"How did the Trump administration capture one of the world’s most important public service news networks? This book uses rare interviews and an analysis of private correspondence and internal documents to explain why and how Voice of America (VOA) became intensely politicized from 2020 to 2021. It
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analyzes how political appointees, White House officials, and right-wing media influenced VOA—changing its reporting of the Black Lives Matter movement, the presidential election, and its contested aftermath. Trump allies took control of the network’s financial and human resources, dominated its governance structures, and instigated intimidating investigations into journalistic bias. Some journalists tried to resist, but others were too exhausted and fearful, particularly those in the organization’s language services. The book puts these events in historical and international context—and develops a new analytical framework for understanding government capture and its connection to broader processes of democratic backsliding. It argues that there is currently too little to prevent a future US administration with authoritarian tendencies from capturing VOA and converting it into a major domestic news organization. For this reason, it uses empirical research to recommend practical ways of protecting the network and other international public service media better in future." (Publisher description)
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"This report presents the results of in-depth interviews conducted with eight individuals with recent direct experience inside detention facilities in China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR). Findings are based on four face-to-face and four remote interviews conducted between November 201
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9 and May 2020 [...] Many detainees were unclear about the reasons behind their initial arrests and grappled with why they were targeted. Justifications for detaining interviewees included innocuous differences in appearance or behavior, perceived by the state as indicators of religiosity or Uyghur nationalism. Some got no explanation for their arrests. Two participants heard police directly mention being given quotas or financial incentives for Uyghur arrests [...] Participants recommended that RFA continue to convey the reality of the ongoing repression in the Uyghur region in as transparent and high-profile a way as possible. Participants said that international coverage failed to present the reality of Uyghurs’ experiences in the XUAR in sufficient scale and depth. To address this, they recommended that RFA: Continues to provide detailed, factually strong reports about conditions within the XUAR, supported by photographic and video materials whenever possible; Focus on original reporting rather than translating reports from other outlets; Humanize Uyghurs in general and detainees in particular, sharing their real lives and stories, challenging the PRC narrative portraying them as Islamic extremists or terrorists; Broadcast more interviews with émigrés who had direct experience of detention – including those who were detained in pre-trial facilities rather than re-education camps; Translate content into other languages, including Mandarin and Russian." (Executive summary)
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"For decades international radio broadcasters on the African continent were considered the tools of Western imperialism, ideological weapons in the Cold War. Yet international broadcasters also provided a crucial, alternative supply of information in times of state monopoly of the media and when the
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re was a lack of freedom of expression. Over the past 20 years, the media have become more open and numerous in the countries of French-speaking Africa and, as a result, international broadcasters have had to redefine their strategies. Based on expert interviews, this study examines the positioning of “historically established” international radio broadcasters by looking into the strategies of 2 of them, Radio France Internationale and Deutsche Welle." (Abstract)
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"International radio broadcasters took on a centrally important role during the Cold War. Founded at the beginning of the 1950s, Radio Free Europe (RFE) was to become both a political instrument for influencing public opinion and one of the few alternative sources of information for many people livi
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ng to the east of the Iron Curtain. The contributions in this publication illustrate the political, social, and cultural context within which RFE operated at the time; they explore the journalistic practices used in RFE; and they analyze the content of the broadcasts and the responses of RFE’s listeners." (Back cover)
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"This synthesis of evidence suggests that BBC Media Action interventions have an important role to play in assisting people affected by crisis, and is consistent with other literature that highlights the role of media in providing accurate and reliable information in crisis. It highlights that, as w
