"This widely accessible book by Magda Konieczna, an assistant professor of journalism at Temple University in the United States, provides a critical and broad examination of nonprofits in the American journalism landscape. Konieczna employs very rich and insightful case studies of three American non
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profits—the Center for Public Integrity, the Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism, and MinnPost—to show the terms of a new logic of journalism, the perils of news production outside legacy news media, and the upside of the journalistic reform projects at the periphery of traditional journalism." (Review by David Cheruiyot in International Journal of Communication, vol. 15, 2021,
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"Identifying grassroots or ‘below-the-radar’ organisations, such as community media organisations, is a challenging task that is not always supported sufficiently by methodological literature. The objective of this article is to address this challenge by proposing a structured approach to mappin
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g analysis: (1) driven by an (operational) definition of the social entity; (2) that allows for a population-based mapping process; (3) that uses a particular registration instrument (labelled a Mapping Index Card, or MIC); (4) to process data from multiple sources; and (5) to analyse the information registered in these MICs. By zooming in on the only divided country of Europe – the island of Cyprus – this article then illustrates how to design and conduct a mapping research of community media organisations on a national scale. Other than giving an overview of the community media operating in Cyprus, this mapping exercise aims to provide a methodological guide for mapping civil society and ‘below-the-radar’ organisations in general." (Abstract)
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"The purpose of this manual is to familiarise citizen journalists with the core issues of election reporting including ethics, safety and security, fake news, hate speech and the broader issues around the electoral system in Zimbabwe. It also focuses on gender and the media, photography, live-stream
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ing and mobile reporting. The manual will offer useful tips to citizen journalists on how to write an election story for diverse platforms that include SMS, social media, radio, newspapers, newsletters, among others, capturing the essence of a story, facts, and voices and transmit that information on these platforms. It also focuses on how to gather, share, upload, livestream various pieces of information ranging from text, audio, videos and photos." (Preface)
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"This is an empirical study which analyzes the Mídia Ninja group’s coverage of the Occupation Movement involving more than one thousand educational institutes across Brazil in 2016. This movement was in protest against Bill 241/55, proposed by the Temer government, which puts a cap on the spendin
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g for health and education for the next 20 years. Data was collected from the Media Observatory from the Federal University of Pará (UFPA). The Mídia Ninja Facebook fanpage alone had 565 posts on the occupations between November 7 and 27, 2016. We used quantitative and qualitative criteria to analyze 50 posts taken from this fanpage, which is a space for resisting and criticizing hegemonic discourse. Based on studies from Downing (2002), Motta (2005, 2008, 2013), Martín-Barbero (2009), Aquino (2009), Araújo (2011), Malini and Antoun (2013) and Bentes (2013, 2014), and others, we identify and understand the narrative modes contained within the fanpage collective content in order to observe aspects of journalistic narratives in media activism. The main results of this study point to a journalistic narrative with an activist agenda, built on the perspective of not only those who produce the news but also those who live the facts." (Abstract)
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"O jornalismo cidadão é uma das principais formas de democratizar a comunicação. A pesquisa possui o objetivo de compreender a cultura organizacional de uma das grandes representantes desse tipo de jornalismo, a Mídia Ninja. Para isso, utilizou-se a metodologia triangular com a aplicação de q
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uestionários, realização de entrevistas e a observação participante nas sedes da Mídia Ninja Brasília e Mídia Ninja Belo Horizonte. O trabalho orientou-se pelo marco teórico das áreas de Jornalismo e Comunicação Organizacional e alcançou resultados que caracterizam o objeto de estudo: a colaboração como valor intrínseco da organização, a utilização das tecnologias para a comunicação interna, a mutação constante das equipes regionais, a solidariedade como moeda social e o modelo de funcionamento horizontal." (Resumo)
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"Based on an in-depth case study of “Khabar Lahariya” – a community newspaper located in Central India, this research paper analyses its decade-and-a-half journey and examines the metamorphosis it has undergone over the years. The paper borrows from Tanja Bosch’s (2010) synthesis of Gilles D
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eleuze and Felix Guattari’s notion of “rhizomes” to analyze community media, and also from Chris Atton’s (2002) “Model of Alternative and Radical Media,” which he developed through an amalgamation of existing definitions and theoretical sketches on community media. Drawing on the characteristics of “heterogeneity,” “multiplicity” and “asignifying rupture” of rhizomes, the paper explains how Khabar Lahariya grew from a study tool for the neo-literate women of an NGO’s literacy intervention to an independent “media agency” having linkages with diverse media outlets. Atton’s model allows us to comprehend the “intersections” and “overlapping” of dimensions in Khabar Lahariya’s content, form, production, distribution channels, social relations, roles and responsibilities that generate “hybridity” in its products and processes. The authors conclude by flagging some of the consequences of this rhizomatic growth and multi-dimensionality of structure and processes of Khabar Lahariya that may signify a debatable compromise of a few of the non-negotiable principles that characterize community media." (Abstract)
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"Popular theatre occupies a special space in Matabeleland because it is situated in the everyday lives of ordinary people, and is able to articulate their experiences and to create spaces for them to ‘speak to power’. In the wake of the Gukurahundi massacres and perceived marginalization of Mata
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beleland in the 1980s, theatre groups used their plays to probe issues that were shunned by mainstream media. We argue that theatre has been used as part of radical citizen media in a context in which mainstream public spheres are restricted. We also demonstrate that theatre groups in Matabeleland have shifted between ‘Matabeleland particularism’ and addressing broader, ‘national’ concerns, reflecting historical context. However, theatre is not always used to express views that support the downtrodden against the establishment. In the Matabeleland case and also Zimbabwe as a whole, theatre has also been employed by the state and other pro-establishment groups for ideological mobilization." (Abstract)
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"This ethnographic study explores how four alternative media projects in El Salvador integrated digital technologies-particularly social media-into their practices, and whether incorporating these technologies affected citizen participation not only in the media production process, but in a broader
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discursive sphere of civic and political life as well. Summer Harlow investigates the factors that influence the extent to which alternative media producers are able to use digital tools in liberating ways for social change by opening a space for participation in technology (as content producers) andthrough technology (as engaged citizens). The book advances existing literature with two main contributions: extending our understanding of the digital divide to include inequalities of social media use, and including technology use-whether liberating or not-as a fundamental component of a mestizaje approach to the study of alternative media." (Publisher description)
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"This article argues that New Zealand’s Pacific news media are key sites where producers negotiate identity, community and belonging through what are described as locative practices. A qualitative analysis of interviews with 23 Pacific media producers and journalists finds that, regardless of thei
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r location or size, Pacific news media routinely invoke and perform community and are more like smaller, hyperlocal community media in the intimacy of their relationship with their audiences. Producers achieve this by foregrounding their Pacific identities, their connection to community and traditional values of service. Indeed, it is these locative practices, more than others, that underpin the distinctiveness of Pacific and other ethnic media and their enduring relevance to ethnic audiences." (Abstract)
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