"In this book, leading international scholars examine the way new media is reshaping lives and politics. Covering topics from women's rights to terrorism, and countries from Israel to Saudi Arabia, these authors explore the global and regional ramifications of the proliferation of communication tech
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nologies and the information they disseminate." (Publisher description)
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"[...] This authoritative book answers key questions about the connections between media and political change in the Arab world. Using research into, for example, practices of Internet users, journalists, demonstrators and producers of reality TV, it explores the interface between public interaction
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over the airwaves, at the polls and on the streets. A lively group of contributors explores such issues as whether young people are served well by new media, whether blogging is an influential political tool, whether satellite news helps or hinders diasporic communities politically, and much more." (Publisher description)
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"Foreign correspondent Waghorn compares long-term assignments in China and Israel and observes: "Whereas in China the challenge was engaging the viewers' interest in somewhere so unfamiliar and alien, here [Israel] it is keeping them interested in somewhere they find over familiar. Rock-throwing, su
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icide bombs, helicopter gunships, funeral rallies and weeping relatives - they have seen it all before, time and time again." And in terms of physical obstacles to reporting, he writes, in Israel "they come in more dangerous forms than in China. In Gaza, for example, we operate with the risk of kidnapping and although dodging around in taxis, trying to remain unnoticed, can feel the same as ducking and diving to avoid Chinese police interference, in China a western correspondent can be fairly confident that the worst to fear is detention, losing your tapes and an occasional roughing up. Here there are more mortal dangers and neither side in the conflict has ever shown sufficient interest in the health and safety of journalists in the heat of battle." But in terms of obtaining information, Israel is light years ahead, he believes." (Abstract)
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"This edition of Facts & Figures 2005 for Culture and Media Development Cooperation updates information on the Culture and Media sector development cooperation for the fiscal year 2005. The information provided is based on Sida disbursements." (Publisher description)
"The reorganisation of radio broadcasting in the five Arab countries we have looked at is a slow, unequal, up-and-down and unfinished process. It is unfinished in that some states (Egypt and Syria), still have not published the conditions for awarding broadcasting licenses, even though some independ
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ent stations have received authorisation. The beneficiary stations thus have no real legal status, but are private businesses broadcasting music, and refraining from broadcasting news. The stations seem to be of most benefit to businessmen close to the authorities, and are more a part of the process of State privatisation than media democratisation. There is a general lack of transparency, and very little information is available about these radio stations. Journalists know little about the shareholders, working conditions in the stations and how they are organised. The legal vacuum will no doubt eventually be filled in these two countries. But, for the time being, radio broadcasting in Egypt and Syria remains totally under the control of the authorities. Lebanon is a special case. By allowing radio and television stations to be privately owned, Lebanon has essentially brought an existing state of affairs within the law, since these independent stations did not wait for the 1996 law to be passed before going on the air. Nevertheless, the various attempts to prevent religious interests from controlling the media have so far failed, and the political stations are a direct mirror of the country’s religious polarities. Every political/religious party has its own radio station (and television channel), which it uses to support its political choices. And the only non-religious station, Sawt Al-Shab, is close to the Lebanese Communist Party. Despite their vulnerability, the Palestinian and Jordanian experiments are without doubt the most promising. The legal framework is restrictive, in these two countries, but the privatelyowned stations are pushing back the boundaries of news broadcasting, are helping to render the media more autonomous, and introducing a relative degree of democracy in the field of information. But these experiments remain dependent on the unstable political context and resulting legal restrictions. The new legislation is more favourable to entertainment stations and benefits businessmen close to the authorities, leaving little space for civil society radio projects to develop." (Conclusion, page 42)
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"From the Taino Indians of the Caribbean, the U’wa of the Amazon rainforest, and the Tunomans and Assyrians of Iraq, to the Tingas and Zapatistas, Native on the Net is a lively and intriguing exploration of how new technologies have enabled these previously isolated peoples to reach new levels of
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communication and community: creating new communities online, confronting global corporations, or even challenging their own native traditions. Featuring case studies ranging from the Artic to the Australian outback, this book addresses important recurrent themes, such as the relationship between identity and place, community, traditional cultures and the nature of the ‘indigenous’." (Publisher description)
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"Written by both leading academic authorities and by Muslim media practitioners, 'Muslims and the Media' is designed as a comprehensive and critical textbook and is set in both the British and international contexts. The book clearly establishes the links between context, content, production and aud
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iences thus reflecting the entire cycle of the communication process and revealing the ways in which meaning is produced and reproduced in the news media. Looking closely at the circumstances and politics surrounding the representation of Muslims across a wide range of journalistic genres, at the presence and influence of Muslims in the processes of news production, and the ways in which audiences, both Muslim and non-Muslim, consume this media, the book brings together coherently a wide range of perspectives to provide crucial insights into the representation - and misrepresentation - of Islam and Muslims today." (Publisher description)
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