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Using Digital and Social Media to Monitor and Reduce Violence in Kenya’s Elections

Caitriona Dowd

Brighton: Institute of Development Studies (IDS) (2017), 4 pp.

"Social media and digital technology offer immense potential for citizens, policymakers and practitioners to raise awareness of, monitor, and respond to violence. With Kenya’s elections approaching, technology can help to raise awareness of insecurity, support early warning, combat incitement of v ... more

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Accountability, Nation and Society: The Role of Media in Remaking Nepal

Kiran Bhandari, Dipak Bhattarai, James Deane

London: BBC Media Action (2016), 23 pp.

"This briefing explores some of the key challenges facing the Nepali media. It outlines growing concerns over politicisation and co-option, particularly of the mainstream Kathmandu-based media, as well as other economic and technological challenges facing the media. The briefing further outlines how ... more

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The Role of Independent Media in Curbing Corruption in Fragile Settings

James Deane

London: BBC Media Action (2016), 19 pp.

"This policy briefing examines the prospects for media being able to play that role, especially in fragile states. It concludes that the evidence supporting the effectiveness of media as an accountability actor continues to mount even when the performance of other anti-corruption measures are called ... more

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Coming of Age: Communication’s Role in Powering Global Health

Caroline Sugg

London: BBC Media Action (2016), 31 pp.

"Through a careful review of the evidence, this briefing offers a spirited case for why donors, practitioners and developing country governments need to pay more attention to the role of communication in tackling global health. The briefing finds that: Communication has been central to public health ... more

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After the Arab Uprisings: The Prospects for a Media That Serves the Public

Alexandra Buccianti, Sarah El-Richani

London: BBC Media Action (2015), 37 pp.

"This briefing suggests that national broadcasters may have the potential to help to bridge social divides, if they can be reformed to serve the interests of the public rather than the state. In addition to their extensive infrastructure and reach, these institutions also have a cultural standing th ... more

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Public Service Media in Divided Societies: Relic or Renaissance?

Phil Harding

London: BBC Media Action (2015), 28 pp.

"Argues that renewed energy and resources should be invested in strategies that support media systems rooted in public service values of trust, independence, universality and putting the public interest before all others. Despite formidable challenges, support strategies should include a revitalised ... more

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From the Ground Up: Changing the Conversation About Climate Change

Stephan Faris, Steven Lipscombe, Sonia Whitehead, Damian Wilson

London: BBC Media Action (2014), 28 pp.

"[...] The briefing looks at the everyday experience of people living in the world’s most populous continent: Asia. It draws on data from BBC Media Action’s Climate Asia project, which interviewed more than 33,000 people in seven countries – Bangladesh, China, India, Indonesia, Nepal, Pakistan ... more

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Making Waves: Media’s Potential for Girls in the Global South

Caroline Sugg

London: BBC Media Action (2014), 24 pp.

"Argues that media — whether traditional or online — matters a great deal in the lives of girls in the developing world. It matters because it has the ability to be harmful to girls’ interests and selfesteem, and it matters because it can also be so effective in playing a positive role in girl ... more

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The Power of Talk: Media and Accountability in Three African Countries

Rebecca Stringer

London: BBC Media Action (2014), 24 pp.

"This policy briefing offers an empirical contribution to evolving thinking on governance within the international development landscape. Using the example of media, we argue that interventions designed to foster demand-based accountability may not be as successful in some fragile settings as more d ... more

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Fragile States: The Role of Media and Communication

James Deane

London: BBC Media Action (2013), 27 pp.

"This briefing examines how current media trends are affecting state and societal fragility, both positively and negatively, and argues that the role of a free and plural media should be prioritised rather than marginalised in fragile states policy. The paper provides case studies on the role and im ... more

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The Media of Pakistan: Fostering Inclusion in a Fragile Democracy?

Huma Yusuf, Emrys Schoemaker

London: BBC Media Action (2013), 31 pp.

"The Pakistani media’s democratising function is constrained by its historic role as a state-building tool. The media remains vulnerable amid on-going threats to media professionals and the limitations imposed by the industry’s financial model, which must rely heavily on advertising revenue. The ... more

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The Media of Iraq Ten Years On: The Problems, the Progress, the Prospects

Abir Awad, Tim Eaton

London: BBC Media Action (2013), 35 pp.

