"Es ist erstaunlich, dass der römisch-katholische Radio-Priester Charles Coughlin – Vertreter der amerikanischen Religiösen Rechten, Antikommunist, Antisemit, Demagoge und Zeitzeuge der ersten America First-Bewegung – hierzulande so gut wie unbekannt ist. Ebenso erstaunlich ist, dass er bis vo...r kurzem in den USA, einem Land, in dem allsonntäglich Millionen Menschen seinen politischen Predigten lauschten, nahezu vollständig in Vergessenheit geraten war. Coughlins Geschichte weist viele Aspekte auf, die auch gegenwärtig in Gesellschaft und Politik, nicht nur in den USA, eine Rolle spielen: die Nutzung neuer Medien für die Verbreitung von alternativen Fakten und Verschwörungstheorien, der Erfolg populistischer Versprechungen, Narzissmus, die Konfrontation von Demagogie und wehrhafter Demokratie. Der Politikwissenschaftler Helmut Klumpjan schildert das politisch-religiöse Leben Father Coughlins, erklärt den historischen und politischen Kontext seiner Zeit (1891–1979) und misst zuletzt den Wegbereiter des Hate Radio an seinem eigenen Idol: Wie gelingt es einem Menschen, der sich das Liebes-Motto einer christlichen Heiligen auf die Fahne geschrieben hat, dennoch Hass zu verbreiten?" (Verlag)
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"Within less than 20 years, the number of Arabic-language satellite channels has risen from zero to more than 500, including channels financed by the US, Russia, China, the UK and France. Some 50 of these channels label themselves as Islamic (and a handful are Christian) , but Islamic programming is... also present in many of the other channels, whether state-run or private. This massive proliferation of Islamic programming has also given rise to specifically Islamist and Salafist channels and programmes. This chapter will describe these developments and discuss their implications. Mass media and Islamic fundamentalism go back a long way in the Arab World." (p.264)
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"This is a comparative case study of the church-run, Radio Maria and non church-run, Radio Explorers in the Eastern Province of Zambia. The work compares and contrasts the (1) content and management of the stations, (2) the process of selection of programmes and content development, and (3) accessib...ility. The core purpose of this intense comparison is to contribute to the further understanding of whether faith-based broadcasting or non-faith based stations offer greater community participation and sense of ownership. To achieve this goal, the study employed triangulation. A total of 200 people were interviewed for quantitative data collection. Focus group and in-depth interviews provided invaluable additional information and insights. The outcome of the research indicates that there is no substantive difference between the sense of ownership and management between the two stations. Quantitative findings were high for both. For example, 83 percent of the respondents said Radio Explorers was accessible and 75 percent said the same of Radio Maria. Qualitative responses in focus group discussions and in-depth interviews revealed similar patterns. However, findings indicate that church-run are more participatory than nonchurch run radio stations. These findings indicate that there is essentially no difference in the operations of faith-based radio stations and the non-church stations." (Abstract)
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"Este escrito, con todas sus limitaciones, pretende provocar la reflexión al interior de las emisoras católicas. Hablar con el lector – productor sobre la función que ellas cumplen dentro de la Iglesia. Discutir y tener desencuentros sobre la práctica de una radiodifusión evangelizadora. Prop...oner y buscar criterios éticos, estéticos y de participación desde un horizonte enriquecido por formatos más cercanos a la comunicación. Es una propuesta. Un diálogo orquestado por un comunicador católico insertado en el ejercicio de un canal de difusión, que desde esa orilla, lee con todas las equivocaciones posibles, el papel de obispos, sacerdotes y laicos dentro de las radios. El texto apuesta por una comunicación que por momentos es ajena al escenario religioso. La comunicación circular. La suma de renglones sirve como diagnóstico y revisión para muchos medios que - hay que decirlo - no encuentran una plena orientación en sus dinámicas internas. Prácticas alejadas de comunicación e investigación. Desheredadas en los modos de narrar y ancladas en viejas fórmulas. Por eso, el libro puede ser un reto para las estaciones que miran y revisan su accionar. El trabajo ha sido compartido en distintos escenarios y escrito en una casa de Nicaragua, una emisora de izquierda y otra de derecha, una parroquia de Honduras. Una conversación con radialistas de El Salvador, un volcán, un bus, un aeropuerto, una inspiradísima comunidad guatemalteca, un rincón argentino, ecuatoriano, cubano; otros estadios y un camino electrónico que reúne voces de radialistas católicos y no católicos del continente." (Introducción, p.2)
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"Some recommendations can be made to Radio Progress and its community. The station seems to provide the Upper West people with what they needed – a voice to make themselves heard and to communicate with each other. Since the research showed that most limitations are due to the restraints in financ...ial stability some stronger effort to receive funding would be advisable. Without undermining the non-profit character, Radio Progress could put more emphasise on some fundraising activities. More financial flexibility could solve most of the limitations the station is facing. Furthermore, the station board should pay more attention to a stable coordination of the station. The formerly absent and recently not existing coordination might bear negative impact on the staff motivation. Moreover, this rather unorganised coordination possibly restricts a consequent performance and a stringent development of the programming as well as potential improvement strategies. Some advice can be addressed to the listening communities. The research showed how vital the listeners handle information and educative input they receive through the station and as such also from other villages. By internal clustering of information and output through internal reflection they could even intensify the mutual learning effect the programming offers. Communities could form a committee to which people can address their grievances, demands and ideas on a frequent basis and which could present these collected information to the station. Such an organised information collection and transfer could overcome a crucial obstacle to participate for many people - the restriction to call or visit the station on their own." (Recommendations, p.98)
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"For me, growing up in Detroit, Coughlin was a fascinating figure of local lore: both loved and hated, he was clearly someone whose career cannot be reduced to a single dimension. It may well be argued that the conventional standards of biography should not be applied to media figures, for theirs is... a life of fused private and public selves. In the case of Charles Coughlin, to know the real man behind the microphone is certainly beyond the ken of the author. Here lies the particular dilemma of this study: how to discern whether the subject is the mirror of his audience or its manipulator. And this remains the problem regardless of how one feels about his message. Moreover, the temptation to obliterate this duality—inner versus other-directed self—must be set aside. For as a media personality Charles Coughlin was both the creator and the captive of his enthusiastic public." (Preface)
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