"This article examines what drives audience participation in interactive broadcast shows, with implications for the democratic potential of these shows as spaces of citizen engagement and public discussion. It makes three contributions, the first two to audience and media studies and the last to pol...itical communication. First, it provides evidence to fill a gap in empirical knowledge on what drives audience participation in interactive broadcasts in Africa. “Mediated sociability”—the ways in which audience members are socialized into thinking about interactive broadcast shows as a space in which people like them have a voice— emerges as a strong determinant of audience participation. Second, it then uses this evidence from a non-Western perspective to reinforce the importance of conceptualizing the interactive broadcast show as a convened social space that can enable active citizenship. Third, by advancing scholarship on audiences and publics, the article deepens our understanding on the democratic significance of interactive broadcast in Africa and beyond." (Abstract)
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"This article discusses participatory methods for data gathering in the context of a partnership between a Swiss-based media development organization, Fondation Hirondelle, and a research team at the University of Sheffield. In 2018–2019, the partnership conducted fieldwork which focused on the im...pact of radio on women listeners in Niger. The project used participatory methods of data gathering in the form of workshops and focus group discussions (FGDs). The article examines the advantages and limitations of combining the practical experience of international development organizations and the in-depth research capabilities of academia. To triangulate this collaboration and to navigate the limitations of FGDs, the use of workshops is discussed as an important method for providing feedback among the radio practitioners and experts in Niger. The article examines the usefulness of combining these methods and reshaping their application to promote participatory research with radio audiences and practitioners." (Abstract)
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"This study attempts to explore entertainment-education (E-E) radio drama audience responses/reactions, their motivating factors in writing letters to the drama and the relationship between audience responses and over all program goals of the drama, Menta Menged (Crossroads), in Ethiopia. Because en...tertainment-education mass media programs which aim at promoting pro-social behavior attract huge audiences both in listening and participating due to their entertainment and educational functions, this study explores these audiences’ feedback with the aim to understand the kind of relationship that exists between audiences and the radio drama. The data was collected through a textual or qualitative content analysis of audience letters, and focus group discussions with audience members; and it was qualitatively analyzed and discussed. The data showed that audiences typically have four kinds of reactions: commentaries, appreciations, associations and reflections with the drama, characters and actors. Furthermore, a number of motivating factors, in addition to the drama (both the messages and model characters), influenced audiences to respond to the drama and involved in the writing of letters. Interestingly, their reactions are mixed when compared to the program’s intended outcomes on audience behaviors." (Abstract)
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"La comparaison entre les situations évoquées dans les deux parties de ce travail (Belgique v/s exemples étrangers) le souligne de manière patente: la Belgique présente un déficit appréciable en matière de feedback des usagers en regard de ce qui se passe ailleurs dans le monde." (Conclusion...s, p.142)
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