"Geo-strategically, Pakistan is placed in the region that has been frayed by wars conflict since the USSR’s (1979) invasion of Afghanistan. Since, Pakistan is sharing one of the longest borders with Afghanistan, hence could not remain impervious. The region, specially, Pakistan had not yet fully r
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ecovered from horrors of the stated war when unfortunately, the episode of the September 11, 2001, provoked another war in the area, framed as “war against terrorism”. The said war prompted a wave of religious extremism and radicalism in the region. Tactically, the killing of Osama Bin Laden in 2011brought the war on terror to its ultimate end but its after effects is still seriously hurting Pakistan. This state of affairs paved way for the emergence of war reporting in Pakistan. By now, dozens of journalists have been killed during performing their professional duties. This paper is an effort to explore the issues of religious extremism and radicalism in Pakistan and associated threats for the journalists engaged in reporting the same. The study is quantitative in nature and makes use of a questionnaire for data collection. The study found that lack of safety protocol such as deficient safety gadgets; training deficiency; and rush to break news endanger war reporter’s lives." (Abstract)
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"Community radio plays an important role in the communication of a certain community and is a form of public-service broadcasting. It upholds the principles of participatory communication. The present study was conduct to know about the role of Radio Dhadkan, a community radio, in sensitizing and em
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powering the Sahariya tribe of Shivpuri district in Madhya Pradesh of India. Here mainly secondary sources of data have been used. There are some development gaps in meeting the needs of Sahariyas and other marginalized communities living in villages and urban slums of Shivpuri district. To fill these gaps, United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), in association with Sambhav Social Service Organization, has set up a community radio station – Radio Dhadkan. The present study reveals that Radio Dhadkan has been successful in promoting collective action through radio programs and has been instrumental in creating awareness and empowering the target communities. It has shown an extraordinary dynamism due to its diverse endeavors. It has really helped in connecting, entertaining and educating the Sahariyas in a way that was not possible through any other medium. It has also provided opportunity for employment generation and community capacity building. Thus, the Radio Dhadkan approach has potential applicability in achieving developmental goals." (Abstract)
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"[...] Since returning to power in August 2021, the Taliban has imposed a new media control regime, which has three key features: restriction, gender-discrimination, and repression with impunity. First, the Taliban has passed several media policies, imposing extreme constraints on press freedom and
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media rights. Any sort of critical reporting on topics related to the government or the public is banned. The Taliban regulate the content of publications and broadcasts, imposing broad, vaguely worded prohibitions. For example, under the new regulations, media content that contradicts “Islamic values,” “Afghan values,” and “public interest” is prohibited. No operational definitions have been provided for these terms, nor an objective standard for assessing and determining breach. This has caused uncertainty and confusion about what the media can and cannot publish and broadcast, often resulting in precautionary media self-censorship. The new rules also give the Taliban sweeping powers to directly control the media and news output, barring broadcast and publication of matters and content that has not been officially sanctioned by Taliban official/s. These restrictions and interferences limit the right and ability of the Afghan media to seek, receive and impart information freely and independently.
Second, the Taliban has passed policies specifically targeting Afghan women in the media. These restrictions give the Taliban control over women’s attire and the nature and scope of their involvement in the media, restraining their freedom of expression and movement, as well as their ability to perform their tasks effectively. The general travel restrictions on women and girls make it almost impossible for women to work, in particular, limiting the ability of female journalists from gathering information or contributing to field reporting. The Taliban’s antiwomen media policies and practices are aimed towards excluding Afghan women from the media and public life.
