"China’s biggest media conglomerate, Xinhua, has 37 bureaus in Africa. This dwarves any other news agency—African or non-African—and is a dramatic increase from just a handful two decades ago. Another Chinese media giant, StarTimes, is China’s biggest player in African digital TV and the sec
...
ond largest in Africa after South Africa’s DSTV. StarTimes is installing satellite dishes in 10,000 rural homes across 20 African countries, linking them to Chinese digital TV, further embedding itself on the continent.
Many of Africa’s young journalists are trained in China and paid by Chinese media entities. In Kenya alone, 500 journalists and local staff are employed by Chinese media agencies, dispatching 1,800 news items monthly. Veteran China-trained Kenyan journalist Joseph Odindo, the former editorial director of Nation Media Group (East and Central Africa’s largest media conglomerate), notes that he had to keep close watch on his workforce while at the Standard Group. “[W]e had to draw up a chart which would enable us to see who was out on a Chinese training at any given time, who was due to come back, and who was next—otherwise you could find half of your newsroom is in Beijing undergoing training.”
The surge in Chinese investments in the African media space is part of a global strategy by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to gain influence in the developing countries by shaping their information environments. The CCP views the media as a battleground for “telling China’s story well,” a phrase coined by CCP General Secretary Xi Jinping in 2013 at the party’s National Propaganda and Ideology Work Conference. China’s ruling party, according to its own policies, regards the media as an arena of combat to advance its narratives and policies and to discredit those of its adversaries without using military force. This invokes the Sun Tzu concept of “winning battles without fighting,” a concept CCP propagandists frequently use to describe their media offensives." (Introduction)
more
"This volume addresses the various historical, philosophical, political and cultural parameters of censorship and freedom of expression as well as current debates involving technology, journalism and media regulation. Geographically, temporally and culturally diverse accounts of censorship and freed
...
om of expression are discussed through a broad range of perspectives and case studies. This Companion covers core principles and concerns in addition to more specialist and controversial debates, including those surrounding hate speech, holocaust denial, pornography and so-called “cancel culture”. The collection pays particular attention to the role of the media in both facilitating and suppressing freedom of expression." (Publisher description)
more
"This handbook critically analyzes cross-border news production and "transnational journalism cultures" in the evolving field of cross-border journalism. As the era of the internet hasfurther expanded the border-transcending production, dissemination and reception of news, and with transnational co-
...
operations like the European Broadcasting Union and BBC World News demonstrating different kinds of cross-border journalism, the handbook considers the field with a range of international contributions. It explores cross-border journalism from conceptual and empirical angles and includes perspectives on the the systemic contexts of cross-border journalism, its structures and routines, changes in production processes, and the shifting roles of actors in digital environments. It examines cross-border journalism across regions and concludes with discussions on the future of cross-border journalism, including the influence of automation, algorithmisation, virtual reality and AI." (Publisher description)
more
"This research examines whether and to what extent journalists are harassed online and the effects of online harassment on their professional roles. The study classifies online harassment against journalists into five types: insults, threats, privacy intrusion, sexual assault, and cyber-hacking. The
...
findings reveal a positive correlation between online harassment and various adverse outcomes for journalists, including increased self-censorship, reduced public engagement, and heightened skepticism toward journalism. With regard to a specific type of online harassment, journalists’ gender plays a role as a moderator: The relationship between insults and self-censorship, disengagement with the public, and skepticism toward journalism was found to be stronger for women journalists than men journalists." (Abstract)
more
"Die Sowjetdiktatur war von Staatsverbrechen kaum vorstellbaren Ausmaßes geprägt. Insbesondere gilt dies für die Periode von der Oktoberrevolution 1917 bis zum Tod Josef Stalins 1953: Sie umfasst den Bürgerkrieg, die sogenannten Säuberungen, das Gulag-System und zahlreiche weitere Akte massiver
...
staatlicher Gewalt und Willkür. Auf welche Weise wurde der Verbrechen in der Sowjetunion und im postsowjetischen Russland gedacht? Der Philologe und Kulturwissenschaftler Nikolai Epplée zeichnet den Umgang mit diesen Staatsverbrechen von 1953 bis 2019 nach. Er legt dar, dass sich in Russland nie eine kritische Erinnerung an die Verbrechen etablieren konnte, welche die Verantwortlichkeiten aufarbeitet und daraus Konsequenzen für die Zukunft zieht. Zwar gründeten sich zahlreiche zivilgesellschaftliche Initiativen, die sich für neue Formen des Gedenkens einsetzten und diese erprobten. In den vergangenen Jahren unter der Herrschaft Wladimir Putins seien diese jedoch zunehmender Repression bis hin zum Verbot ausgesetzt worden. Gleichzeitig erfuhr der Diktator Stalin eine Rehabilitierung in Namen einer heroisch ausgerichteten, für politische Zwecke instrumentalisierten Nationalgeschichtsschreibung. Der Autor zeigt auf, wie in anderen Ländern - in Argentinien, Spanien, Südafrika, Polen, Deutschland und Japan - Staatsverbrechen in der eigenen Vergangenheit aufgearbeitet wurden. Er versucht daraus Schlüsse für einen Umgang mit der verbrecherischen Vergangenheit in Russland zu ziehen, der auch Konsequenzen für die Gegenwart und Zukunft der russischen Gesellschaft hätte." (Verlagsbeschreibung)
more
"Short videos are very popular in China. The provincial TV stations in China use short videos to disseminate information. Curiosity about the influence of short video news is the primary motivation of this study. This paper integrates theories of news and place, focuses on local visibility, explores
...
