"BBC Media Action has made strengthening the evidence base of reports, data sets, and analysis about the role of media and communication in democratic development a priority. Yet, the extent to which different donor organizations, foundations, think tanks, practitioners, and academics utilize resear
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ch in general and BBC Media Action research in particular, remains uncertain. To shed greater light on this question, in October 2012, the Center for Global Communication Studies at the Annenberg School for Communication, University of Pennsylvania, conducted a quantitative survey followed by in-depth, structured interviews with 57 development stakeholders from four areas of development: governance, humanitarian response, health, and resilience. These research methods were used to investigate: (1) prevailing perceptions about and uses of media among assorted development stakeholders, (2) the extent to which these stakeholders are familiar with and utilize existing research concerning media development and media for development, (3) if and how funders are using this research to decide funding and policy making priorities, and (4) the specific impact of research and evidence initiated by BBC Media Action." (Executive summary)
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"Popular Media, Democracy and Development in Africa examines the role that popular media could play to encourage political debate, provide information for development, or critique the very definitions of 'democracy' and 'development'. Drawing on diverse case studies from various regions of the Afric
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an continent, essays employ a range of theoretical and methodological approaches to ask critical questions about the potential of popular media to contribute to democratic culture, provide sites of resistance, or, conversely, act as agents for the spread of Americanized entertainment culture to the detriment of local traditions. A wide variety of media formats and platforms are discussed, ranging from radio and television to the Internet, mobile phones, street posters, film and music." (Publisher description)
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"Daniel Lerner's 1958 book 'The Passing of Traditional Society' was central in shaping Cold War-era ideas about the use of mass media and culture to promote social and economic progress in postcolonial nations. Based on a study of the effectiveness of propaganda in the Middle East, Lerner's book cla
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imed that exposure to American media messages could motivate "traditional" people in the postcolonial nations to become "modern" by cultivating empathy for American ideas, goods, and ways of life. The Production of Modernization examines Lerner's writings to construct the intellectual trajectory of his thinking about mass media and modernization up to and beyond the publication of his famous book. Shah has written not just an intellectual biography of Lerner but also a history of the discipline he shaped." (Publisher description)
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"Here the media's development impact is presented using five closely intermingled influences: plurality and transparency - the contributions that a plural media environment makes to good governance, transparency, and the functioning of markets (economic and political) which can be seen as the media'
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s political economy role; behavioral - the media's contribution to inspiring beneficial changes in the behaviors of individuals, groups, and organizations; infrastructure and platform - compelling content is essential for and the main driver of investment in new convergent broadband infrastructure and platforms, which hold the potential for transformational development; economic - the media provide many jobs, especially in smaller-size enterprises; trade - trade in media, mainly audio-visual products - is substantial but asymmetric, certain trade barriers restrain investments and limit opportunities for developing country exports, and so the media's potential contribution to development." (Page 5)
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"En el libro que ofrecemos al lector se realiza un análisis detenido de la situación actual de las industrias culturales, sobre todo en la perspectiva de su influencia en los procesos de desarrollo, y se analiza lo que esta agencia se ha propuesto al definir a las relaciones entre cultura y desarr
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ollo como una de sus estrategias fundamentales de cooperación. Lo hace mostrando las posibilidades que tienen los paÃses de fortalecer y redistribuir sus ingresos, incentivando, a través de polÃticas públicas y planes concretos, las industrias culturales. Éstas generan rentabilidad y empleo, resaltan la creatividad local y encuentran fortalezas en las culturas locales. Pero también este libro advierte claramente que la cultura no se reduce a su versión industrial, ni es solamente un asunto comercial y del mercado. Los productos culturales son mucho más que mercancÃas. Son soporte de la cohesión social y la democracia." (Prólogo, página 11)
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"Media, Development, and Institutional Change investigates mass media's profound ability to affect institutional change and economic development. The authors use the tools of economics to illuminate the media's role in enabling and inhibiting political-economic reforms that promote development." (Pu
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blisher description)
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