"After the fall of Baghdad on April 9, 2003, Iraq's news media environment transformed almost overnight from the tightly controlled propaganda arm of Saddam Hussein's rule into one of the most diverse and unrestricted news environments in the Middle East. Built in an atmosphere of chaos and conflict
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, Iraq's media landscape now reflects the ethno-sectarian divide in the country. These deeply partisan news outlets have the potential to widen the gap between communities and weaken the national identity. However, new studies show the majority of Iraqis have learned to read the media landscape, sampling news programs across the sectarian divide with a high level of distrust for all news outlets. This paper describes the Iraqi media and raises key questions: Is the Iraq news media an environment that encourages democracy and state building? What are the prospects to retain an open and pluralistic media landscape within Iraq's sectarian system?" (Abstract)
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"International donor support for Afghanistan's media has had two primary goal The short-term goal has been to counteract the effects of insurgent communications in order to win the hearts and minds of the Afghan people. The long-term goal has been to create a free and independent media sector that w
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ill continue to function after donor support has ended. Although millions of dollars have been invested in the development of the Afghan media sector and the growth of private media since 2001 is considered one of Afghanistan's greatest success stories,neither of these donor goals is being met. Donor support for Afghan media has led to the growth of radio and television outlets that are almost entirely dependent on foreign funding - direct and indirect. Recent strategic communications policies have neither diminished nor adequately countered the presence of extremist voices in Afghanistan. Despite some examples to the contrary, Taliban communications continue to affect the lives of ordinary Afghans, whereas many communications by and from Western sources do not. Neither short- nor mid-term analysis of the Afghan economy - ranked the third poorest in the world by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) - foresees the growth of a market able to sustain Afghanistan's domestic media sector without foreign financing. The limited impact of Western communications endeavors, in conjunction with the predicted continued weakness of the Afghan economy, reveals an urgent need for a dramatic shift in the media strategies and goals pursued by the United States and its allies. First and foremost, donors should invest primarily in the Afghan media's production and dissemination of socially constructive contents rather than in building media institutions or infrastructure that the Afghan economy cannot support. For these contents to be received as authentic and credible, they must reflect the vulnerabilities and priorities that Afghans themselves have identified as vital. Donors should make a multiyear funding commitment to the media in Afghanistan. Support should be allocated to both terrestrial and wireless media through a transparent and competitive process developed jointly by donors and Afghan media experts. Aggressively supporting the dissemination of socially constructive contents through new outlets will permit access to both geographic and demographic segments of the population not adequately served by current media outlets." (Summary)
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"Iraqi journalists operate in one of the deadliest newsgathering environments in the world. This study, based on a survey of 404 Iraqi journalists, examines the variables influencing journalists' perceptions of physical danger in covering news after the fall of Saddam Hussein. Gatekeeping theory pro
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vides a prism to identify and explicate different levels of influence. News organization size, financial support (state, partisan, or private), gender, journalism experience, journalists' perception of their impact on political affairs, journalists' outlook, and size of cities in which journalists operate are significant variables shaping journalists' perception of physical danger." (Abstract)
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"The town of Gulu in northern Uganda stood still as the leader of a then 16-year-old insurgency against the government was heard live through a local government radio station. On 28 December 2002, Joseph Kony called in to Mega FM’s live debate talk show and was heard throughout northern Uganda. Th
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e significance of this event cannot be underestimated in local and global terms. How had this man, labelled by the government as a terrorist, killer, and child abductor, come to be broadcast on a Ugandan Government radio station? The answer to this question directly engages and critiques current debates of the role of the media in societies where violent conflict is a reality. Through engagement with two radio presenters from Mega FM, I explore the space for dialogue and debate in northern Uganda. By learning from their experiences, it becomes clear that the question is not whether media censorship is useful in peace building, but what can be done to support the daily struggles of media actors who are constantly negotiating their way through a labyrinth of restrictions." (Page 610)
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"Katharina Nötzold explores whether and how mass media can contribute to nation-building after civil war. Drawing on the example of Lebanon s audiovisual media organisations, which are mostly privately owned by politicians, she demonstrates how political elites use television to transmit their visi
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ons of post-war society. Lebanon's nation-building process from 1990 to 2005 was characterized by Syrian dominance over political life. From an extensive content analysis of Lebanese news and interviews with analysts, journalists and managers from all Lebanese TV stations, it emerges that political information on television focused more on divisive experiences than cohesive ones. This has underpinned continued sectarianism in Lebanon, in the media as in society at large, and has impeded nation-building." (Publisher description)
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"This article discusses the role of newspapers in the ongoing democratisation process in Somaliland. It shows that, embedded in Somali culture and the recent history of the region, freedom of speech in Hargeysa, the capital of Somaliland, is cultivated by and in print media established after the civ
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il war. Several debates in the newspapers which have centred on sensitive political issues are used to exemplify this point. In some regards, the newspapers continue the legacy of the civil war. Most newspaper owners and journalists participated actively in the guerrilla struggle against the dictatorial regime of Mahamed Siyad Barre. The result of the struggle was secession from Somalia and the independence of Somaliland as a de facto state. The country, however, does not enjoy international recognition, and not all inhabitants support its independence. Against this background the newspapers are actively involved in a ‘nation-building’ struggle that marginalises a significant part of the population and harbours the potential for renewed civil war in the region." (Abstract)
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"This in-depth investigation of the role that local news media play in Central African conflicts combines theoretical analysis with case studies from nine African countries: Burundi, Cameroon, the Central African Republic, Chad, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, the Republi
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c of Congo, and Rwanda. Each case study presents a comprehensive discussion of media influences during the various conflicts that have spread in the region and their impact on the peace process. Enriching the exploration, a chapter by Jean- Paul Marthoz (former director of information at Human Rights Watch) focuses on the ways in which the media in the global North cover crises on the African continent." (About the book, page 287)
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"Debates about the role of media in situations of political violence call into question whether journalists should focus on “objective” reporting or instead facilitate conflict resolution. Yet an increasingly problematic assumption is that journalists are outsiders to the communities in conflict
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, especially as aid agencies increase their funding for media development and journalism training in conflicted areas. By focusing on the situation facing journalists from Burma (Myanmar) living in exile in Thailand, this article explores the consequences of political violence on the development of indigenous journalism in a multiethnic state. Although influenced by the recent surge in foreign funding, these journalists struggle to develop a context-specific model for their work, calling into question the relevance of the dominant U.S. approach to “objectivity.” The contested nature of concepts such as unity, independence, and censorship in these often high-risk areas suggests the need for a more complex model of media development in contexts of political violence." (Abstract)
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"This study proposes four focus areas for support to the media in these provinces including: Strengthening the Media Environment; Developing Professional Skills and Resources; Facilitating Information Flows and Access; Supporting Community-based Communication." (Recommendations, page 50)