how short videos can serve as media infrastructure to report news, construct local visibility and change public life. Taking a sample of official short videos from 31 provincial TV stations in China, this paper uses the narrative analysis method to decode the videos. It is found that short videos create a unique news space which are reflected in narrative language, narrative framework and narrative theme, respectively. This study argues that the short video platform has shaped a place with public vitality, participated in local image management, and built the “visible community”. This has innovated the existing theoretical relationship between news and place, and the short video media practice of TV stations in various provinces has provided the world with the Chinese experience of creating place." (Abstract)
more
"Political technology' is a Russian term for the professional engineering of politics. It has turned Russian politics into theatre and propaganda, and metastasised to take over foreign policy and weaponise history. The war against Ukraine is one outcome. In the West, spin doctors and political consu
...
ltants do more than influence media or run campaigns: they have also helped build parallel universes of alternative political reality. Hungary has used political technology to dismantle democracy. The BJP in India has used it to consolidate unprecedented power. Different countries learn from each other. Some types of political technology have become notorious, like troll farms or data mining; but there is now a global wholesale industry selling a range of manipulation techniques, from astroturfing to fake parties to propaganda apps. This book shows that 'political technology' is about much more than online disinformation: it is about whole new industries of political engineering." (Publisher description)
more
"This paper investigates everyday information seeking and misinformation among Internet users in rural and urban China. The research employs both quantitative and qualitative methods to identify user demographics and categories of misinformation encountered on mobile devices online. The paper makes
...
two contributions: one is to bridge hitherto unconnected research on everyday information practices with the literature on misinformation. The second is to demonstrate that, despite the assumption that China’s tightly controlled online space leads to less of a misinformation problem, this is not the case in everyday life contexts. The findings may have wider implications, especially in the Global South." (Abstract)
more
"Blockchain originated from the aspiration for decentralization, and in Western countries, its association with freedom from governmental and corporate dominance remains unwavering. However, in China–where blockchain has taken an intriguing foothold–the socio-technical imaginaries of blockchain
...
diverge significantly. As China rises in blockchain development, critical literature examining its ventures is notably lacking. This article analyses state-led initiatives and corporate endeavours related to blockchain deployment in rural China. While blockchain’s roots lie in libertarian ideals, within China, it serves as a ‘state techno-solutionist’ tool, empowering authoritarian capitalism for enhanced state control and corporate profit through data exploitation. Although the application of blockchain in agricultural tracing and finance is heralded as a blessing to elevate smallholder farmers from poverty and enhance agricultural practices, the reality contrasts sharply. Instead of empowering farmers, the technology exacerbates power imbalances, embedding them in a system marked by extensive data harvesting and surveillance. Such integration entangles these farmers subsisting on China’s economic fringes within broader national and global capitalist financial frameworks, rendering them more susceptible to exploitation and manipulation. Moreover, blockchain in rural China epitomizes authoritarian capitalism, where capitalists aligning closely with state agendas. Blockchain’s transparency, traceability, and tamper-resistant features, instead of diminishing government interference, are harnessed by capitalists to amplify the social credit system, strengthening the data dominance of platform companies and supporting state surveillance. Therefore, blockchain emerges as a threat to rural China’s ways of life–all driven by the pursuit of corporate profit and the government’s quest to reclaim national greatness." (Abstract)
more
"What kind of “democracy” do new government-led digital initiatives facilitate? This paper discusses the issue by investigating the open government data policy in Taiwan in the 2010s, asking whether the policy encouraged “strong democracy.” Using interviews, written records, and an analysis
...
of platform design, I argue that the implementation of Taiwan’s open data policy has not institutionalized the engagement of civil society groups or ordinary citizens in government decision-making processes, which is at odds with the claims that open government data encourages “strong democracy.”Instead, open government data in Taiwan has facilitated monitorial democracy, which presupposes watchful but not active citizens, and neoliberal democracy, which presupposes profit-pursuing citizens. Both are more in line with “thin democracy,” which focuses more on individual rights and private interests than on participation and political community. The finding sheds light on why conservative governments around the world often embrace open government initiatives." (Abstract)
more
"This book explores entrepreneurial attempts to combine traditional investigative journalism with alternative ways of organising this work. It transcends watershed investigative projects in favour of the ways in which new actors (citizens, technologists, bloggers and local reporters, among others) j
...