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ith other forms of humanitarian assistance, mass media cannot fully meet people’s needs, and it works best alongside other interventions and actors, particularly locally based media broadcasters and other actors who can provide follow-up on issues raised and address locally specific issues and concerns." (Conclusion, page 56)
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"Nach dem Fall der Berliner Mauer und dem Ende der Sowjetunion musste der Auslandsrundfunk sich neu orientieren. In der Außen- und Entwicklungspolitik sind Kultur und Medien zunehmend als wichtige Faktoren für die Gestaltung auswärtiger Beziehungen und internationaler Entwicklungszusammenarbeit e
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rkannt worden. Führende International Broadcaster des Westens wie BBC, RFI, DW, RNW und die Programme des US-amerikanischen Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) haben sich daher neben der Außendarstellung des eigenen Landes die Förderung von unabhängigem Journalismus und interkulturellem Dialog zum Ziel gesetzt. Sie produzieren Bildungs- und Informationsprogramme und führen Medienentwicklungsprojekte mit zahlreichen Partnerländern durch. In ihren Zielgebieten stehen die international ausgerichteten Sender der westlichen Demokratien zunehmend in Konkurrenz mit Auslandsprogrammen von autokratisch regierten Staaten wie China und Russland, die dort selbst politisch und ökonomisch Einfluss nehmen wollen. Nicht zuletzt unter diesem Druck und nach einschneidenden Budgetkürzungen haben europäische und amerikanische International Broadcaster die kostspielige Kurzwellentechnologie weitgehend aufgegeben und setzen stattdessen auf die Verbreitung multimedialer Inhalte über eine Vielzahl von Plattformen: von Internet- und mobilen Onlinediensten bis zur Ausstrahlung durch Partnersender in den Zielregionen. Radio- und Audioformate stellen in diesem Medienverbund weiterhin wertvolle Instrumente dar, die nicht unterschätzt werden sollten. In Regionen, die von Fernsehen und Internet bisher kaum erschlossen sind, ist terrestrisch ausgestrahltes Radio nach wie vor das Medium der Wahl, um Informationen und Bildungsinhalte zu verbreiten. Das betrifft weite Teile Afrikas sowie asiatische Länder wie Afghanistan und Pakistan. Gerade mit seinen Bildungsprogrammen erreicht das Radio auch Zuhörer, die nicht lesekundig sind, und schließt auch in Gebieten mit besser entwickelter Infrastruktur Nutzer nicht aus, die sich teure Satellitenempfänger oder Internetzugänge nicht leisten könnten." (Fazit, Seite 24)
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"Radio and online audio-formats are valuable instruments for international cultural work, and for education and development programmes. However, political developments following the end of the Cold War and the rise of satellite TV and online media have brought with them far-reaching cuts in the radi
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o programming of international broadcasters, and led to fundamental changes in the way radio and audio programmes are produced and distributed. Major western broadcasters, such as BBC World Service, BBG, RFI and DW, have limited their shortwave services to a small selection of countries, mainly in Africa and parts of Asia, where the infrastructure does not offer real alternatives for addressing the respective target groups. In these regions, radio still plays a vital role, not only for reasons related to infrastructure, but also because a great number of illiterate listeners can access information, knowledge and education best via audio. Traditional radio production and terrestrial transmission are also useful and efficient tools in media development work, as they can reach out into remote or rural areas and empower people to strengthen their community and cultural identity. But radio’s relevance goes beyond the local needs of regions that have not kept pace with the rate of recent technological change and media innovation. Radio has been at the core of international broadcasting right from the start, and now that it has become one element in a new mix of media, it turns out that there are some attractive core qualities of radio and audio that remain. These qualities are: 1. the direct and emotional impact of the human voice, 2. radio’s well-established culture of dialogue, 3. its potential to involve listeners as coproducers, 4. the flexibility, mobility and comparatively low production costs of audio, 5. its ability to subvert censorship." (Conclusions and Outlook for the Future, page 20)
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"This article attempts to highlight a new perspective on African audiences’ engagement with global media and point to new postulates in audience research. It briefly reviews key reception theories, ranging from the effects tradition to active audience paradigm and encoding-decoding model. It then
