"From small beginnings in the 1960s, Western governments and international non-governmental organisations (INGOs) are today spending huge sums on media intervention in Arab countries, to the point where such intervention has become an industry. Among the plethora of media projects aimed at moulding ...Arab public affairs are a subset intentionally framed in terms of a discourse of conflict resolution, conflict handling and peace-building. Since 1998 external donors have financed such projects bilaterally and multilaterally, with the explicit aim of replacing violence and threats among regional antagonists with mutual understanding, diversity, dialogue and exchange. When it comes to measuring their impact and effectiveness, however, the results have generally failed to meet expectations, and there have been some spectacular disasters. Despite this, the number of such projects in the region is on the increase, with an ever wider range of donors becoming involved. This chapter reviews the development of these interventions for peace. It proposes a typology for understanding their objectives, evaluates their general success and failure and concludes with some considerations about requirements for success." (p.135)
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"This book focuses on the reporting of human rights in broadly defined times of conflict. It brings together scholarly and professional perspectives on the role of the media in constructing human rights and peacebuilding options in conflict and post-conflict environments, drawing on case studies fro...m Europe, Latin America, the Middle East, Africa, and South Asia. It also provides critical reflections on the challenges faced by journalists and explores the implications of constructing human rights and peacebuilding options in their day-to-day professional activities." (Publisher)
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"This chapter introduces some of the theories, insights, and methodologies of media anthropology. At the heart of media anthropology is the assertion that media practices are not universal. Whether we are discussing how television is viewed, how public relations coordinators negotiate corporate hier...archies, how Facebook statuses are created and circulated, or how cellular towers are built, the local cultural context plays an important role." (p.1-2)
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"The primary objective of this book is to present a wide range of community radio projects, not so that the “ideal” model can be identified, but in the hope that the book will serve as a useful tool for community broadcasters and potential community broadcasters looking to create or adapt models... of community radio that are suited to the specific conditions they face. This objective of facilitating an international exchange of experiences and ideas has been AMARC’s primary motivator since the first World Conference of Community Radio Broadcasters took place in 1983. The use of radio as a tool for cultural and political change, while a growing phenomena, is not new. Indeed, the first participatory community radio stations surfaced almost simultaneously in Colombia and the United States over forty years ago. Since that time, innumerable participatory radio projects have attempted to promote community-led change in a variety of ways. Some of these projects have attempted to foster this change by providing formal education in areas such as literacy and mathematics, or by promoting agricultural techniques suited to a particular vision of development defined by the central government. This type of project has been common in the Third World, especially in Africa and Asia. Sri Lanka’s Mahaweli Community Radio (chapter 13) is one example of such a project. Other projects have been more political and have attempted to support the organisational and cultural initiatives of marginalised communities. These are the projects that tend to involve listeners in a participatory process. Haiti’s Radio Soleil (chapter 9) and Zoom Black Magic Liberation Radio in the United States (chapter 10) are two examples. Following the tradition of participatory communication, most of the chapters in this book are not written by impartial observers but by people with first-hand knowledge of community radio and with direct experience in the projects they write about." (Introduction)
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