Third, the Taliban treats the Afghan media and media-related affairs as a security threat. The Taliban security and intelligence agencies are increasingly involved in controlling media affairs. Taliban operatives use repressive measures against members of the Afghan media in claiming to enforce the new regulations. Afghan journalists and other members of the media have been subjected to heavy surveillance, intimidation, and arbitrary arrest and detention. Cases of beatings, enforced disappearances, and extrajudicial killings have also taken place." (Executive summary, pages 1-2)
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"There are two highlights to this year’s findings, firstly, the same three platforms that scored the first point for Fair Pay last year scored a point this year too. No other platform publicly committed, or provided sufficient evidence, to ensure that workers earn at least the hourly local minimum
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wage after work-related costs. Even with workers and worker groups repeatedly emphasising the importance of a stable income for platform workers, platforms have been reluctant to publicly commit to, and operationalise, a minimum wage policy. Secondly, while workers have engaged in various forms of collective action to voice their concerns in the platform economy, platforms have been uncompromisingly unwilling to recognise or negotiate with any collective body representing workers." (Key findings, page 4)
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"1. Pakistan has experienced and responded to floods for decades: support and build on existing systems, networks and experiences that are widely trusted [...] 2. People need information now, to make critical decisions for themselves and their families and to protect what they still have [...] 3. Ca
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sh is likely to be the primary response to the floods: invest early in communication and community engagement to increase its impact [...] 4. Diversifying languages will be key [...] 5. Understand how information flows to, from and within communities: no two individuals are the same, so be sure to explore different ways to reach people [...] 6. Remember that it is easy to exclude people from communication: pay special attention to the needs of vulnerable and marginalised groups." (Pages 2-6)
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"How did that impact the media's ability to tell this story? Did this period of protest have coverage that centred on survivors and the rights of women, or did the media fixate on voyeuristic representations of violence? Did the reports challenge rape myths and the culture of shame that demonstrator
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s spoke up against, or did they repeat sexist stereotypes that end up reinforcing gender inequality? And finally, how can media coverage of sexual violence be made more gender-sensitive and trauma-informed? These are some of the questions that the author attempted to answer in this paper." (Introduction)
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"This book offers a critical and systematic survey of the study of religion and digital media. It covers religious engagement with a wide range of digital media forms and highlights examples of new media engagement in all five of the major world religions. From mobile apps and video games to virtual
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reality and social media, the book provides a detailed review of major topics including ritual, identity, community, authority, and embodiment, includes a series of engaging case studies to illustrate and elucidate the thematic explorations, considers the theoretical, ethical, and theological issues raised [...] Thoroughly updated throughout with new case studies and in-depth analysis of recent scholarship and developments, this new edition provides a comprehensive overview of this fast-paced, constantly developing, and fascinating field." (Publisher description)
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"Content moderation at scale is an extremely complicated issue, however by looking at specific examples such as the case studies and data highlighted in this study, the conversation can start to take into account more diverse experiences and context that is normally overlooked. Emerging from these e
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xperiences are recommendations for reform and structural change reflected in focus group discussions and demands by activists in the region, some of which are reproduced below. 1. Over-reliance on automated systems should be revised in light of issues emerging from non-English speaking markets. The failure of these systems to adequately account for context should be reason enough to fundamentally revise systems and protocols underpinning them. 2. Dedicating more resources to human-based content moderation in non-Western contexts. The disparity of material resources between countries considered “key economies” and the “rest of the world” is startling and has resulted in enormous challenges for societies and political structures elsewhere [...] 3. Radical transparency by tech platforms regarding the ways in which content moderation policies are formulated and implemented should be high on the priority of digital platforms [...] 4. Content moderation decisions are often one-sided, with little recource for users who are aggrieved by the decisions, both for false positives or inaction by platforms. Meta's Oversight Board is a positive start but the model only impacts select cases. There needs to be a robust and time-responsive system for appeals that provides users with complete information regarding content moderation decisions and responsive action on appeals. 5. Content moderation decisions by tech platforms, and inaction in equal measure, have resulted in tangible real-world harms in the past and present." (Conclusion, page 23-24)
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"Although vaccination is the only hope to fight against COVID-19, existing vaccine hesitancy is a thought-provoking phenomenon. Significantly, vaccine hesitancy is worsening the situation in Pakistan, leading to an increased number of COVID cases. In this context, this study aims to examine people
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s perceptions and attitudes towards vaccination. Here the focus was on determining the factors causing disease hesitancy among the masses. The researchers randomly selected a sample of n=17 individuals and gathered data by using telephone interviews and assessed data by using the Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) approach. Results revealed that the increased vaccine hesitancy is due to misinformation, conspiracies, myths, and rumors about the side effects of the vaccination. It was also notable that the participants indicated digital media as the primary source of information, showing a potential relationship between social media and misinformation. Also, an intense uncertainty about the healthcare system in Pakistan is hindering the efforts to sustain herd immunity. Thus, due to several myths, rumors, and distrust of the healthcare system, vaccine hesitancy is halting the country’s ability to overcome the COVID-19 outbreak. Misinformation is vigorously circulating due to ease of access to different communication platforms, instilling fear of presumed side effects. Hence, the researchers suggest some practical considerations for the government, healthcare workers, and media platforms to counteract the misinformation and increase vaccine acceptance among the masses." (Abstract)
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"This study looks at how online misogyny is impacting the work of women journalists in India. Journalists here are encouraged to have a social media presence and publicize stories online, but organizations do little to protect them from the relentless trolling and misogyny that characterizes the onl
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ine sphere in India today. Analyzing interviews with female journalists who actively covered the recent #MeTooIndia movement, this study found that when women reporters covered stories of sexual violence, their voices online were condemned, and they were subject to horrific sexual innuendo that implied violence. As journalists are forced to rethink the notion of public, how do they respond and cope with incivility online? They are expected to do stories that serve the public, but when a section of that public is extremely uncivil, how are journalists impacted and how does this affect their work? Journalists in India have developed a variety of strategies to deal with social media vitriol, but incivility online is an issue that organizations refuse to do much about. As the interviews show, social media platforms in India are more pulpits of hate than reasoned debate. This study looks at their implications on journalism from a gendered perspective in India." (Abstract)
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"The contributors, ranging from prominent scholars to the Head of Newsgathering at the BBC, discuss a diverse range of key case studies, including the role of Bellingcat in conflict journalism; war and peace journalism in Bangladesh; visual storytelling in conflict zones; and rampant cyber-misogyny
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confronting women journalists in Finland, India, the Philippines and South Africa." (Publisher description)
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"Freedom of speech and freedom of the press is generally attributed to an independent society where the basic rights of citizens are ensured. Balochistan, the western and resources rich province of Pakistan with its huge geopolitical importance has been under a strong wave of terrorism for the last
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two decades. This menace of terrorism has severely affected citizens of the province including media workers.
