"This book takes a unique and comprehensive look at how the international community, led by the US, responded to ten humanitarian crises of the last decade and how major media outlets played a role in influencing (or failing to influence) action. Crises examined include Liberia, East Timor, Somalia,
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Sudan, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Burundi, Angola, Haiti, and the Congo. Soderlund and Briggs apply the same analytic method to each case to discover why the international community was unwilling, time and time again, to address this new brand of conflict that appeared at the time." (Publisher description)
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"The lack of a consolidated government since the fall of Siyad Barre’s regime in 1991 has led to a proliferation in the number and variety of media sources in Somalia. However, inter-factional violence and conflict has since torn the country apart, creating a difficult environment for media practi
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tioners to work in. In the self-proclaimed autonomous state of Somaliland, relative political stability and cooperation from the community has created a potentially conducive environment to media development. However, a lack of international recognition has limited access to the financial assistance needed to strengthen the media sector outside of the public domain. Changes in university curricula and international initiatives have increased training options for journalists. More and more journalists are being trained in the basic skills and ethics of journalism which, as interviewees agree, has had a positive impact on the quality and quantity of information disseminated. Steady changes in production methods and content have increased the variety of programmes on TV and radio. Poverty and lack of infrastructure have limited the spread of TV and print in Somalia. Likewise, with low levels of literacy in Somalia, radio has the greatest reach, but stations remain concentrated in Mogadishu. An important change to the industry has been the formation of various journalistic trade unions, but journalists remain amongst some of the poorest paid in the world." (Summary & conclusions, page 77)
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"This research initiative assessed the key media changes and developments in seventeen African countries over the past five years and aimed at recommending intervention strategies for strengthening an independent, professional media sector. The summary report presents the main findings regarding med
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ia landscapes, media legislation, media technology and equipment, journalism training and principles of media development. According to this publication "substantial evidence is provided that points to: non-sustainable and short-term approaches to projects; disconnected programmes; unneccesary competition amongst donors; and, consequently wasted investment of donor funds" (Page 15). In addition, individual country reports have been released, written by renowned African media specialists and researchers. They include: Angola, Botswana, Cameroon, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Mozambique, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Each country report consists of three sections: 1) Media sector developments, 2) Challenges for future media development activities, 3) Case study: illustrating good practice in media development." (commbox)
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"Young people, working with a range of media materials, produce innovative content through dialogue and discussions says this publication. On the basis of case studies in Ghana, Haiti, India, Kyrgyzstan, Mexico, Mozambique, Nigeria, Somalia, South Africa, Vietnam, and Zambia, the study examines how
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youth get involved with an assortment of media including newspaper and magazine, radio, television and video, the internet, and personal digital assistants. The study [...] provides a detailed sketch of the various initiatives, offers some interesting perspectives on how ICTs and media mixes have become popular with youngsters both in creative engagement and content creation. It explores the various kinds of innovative uses and participation of youth in media in different cultural contexts, and demonstrates that young people, working with a range of media materials, produce innovative content through dialogue and discussions." (UNESCO website)
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"Kurze Darstellung und "lessons learned" von 7 Fallbeispielen, v.a. Radiosendern. Der Autor stellt u.a. fest: "Medienprojekte werden von westlichen NGOs erst dann gestartet, wenn ein gewaltsamer Konflikt vorbei ist. Medienprojekte mit ausgesprochenem Präventionscharakter sind nahezu unbekannt, auch
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wenn sie dringend nötig wären" (Seite 39). Er empfiehlt u.a. eine "Revitalisierung" der früheren GTZ-Medienarbeit, denn diese stelle eine "gelungene und international renommierte Mischung aus professioneller Beratung bei der Institutionalisierung von demokratischen Mediensystemen und Sozialarbeit mittels Medien" (Seite 47) dar." (commbox)
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"From outbreaks of the flesh eating viruses Ebola and Strep A, to death camps in Bosnia and massacres in Rwanda, the media seem to careen from one trauma to another, in a breathless tour of poverty, disease and death. First we're horrified, but each time they turn up the pitch, show us one image mor