"This briefing argues that the Iraqi media landscape of 2013 may not be the free, plural and professional fourth estate that many in the West had envisaged in 2003 but that it has real strengths – as well as weaknesses – which reflect the reality and complexity of modern Iraq. The seismic shift ... more

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Health on the Move: Can Mobile Phones Save Lives?

Yvonne MacPherson, Sara Chamberlain

London: BBC Media Action (2013), 24 pp.

"With its rapidly expanding penetration within the developing world, mobile telephony offers major new opportunities to build upon and augment existing health communication efforts. As Usha Kiran Tarigopula of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation India Programmes put it: “It is increasingly… clea ... more

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The Media of Afghanistan: The Challenges of Transition
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David Page, Shirazuddin Siddiqi

London: BBC Media Action (2012), 27 pp.

"[...] Afghanistan is a fragile, fractured state and has one of the most fragile and fractured media, where almost anyone with sufficient funds and the opportunity to move quickly has been able to establish a media presence. This environment has enabled the flourishing of television, radio and other ... media established and owned by powerful political and religious leaders, or by those with allegiance to them. Some fear a future of increased ethnic, sectarian and factional strife being played out through the airwaves. Though there are some very successful commercial television channels, there is no independent and widely trusted national media capable of transcending or creating communication across the fracture points in Afghan society. Most media is either localised or seen as serving political, religious or other agendas. The future of the national broadcaster, RTA, still the only broadcaster with a truly national presence, is uncertain. While journalism as a whole has expanded greatly, investigative journalism remains limited. The sustainability of the newly established commercial media is widely questioned. With the total annual advertising market in the country estimated by some at little more than $20 million, there are real concerns that if donor support declines much of the media will wither or fall prey to factional, religious or extreme forces. There is no shortage of such forces. A number of media outlets already play upon ethnic and sectarian tensions. The Taliban, notorious when in power for shutting down media and banning video tape, have embraced the web and run one of the most effective media strategies in the country. In 2012, the mood music is one of compromise with the Taliban. Concern in the country is growing that new found media freedoms may be the price of that compromise. The role of donors in media support in Afghanistan is probably greater than in any other country at any other time. Such support is largely responsible for the development of a substantial media sector, but it faces criticism that it is poorly coordinated, short term and not informed by aid effectiveness principles; that it focuses too heavily on advancing the agendas of the donors; and that in some sectors it is distorting the media market in ways that create dependency and inhibit the development of genuinely sustainable Afghan media ventures." (Executive summary) more

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Still Left in the Dark? How People in Emergencies Use Communication to Survive – and How Humanitarian Agencies Can Help

Imogen Wall, Lisa Robinson

London: BBC Media Action (2012), 15 pp.

"In 2008, a BBC World Service Trust policy briefing argued that people affected by earthquakes, floods or other emergencies often lacked the information they needed to survive and that this only added to their stress and anxiety. Left in the Dark: the unmet need for information in humanitarian emerg ... more

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The Media of Somalia: A Force for Moderation?

Jamal Abdi, James Deane

London: BBC World Service Trust (2011), 12 pp.

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The Kenyan 2007 Elections and Their Aftermath: The Role of Media and Communication

Jamal Abdi, James Deane

London: BBC World Service Trust (2008), 16 pp.

"The media have shaped and will continue to play a central role in shaping Kenya’s democracy. The recent record of the media, according to many within it, is that media has undermined as well as invigorated that democracy. An understanding of democracy and democratic governance in Kenya is not pos ... more

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Left in the Dark: The Unmet Need for Information in Humanitarian Responses

Imogen Wall, Lisa Robinson

BBC World Service Trust (2008), 8 pp.

"When crisis or disaster strikes, people need help. They need, shelter, food, water and safety. They need these things rapidly and effectively. Modern humanitarian responses have become more effi cient and effective at providing these things. This policy briefing argues that people need information ... more

The Media of Afghanistan: The Challenges of Transition Top Insights

The Media of Afghanistan: The Challenges of Transition
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