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offers a case study on Northern Nigerians’ interactions with international media, particularly the BBC World Service, to unveil the patterns and consequences of such interactions. The mainly Muslim Northern Nigerians were found to be high consumers of western media products, especially the BBC’s, but with high level of selectivity. Although they regard BBC as the most credible broadcaster that aids their understanding of international affairs and influences their everyday lives, they still see it as a western ideological instrument that portrays the West positively and depicts the Islamic world and Africa negatively. The findings reveal patterns and particularities of postcolonial audiences’ consumption of transnational media that suggest new theoretical postulates in reception research. They indicate the audiences’ tendency to exhibit a phenomenon of ‘selective believability’ in their interactions with international media. They also highlight the mediating roles of religion, culture, ideology and other extra-communication factors in such interactions, and identify the dynamics of credibility and believability. Credibility appears to be a necessary but not sufficient condition for believability in audiences’ consumption of dissonant messages." (Abstract)
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"Diese Einführung geht von der These aus, dass Radio das Vielfältigste aller Medien darstellt. Dies ist u. a. der Tatsache geschuldet, dass niemand so genau weiß, wo die äußeren Grenzen des Phänomens Radio liegen. Manches nennt sich heute Radio - z. B. Internetradio oder Radio-on-Demand -, da
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kann man mit Recht fragen, ob dies vom Begriff eigentlich gedeckt ist? In jedem Fall aber gilt, dass das erste elektronische Medium - im Prinzip ca. neunzig Jahre alt - schon viel mitgemacht hat. Nach seinen Pionier- und Experimentaljahren wurde es zum Leitmedium der „goldenen“ Phase des Radios zwischen den 30er und 50er Jahren, es wurde später vom Fernsehen marginalisiert und erfand sich neu als Begleitmedium, wo es bis heute seine Stärke beweist. Es hat über die Jahre alle Lebensräume erobert und begleitet unsere Mobilität, es hat eine einzigartige Internationalität entwickelt und ist tief im Lokalen verankert. Es ist neben dem Fernsehen das meistgenutzte Medium in Deutschland und zeigt trotz des Siegeszugs des Internet kaum Rückgänge in der Nutzung. Mehr noch, es scheint zunehmend zum Komplementär im Internet-Zeitalter zu werden, da es wunderbar während der Arbeit am Bildschirm genutzt werden kann. Schließlich ist das Radio eine einzigartige Verbindung mit der Zivilgesellschaft eingegangen, im Unterschied zu allen anderen der klassischen Medien ist die Zugangsbarriere gering, das Selbermachen kein Problem, die Bedienung auch kleiner Zielgruppen möglich. Eine Einführung, die ihren Namen verdient, sollte eigentlich immer transdisziplinär angelegt sein. In der vorliegenden Studie sind dennoch alle nachfolgenden Kapitel monodisziplinär angelegt (Geschichte, Politik, Wirtschaft etc.) oder sie folgen zumindest einem Leitbegriff (Theorie, Nutzung, Journalismus), damit ist ein einfaches und nachvollziehbares Gliederungsprinzip intendiert. Diese Kapitel sind als Einführungen geschrieben, sie sollen einen Überblick geben, zentrale Zusammenhänge aufweisen und Beispiele geben." (Einführung, Seite 11)
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"For more than half a century, North Korea’s leaders have relied on a domestic media monopoly to control what information North Koreans can access and how narratives around that information are presented. But the situation on the ground is changing, thanks in large part to North Koreans’ expandi
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ng access to unsanctioned foreign media and information sources. InterMedia’s A Quiet Opening: North Koreans in a Changing Media Environment documents this evolution based on research among recent North Korean defectors, refugees and travelers abroad. The project’s assessment of the current state of the media environment in North Korea suggests that substantial numbers of North Koreans are able to access various forms of foreign media. These include foreign TV and radio broadcasts, and particularly foreign DVDs brought into the country from China by cross-border traders and smugglers. Other vectors for information from abroad include smuggled mobile phones capable of receiving foreign signals, and the exchange of illicit foreign content on otherwise legal MP3/MP4 players and USB drives." (www.audiencescapes.org, June 18, 2012)
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"Government-sponsored international radio broadcasting has been an important public diplomacy tool since shortwave frequencies were first used in the 1920s. This chapter defines international radio broadcasting as "the purposeful attempts on the part of stations in one country to reach listeners in