Design/Methodology/Approach: This research endeavor is an attempt to explore the impact of terrorism on the performance of media professionals in Balochistan. The study is based on the Hierarchy of Influence model which provides ground to explore the influence of terrorism. In this quantitative study, the researchers employing the systematic sampling technique have selected 50 media professionals out of 194 registered journalists of five press clubs: Quetta, Chaman, Noshki, Mastung, and Loralai.
Findings: The survey findings show that terrorism has badly affected the quality of their reporting. The study also reveals that objective journalism is hard to follow in the province by journalists as they are always threatened not only by terrorists but also by the law enforcement agencies to mold the reports in their favor.
Implications/Originality/Value The findings also indicate that terrorism has also affected journalists’ personal lives." (Abstract)
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"This paper is about newspaper journalism practices under the COVID-19 pandemic in Bangladesh. Based on two separate theories - Communication Competence Theory, and Risk and Crisis Communication Management Theory -, this study intends to understand the challenges that newspaper journalists faced whi
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le discharging their professional responsibilities and governing the newsroom operations during the first six months of the COVID-19 pandemic in Bangladesh. In addition, this paper explores the strategies that journalists followed to adapt to the changed working environments and engage themselves in the processes of news production and publication. The authors conducted in-depth interviews with 12 journalists including three news managers from three national dailies - daily Prothom Alo, daily Samakal, and The Daily Star. Standing on findings, the discussion progressed around six areas – governance of newsroom operations, preparations, communication, newsgathering, restrictions, insecurity and protection. The key findings are: i) the COVID19 crisis appeared as a blow before the newspaper journalists of Bangladesh due to a policy-level shortcoming in terms of formulating plans beforehand to govern the newsroom operations in the face of the challenges that emerged along with the pandemic; ii) the journalists were not comfortable in adapting themselves to the working from home strategy as they struggled in gathering and verifying information, and doing required communions using the virtual communication methods while working from distance; and iii) the journalists experienced psychological pressures because of multiple factors that included -- limited access to protective gear and fear of infection; protection of family members; adapting themselves to the changed working environments; and tension of losing the job in the pandemic crisis." (Abstract)
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"Pakistan is considered to be relatively unsafe for journalists; however, little is known about how working in situations that involve a high risk of trauma exposure and personal threat impacts journalists' mental health. The present study aimed to examine the associations among reporting on topics
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that carry a high risk of trauma exposure; work-related personal threat exposure; and symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, anxiety, and stress in a sample of Pakistani journalists. Participants completed online assessments to report the extent of their exposure to trauma and threat in the last 6 months with regard to reporting on militancy, crime, bomb blasts, and natural disasters and exposure to electronic, verbal, and physical threats; stalking; kidnapping; and detention. Further, we assessed symptoms of PTSD, depression, anxiety, and stress using self-report instruments. Of the 296 participants, 34.1% showed clinically significant levels of PTSD, moderately elevated levels of depression, and severely elevated levels of anxiety. Linear regression analyses demonstrated an association between PTSD symptoms and a higher frequency of reporting on natural disasters, * = 2.40, p = .004, whereas symptoms of anxiety, depression, and stress were associated with a lower frequency of reporting on bomb and suicide blasts, *s = -.93 - 1.61, p = <.001 - .047. Ideally, these findings will raise awareness about their situation, inform prevention and intervention efforts dedicated to journalists' mental health, and promote future research to elucidate the causal factors implicated in mental health symptoms in this population." (Abstract)
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"This article traces how the Afghan cultural, media, and arts sectors have gone through cycles of boom and bust in tandem with the country’s tumultuous history in recent decades, starting with the prewar golden era in the 1960s and 1970s, then focusing on the post-9/11 internationally funded media
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expansion, and finally on the Taliban’s return to power. The current exodus of human talent, due to forced migration, dispossession, and displacement, amounts to a profound cultural loss. But the country has already been transformed by the influence of a period of media freedoms and an emergent public sphere that created space for democratic debate and cosmopolitan cultural expression." (Abstract)
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