher Interviews geht Jan Michael Schäfer am Beispiel Kifayas der Frage nach, welche politische Bedeutung Massenmedien in der arabischen Welt haben können. Können sie zu einer Liberalisierung beitragen? Der Autor zeigt auf, welche Akteure hinter Kifaya stehen und wie die Verbindungen zwischen der Protestbewegung und den Journalisten der neuen privaten Fernseh- und Printmedien ausgestaltet sind." (Verlagsbeschreibung)
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"This book examines, from theoretical and empirical perspectives, the claims that new information and communication technologies (ICTs) are catalysts of democratic change in Africa. Contributors do so from optimist, pragmatist-realist, and pessimist stances through analyses of various forms of evide
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nces—including words and deeds of various political actors and organizations or institutions, from government units to political parties and party leaders to civil society organizations and minority or marginalized groups. The main focus is, therefore, on the interrelated concepts of e-participation and e-democracy." (Preface)
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"The essays in this volume reflect a wide-range of issues and concerns related to children’s media culture in Africa. For example, several address the role of entertainment television in Addis Abba, Ghana, South Africa, Kenya, and Zambia and in the lives of Muslim children. Other essays introduce
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us to children-centered media from Ghana, South Africa, and Zimbabwe, and the innovative programs of PLAN-International. In addition to entertainment media and children-centered media, media education and digital media literacy are also discussed." (Publisher description)
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"This book offers a view of the cultural, family, and interpersonal consequences of mobile communication across the globe. Scholars analyze the effect of mobile communication on all parts of life, from the relationship between literacy and the textual features of mobile phones to the use of ringtone
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s as a form of social exchange, from the “aspirational consumption” of middle-class families in India to the belief in parts of Africa and Asia that mobile phones can communicate with the dead. The contributors explore the ways mobile communication profoundly affects the tempo, structure, and process of daily life around the world. The book discusses the impact of mobile communication on social networks, other communication strategies, traditional forms of social organization, and political activities. It considers how quickly miraculous technologies come to seem ordinary and even necessary; and how ordinary technology comes to seem mysterious and even miraculous. The chapters cut across social issues and geographical regions; they highlight use by the elite and the masses, utilitarian and expressive functions, and political and operational consequences. Taken together, the chapters demonstrate how mobile communication has affected the quality of life in both exotic and humdrum settings, and how it increasingly occupies center stage in people’s lives around the world." (Publisher description)
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