"Drawing on a content analysis of 263 news articles on US development assistance from 2011 to 2020 across three US media outlets, the study investigates the media's performance in covering and representing US development assistance to the public. The analysis reveals that the media focus their cover
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age of US development assistance based on geopolitical interests and high-profile stories of aid, and fail to critically and comprehensively follow up on them after their announcement. The media dominantly portrayed development assistance in terms of materialistic aid, uncritically justified as “doing good,” while attributing its de-legitimacy to the recipients’ inability and leaving the global North's dysfunctional aid system unquestioned. Such modernistic representation was further supported by the dominance of the Western voice in speaking about what development assistance is and why it matters. To promote better practices for “news about development,” the study suggests that journalism should pay critical attention to the political economy of development communication and adopt a postcolonial communication approach to decenter the hegemonic conventions of journalism grounded in Western experiences." (Abstract)
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"This article offers new learnings and recommended practices for documentary-centred grassroots engagement and social change research. These learnings were developed through a community engagement effort in 2020 that centred around a documentary film about racial violence and injustice, 'Always in S
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eason'. Shaped by extended dialogues with industry experts, the filmmaker, local community organizations and more than 100 community participants, these learnings should be of interest to researchers, media makers, organizers, activists, and engagement specialists who wish to engage publics in critical social justice conversations that are not possible through traditional top-down, externally driven methods and engagement approaches alone. Organized around an urgent question – ‘How can participatory methods shift how media is employed and researched for social change purposes?’ – this article responds to a recent call for researchers to avoid ‘re-inventing the wheel’ and to align new work with existing knowledge produced in the field of communication for social change and the long-tradition of community engagement work in the field of documentary." (Abstract)
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"This article focuses on how the construction of ‘migrant’ and ‘refugee’ as a social threat is involved in the specific ways in which climate change induced migration is communicated in Western media. It puts a spotlight on a major drawback of climate policies: the failure to make room for t
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he issue of climate migration. The article explores how a climate justice frame would allow the evolution of conceptual perspectives that are more conducive to safeguarding vulnerable communities’ rights and interests." (Abstract)
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"This study investigated the knowledge and practice of safety protocols among journalists serving as frontline workers in the fight against COVID-19 in Ebonyi State, Nigeria. Descriptive survey research design was adopted. Structured questionnaire served as instrument for data collection. The popula
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tion of the study was all the one hundred and fifty-seven (157) registered journalists in Ebonyi State, Nigeria. The study was anchored on the Stages of Change Model and Health Belief Model. Simple percentage, frequency table, bar chart, T-test and Pearson’s chi square tests were used to analyse the research questions whereas t-test and Pearson’s Chi square test was used to test the hypotheses at 0.05 significance level. Findings show that whereas majority of the respondents had good knowledge of Coronavirus personal protective measures, they lack the technicalities and personal protective equipment required to serve as frontline health workers in a highly infectious pandemic situation such as Coronavirus. The study recommends special training for journalists who cover pandemics, particularly highly infectious ones of this nature to better equip them with the requisite skills for this genre of special assignment. Journalism training bodies and institutes could also consider the inclusion of pandemic reporting as part of specialised courses in journalism studies. Prioritsing vaccination of journalists who serve as frontline workers during pandemics is also strongly recommended." (Abstract)
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"Das Handbuch »Spielen. Lernen. Wissen. Einsatzmöglichkeiten von Games in der Bildung« veranschaulicht, wie sich digitale Spiele in verschiedenen Bereichen der Bildung einsetzen lassen – zum Beispiel im Schulunterricht, in der Sozialen Arbeit mit Kindern und Jugendlichen oder in der Aus- und We
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iterbildung. Das Handbuch richtet sich als Nachschlagewerk, Ratgeber und Inspirationsquelle insbesondere an Vertreter*innen von Bildungsorganisationen und bildungspolitisch verantwortlichen Stellen." (Rückseite)
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"Community radio is an important tool in bridging the information gap and in mobilizing society for development activities. This study aimed at investigating the emphasis of community radio programs in enhancing socio-economic development perspectives: the case of Sidama Radio in Yirgalem town, Ethi
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opia. The study employed qualitative methods; and in-depth interviews, FGD, and document analysis were the data collection tools used for this study. To select the FGD employees, availability sampling employed, and purposive sampling for one program coordinator and one manager from the station. The findings of the study demonstrated that the Sidama radio gave more airtime and emphasis on local issues and social development programs. The findings also revealed that Sidama radio produces different social, entertainment and education programs with the social development perspectives of the community. The findings depicted that there are also programs that promote the local language and culture through local music, and narration. The study also depicted that the community members participate in the administration of the station as well as in the production of the programs as the radio provides a platform for community and community participation and empowerment as many of the volunteer journalists are from the community. The media practitioners have the same understanding of the role of community radio for social interaction and empowerment although lack of finance and skills manpower were problems of the radio. It was recommended that continuous research in the area should be undertaken." (Abstract)
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"Prior research suggests that climate stories are rarely reported by local news outlets in the United States. As part of the Climate Matters in the Newsroom project}a program for climate-reporting resources designed to help journalists report local climate stories}we conducted a series of local clim
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ate-reporting workshops for journalists to support such reporting. Here, we present the impacts of eight workshops conducted in 2018 and 2019}including participant assessments of the workshop, longitudinal changes in their climate-reporting self-efficacy, and the number and proportion of print and digital climate stories reported. We learned that participants found value in the workshops and experienced significant increases in their climate-reporting self-efficacy in response to the workshops, which were largely sustained over the next 6 months. We found only limited evidence that participants reported more frequently on climate change after the workshops}possibly, in part, due to the impact of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) on the news industry. These findings suggest that local climate-reporting workshops can be a useful but not necessarily sufficient strategy for supporting local climate change reporting. Further research is needed to illuminate how to support local climate reporting most effectively." (Abstract)
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"People are diverse and unpredictable. How can we better understand them and even predict what they’ll do? While we are all different, a growing body of research is revealing there are consistencies in human decisionmaking and behaviour. This research has challenged classical, ‘rational’ model
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s of behaviour used in economics. Social, historical and cultural contexts, the environment and how mental shortcuts shape everyday decision-making are increasingly informing work in this space. Behavioural Science employs evidence and data from people all over the world to design theories that explain – and ideally predict – how and why people make decisions. Behavioural theories and models can provide an evidence-based framework, to analyse, design and evaluate work in SBC." (Page 1)
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"This document serves as a guide for how to develop a Social and Behaviour Change (SBC) Strategy or Plan for a single-country or multi-country SBC programme. Developing an SBC Strategy hinges upon understanding the unique circumstances and world views of the individuals the strategy seeks to serve.
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These insights will help you design customised solutions for local challenges. By understanding the barriers to certain behaviours, services or a system from the perspective of community members, you will be able to develop more sensitive, evidence-based and human-centred solutions that respond to people’s needs." (Objective, page 1)
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