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e hideous than the next, it gets harder and harder to feel. Meet compassion fatigue--a modern syndrome, Susan Moeller argues, that results from formulaic media coverage, sensationalized language and overly Americanized metaphors. In her impassioned new book, Compassion Fatigue, Moeller warns that the American media threatens our ability to understand the world around us. Why do the media cover the world in the way that they do? Are they simply following the marketplace demand for tabloid-style international news? Or are they creating an audience that as seen too much--or too little--to care? Through a series of case studies of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse--disease, famine, death and war--Moeller investigates how newspapers, newsmagazines and television have covered international crises over the last two decades, identifying the ruts into which the media have fallen and revealing why. Throughout, we hear from industry insiders who tell of the chilling effect of the mega- media mergers, the tyranny of the bottom-line hunt for profits, and the decline of the American attention span as they struggle to both tell and sell a story. But Moeller is insistent that the media need not, and should not, be run like any other business. The media have a special responsibility to the public, and when they abdicate this responsibility and the public lapses into a compassion fatigue stupor, we become a public at great danger to ourselves." (Publisher description)
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"Based on a forum, "War and peace in Somalia", held at Columbia University on February 16, 1994, this is an expanded and updated perspective with essays and first-person accounts by some of the original participants." (https://search.worldcat.org)
"The focus throughout is on "listening" to people, in order to learn from experiences. Oral testimony is considered in terms of oral history and oral artistry. The importance of listening is illustrated by a large number of entertaining case studies, drawn from both developed and developing countrie
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s, from a broad range of disciplines. The methodology is discussed, detailing the way in which development workers should be trained to listen. The four case studies illustrate practical applications where listening to oral testimonies has proved beneficial for project orientation and management." (www.participatorymethods.org)
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"Annotated listings of over 4,600 libraries, publishers, booksellers, magazines and periodicals, and major newspapers throughout Africa." (commbox)
"The editors attempt to provide "comprehensive, accurate and up-to-date information, in both English and French, on libraries, publishers and the retail book trade, research institutions with publishing programs, book industry and literary associations, major periodicals and newspapers, government a
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s well as commercial printers, throughout Africa, South Africa excepted for the last name group." In all, 4,621 institutions and organizations are represented. Data varies according to the type of organization or institution and completeness and accuracy also vary because, the editors tell us, 45 percent of addresses failed to update their entries or retum the questionnaire. These cases are indicated with a dagger or asterisk. Even so, it provides a formidable amount of information. Librarians proved the best respondents; consequently data about libraries is more likely to be the most complete. Arrangement is alphabetical by country. Appendixes include a subject index to special libraries and to periodicals and magazines, and listings of book clubs, awards and principal dealers in African books in Europe and the U.S. Text is in English and French." (Eleanor Blum, Frances G. Wilhoit: Mass media bibliography. 3rd ed. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1990 Nr. 1127)
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"Head's knowledge of the structure of television worldwide is monumental, as is his ability to organize it into books. In Broadcasting in Africa 35 authors, including Head himself, have contributed essays which give a comprehensive picture of African broadcasting country by country, and the role whi
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ch non-Africans play in shaping it. Information given for each African nation includes population, receivers per thousand, radio transmitter sites, area per site. Otherwise information varies a bit, with longer discussions for larger countries. The authors discuss the system against the background of such factors as geography, politics, and language, and include broadcasting history and, when available, audience data. The second half of the book is concemed with the ways in which other nations are influencing African broadcasting. Here are discussions of international broadcasting agencies and programs, religious broadcasting, foreign aid, training, research, educational uses to which broadcasting is put, and the commerce of broadcasting. Head concludes with an agenda for further study. Appendixes give technical problems of spectrum utilization, the uses of broadcasting in African political crises, historical and demographic data, a summary of system facilities, and languages used in broadcasting. There is a lengthy bibliography and a comprehensive index." (Eleanor Blum, Frances G. Wilhoit: Mass media bibliography. 3rd ed. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1990 Nr. 650)
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"Importance de la radio somalienne (pas d'écriture somali) — L'agence officielle S.O.N.N.A. — Le service audio-visuel — Les journaux officiels — La presse indépendante. Aussi: Le Journaliste démocratique, Prague, n° 9, pp. 187-188." (Jean-Marie Van Bol, Abdelfattah Fakhfakh: The use of m
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ass media in the developing countries. Brussels: CIDESA, 1971 Nr. 4, topic code 110.1, 210.1)
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"La Somali National News Agency est née en 1966 — Elle compte quatre sections: le service national, les informations étrangères, le service technique et le service d'écoute — Les correspondants régionaux de l'agence sont, dans la plupart des cas, des fonctionnaires — L'Agence somalienne d
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iffuse tous ses services en anglais bien qu'il existe des journaux officiels publiés en italien et en arabe — Les abonnés de l'agence sont Radio-Mogadiscio, le quotidien arabe « La Voix de Somalie », le quotidien italien « Le Corriere della Somalia » et l'hebdomadaire anglais « Somali News » — Les correspondants en Somalie des grandes agences internationales reçoivent également le bulletin de la S.N.N.A." (Jean-Marie Van Bol, Abdelfattah Fakhfakh: The use of mass media in the developing countries. Brussels: CIDESA, 1971 Nr. 90, topic code 131)
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