"An examination of the methodology used in the evaluation of textbook submissions by publishers for the Kenya Textbook Project, and the various components of evaluation criteria as they relate to content and conformity to the curriculum, writing and editorial quality, design and presentation, illust
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rations, suitability of the language for the intended reader, whether and how they encourage active learning, whether they promote positive social and cultural values and/or diversity, their gender responsiveness in both text and illustrations, and other significant issues. The author concludes that "the Kenyan project was judged to be a success not only because it gave teachers a choice of quality textbooks and effectively liberalised the book trade, which had previously been dominated by a state centralist publishing system. It was also judged successful because the evaluation and selection of the textbooks was based on a fair and objective system which gave no publisher or textbook a significant advantage over any other. The Kenyan project was in that respect, and in others also, a model for other publishing industries to follow." (Hans M. Zell, Publishing, Books & Reading in Sub-Saharan Africa, 3d ed. 2008, nr. 608)
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This volume gathers contributions presented during the 8th IARTEM conference on learning and educational media, held in Caen (France) in October 2005. The conference reader contains a wide range of contributions from industrialised, transitional and developing countries.
"A narrative of publishing in Kenya from the time of the Berlin Conference of 1884 through to the Lancaster House Conference in 1963, spanning the entire colonial period of Kenyan history. It documents publishing activities during the period, from the earliest information bulletins of the colonial s
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ettler state to the Mau Mau liberation movement publications in the 1950s and 1960s during the struggle for independence, and examines how this struggle was reflected in the communications field. Durrani offers a fresh interpretation on an important aspect of Kenyan colonial history from a working class point of view, and aims to provide a new perspective on how communications can be a powerful weapon for social justice in the hand of liberation forces. In terms of its coverage of publishing, the book is primarily concerned with newspaper publishing and magazines, the activities of small printing presses, and those of a wide variety of associations, organizations, trade unions, and nationalist movements that were part of the liberation struggle. It charts the history of these publications chronologically, and gives the full political context of each period. The book, which contains an introduction by Ngugi wa Thiong'o, is a well-documented history of the struggle of Kenyan people against British colonialism and the battle for press freedom and free expression." (Hans M. Zell, Publishing, Books & Reading in Sub-Saharan Africa, 3d ed. 2008, nr. 600)
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"A collection of 22 papers on the indigenous language press (and other media) in Cameroon, Kenya, Malawi, Nigeria, Uganda, and Zimbabwe, primarily devoted to the activities of African language newspapers and periodicals. Some papers examine the significant and pioneering role religious publications
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– both Christian and Islamic – have played in the development of indigenous languages presses in Africa, while others examine some of the socio-political and economic changes that have greatly affected indigenous language media over the years, and have lead to its demise to some extent. Also included as an Appendix is a paper in Dutch by Honoré Vinck, “Het belang van de periodieke koloniale pers in Afrikaanse talen”, which examines the role of the African language press during colonial days in the Belgian Congo." (Hans M. Zell, Publishing, Books & Reading in Sub-Saharan Africa, 3d ed. 2008, nr. 2135)
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"This report records and analyzes the results of a study in which partners of the Justice Initiative in 14 countries filed a total of 1,926 requests for information. In each country, seven different requesters twice submitted up to 70 questions to 18 public institutions. Requesters included NGOs, jo
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urnalists, business persons, non-affiliated persons, and members of excluded groups, such as illiterate or disabled persons or those from vulnerable minorities. The requests were for the types of information that public bodies hold—or should hold." (Summary of findings, page 11)
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"The work in this report and that found in the International Woman’s Media Foundation / Africa Woman’s Media Centre report, Deadline for Health (2004), provide us with the only insight into malaria reporting in African contexts. Both are baseline studies made prior to journalists training interv
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entions and draw similar conclusions about the priority placed on HIV/AIDS reporting to the detriment of malaria coverage. This report goes beyond the work of the IWMF / AWMC to include the perspectives of malaria professionals and an examination of the rhetorical devices used in malaria reporting. This report outlines the results of a survey of a sample of journalists, chief editors, managing directors of major media houses and experts involved in malaria control in Kenya and the Gambia in 2005. A qualitative study of six months of newspaper reporting in three main papers in Kenya was also undertaken and the results discussed in relation to the survey results. The survey found that media professionals recognise malaria as an important health topic worthy of media attention. The majority of Gambian journalists, chief editors and MDs ranked malaria first followed by HIV/AIDS. In Kenya media personnel selected HIV/AIDS as the health issue that deserved most media coverage followed by malaria. Media people in both countries stated that HIV/AIDS dominates reporting and that malaria deserves more attention than it currently received. Issues such as maternal child health and TB received a relatively low rating in comparison. There is strong media commitment to malaria reporting as shown by the survey, however stories and programmes on the subject are usually the product of a journalists own interest, rather than a concerted effort on the part of editors and reporters. Malaria stories compete for space and time with the other issues of the day. No media houses have designated health desks, specialised health reporters or supportive editorial policy. Documented evidence of editorial guidelines was found for only one media house in Kenya." (Executive summary)
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"This substantial thesis – supported by a very extensive range of tables and appendices – explores voluntary reading habits in the multilingual environment of Kenya. Designed as a case study, it focuses on the social image of reading, the functions of reading, the factors impacting on reading ha
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bits, and the language use in reading among members of the ethnolinguistic Kikuyu and Luo communities in Nyeri District (Central Kenya) and Kisumu District (Western Kenya). By taking a reader-oriented perspective the study aims to add a new dimension to the discussion on the status of reading in the Kenyan context, which has thus far been mainly debated from the point of view of publishers." (Hans M. Zell, Publishing, Books & Reading in Sub-Saharan Africa, 3d ed. 2008, nr. 2209)
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"This article identifies radio in Africa as an important social space for interrogating the everyday lives of its listeners. By focusing on a specific Kenyan radio play 'Not Now', the article explores the thematic concern of forced marriage and its moral implications on listeners. Importantly, 'Not
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Now' is pointed out as part of a larger programme of radio drama in Kenya, Radio Theatre, which engages with issues of the quotidian. The debate on forced marriage is therefore a segment of themes explored in radio drama in Kenya that revolve around the domestic sphere and which eventually, it is argued, form part of the quotidian debate." (Abstract)
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