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other countries" [...] Governments have used these stations to promote a country's messages, whether propagandistic or informational [...] This chapter focuses on how governments around the world have used international broadcasting to reach global audiences, and how changes in technology have influenced these broadcasts. Before examining the current state of international radio broadcasting it is important to take a historical perspective to understand how government sponsored international radio broadcasting has developed." (Page 3)
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"This paper documents the effect of Serbian public radio on the voting behavior and nationalistic anti-Serbian sentiment of Croats in Eastern Slavonia, Baranja and Western Srijem, a post-conflict region of modern Croatia on the border with Serbia. We find that the exposure to the Serbian public radi
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o convinces some Croats to switch to voting for ultra-nationalist parties from voting to moderate nationalist party. In addition, exposure to Serbian public radio increases the incidence of ethnically-offensive graffiti on public buildings in the center of their villages. The results of a laboratory experiment confirm that Serbian public radio causes an increase in anti-Serbian sentiment among Croats. Our results indicate that foreign media can have substantial cross-border effects in countries characterized by post-conflict ethnic tensions such as Croatia. These findings are likely to apply more generally to areas of past conflict with similar languages and overlapping media markets. This suggests that peaceful relations between neighboring countries depend in part on the content of media programming, and the extent of media overlap. Hence, nation-building efforts implicit in the nationalistic content of the media (in this case, the Serbian radio) can have important spillovers on the persistence of peace between countries." (Conclusion, page 22)
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"How could Western broadcasters during the Cold War learn about their audiences in the USSR when they were denied the possibility of conducting surveys within the country? In response to this quandary, second-best approaches were developed at Radio Liberty employing interviews with travellers outsid
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e the country and a sophisticated computer simulation program to draw estimates on audience size, composition and behaviour. In time, it became possible to validate the success of this approach through comparisons with internal survey work, both before and after the breakup of the Soviet Union. This paper overviews the methodology used and a sample of the findings." (Summary)
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"This study sets out to historically contextualize Chinese support to the African mediascape, arguing that contemporary Chinese media interventions in Africa must be seen as part of China's long history of anti-colonial and anti-imperial struggle in its project of national and international identifi
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cation. The study concludes that current Chinese support to Africa's media takes the tripartite form of infrastructural realignment, ideological expurgation and cultural reproduction. It ends with a call for a critical-theoretical trajectory for understanding Sino-African media relations, suggesting a triangulated theoretical approach that draws on a critical cultural studies tradition. Key to this theoretical project is the need to study China in Africa's mediascape in terms of how its influence will, if at all, reconfigure African media production, representation, identity, consumption and regulation." (Abstract)
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"This study is the result of archival research, hundreds of interviews, and listening to hundreds of programs as broadcast from 20-26 September 2004. It focuses on the question of how the broadcasts of the Protestants in the Arab World are a witness to the Christian gospel. The main question asked,
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is to what extent these programs are indigenous and contextually suitable for the audiences which the producers and broadcasters hope to reach." (https://www.cme.stir.ac.uk/publications/2008/strengholt-jos-m-gospel-in-the-air)
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"The heart of the book is a detailed, year-by-year account of the shortwave bands in each year from 1945 to 2008. It reviews what American listeners were hearing on the international and domestic shortwave bands, describes the arrivals and departures of stations, and recounts important events. The b
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ook describes the several categories of broadcasters - international, domestic, private, religious, clandestine and pirate. It explains the impact of relay stations, frequency management, and jamming. It also addresses the considerable changes in shortwave broadcasting since the end of the Cold War." (Publisher description)
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