oin experienced investigative journalists in experiments with the practices of watchdog journalism in the digital era. Cases include Bristol Cable, Bureau Local and the Korea Center for Investigative Journalism, as well as Forbidden Stories. The book also includes two chapters on the impact of COVID-19 upon the development of cross-disciplinary work in a traditional newsroom and in the larger media ecosystems of both Norway and China." (Publisher description)
more
"Two oversimplified narratives have long dominated news reports and academic studies of China's Internet: one lauding its potentials to boost commerce, the other bemoaning state control and measures against the forces of political transformations. This bifurcation obscures the complexity of the dyna
...
mic forces operating on the Chinese Internet and the diversity of Internet-related phenomena. China and the Internet analyzes how Chinese activists, NGOs, and government offices have used the Internet to fight rural malnutrition, the digital divide, the COVID-19 pandemic, and other urgent problems affecting millions of people. It presents five theoretically-informed case studies of how new media have been used in interventions for development and social change, including how activists battled against COVID-19. In addition, this book applies a Communication for Development approach to examine the use and impact of China's Internet. Although it is widely used internationally in Internet studies, Communication for Development has not been rigorously applied in studies of China's Internet."
more
"Korean popular culture has taken the world by storm with the recent rise of Korean entertainment globally, such as Squid Game on Netflix and the Oscar Award-winning Parasite. Fans of Korean popular culture have formed coalitions in Asia, North and SouthAmerica, and other parts of the world. These c
...
oalitions or fandom groups go beyond merely meeting up, exchanging paraphernalia, or posting photos of their pop idols on social media; their enthusiasm has thrived in the realm of social activism. This research examines K-pop fandom activities during Thailand’s 2020 Student Uprising, tracing the operationalization of fandom, the transfer of skills and affective fandom practices into political engagement, and the role of digital proficiency in their fan-driven, collective movement." (Abstract)
more
"News consumers have come to expect and demand the unprecedented immediacy of experience and coverage of breaking news offered by photographs, video clips, audio recordings, tweets, commentary: content created by ordinary citizens. The use of user-generated content is a salient aspect of how journal
...
ists and news organizations are responding to technological changes in the twenty-first century. Eyewitness Textures examines the far-reaching changes in journalism spurred by the growing importance of user-generated content. Bringing together the voices and experiences of professional journalists and academic researchers from across five continents, this collection explores news production practices, changing skills among editors and journalists, and corporate and newsroom restructuring. Chapters by practitioners collectively reflect the newsroom experiences of major global media organizations, while the academic contributions address issues of industrial transformation, political influence, truth and verification, aesthetics, and ideological implications. Both perspectives combine to deepen our understanding of what constitutes the conditions and creation of good journalism, as well as the implications of how the profession should be taught to future journalists." (Publisher description)
more
"We provide a historically informed analysis of the media in post-communist Mongolia thirty years after the transition. In 1990, Mongolia chose a peaceful transition towards liberal democracy following the seventy years of the communist regime. Our analysis first establishes that amid the challenges
...
and changes since the new constitution was adopted, a plural and commercial media system has undeniably been established. However, only a few established themselves as independent media with editorial, business, and ethical norms. While the plurality of media outlets created a media landscape aberrant from the socialist-time propagandistic media, the media market failures, along with rudimentary legal and professional institutions, contributed to the media instrumentalization and media capture in Mongolia." (Abstract)
more
"Over the past decade, China has gradually begun to take a more proactive approach to digital development, passing a range of policies that aim to restructure how data is treated within its national economic system. These policies reflect the construction of a new data ecology in which data is gradu
...
ally reconceptualized as a quasi-public good, rather than a private good. Strategic interventions aim to increase data circulation and supply, with the goal of promoting high-quality economic growth. Central to these reforms is the designation of data as a factor of production, which accelerates the authority of the communist party to shape the allocation of data within the national economic system. Viewed holistically, these policies reflect an intentional effort to construct a more communal data ecosystem that facilitates increased data circulation in support of a state-led centralized approach to social and economic development. What emerges is a variety of data communism, in which data resources are increasingly conceptualized to serve collective interests rather than the interests of capital." (Abstract)
more
"In 2011, Alibaba launched the Taobao Villages initiative, which enables rural e-commerce and connects rural sellers with urban buyers, highlighting the role of e-commerce platforms in reducing rural poverty. This approach was later integrated into national rural development policies. As the Digital
...
Silk Road initiative progresses and Alibaba expands globally, Taobao Villages’ development experience is being promoted worldwide. Using Taobao Villages as a case study, this paper integrates the agrarian question in Marxian political economy with critical development communication studies. It explores why rural areas’ underdevelopment is perceived as a problem solvable by digital platforms, why this development approach emerged in post-socialist China, and its potential impacts. This paper argues that the Taobao Village exemplifies a dominant paradigm of development communication, produced by Alibaba, development experts, and government officials through shared knowledge practices. It examines the texts, intellectual frameworks, and diffusion processes involved in this knowledge production by employing critical discourse analysis. The study highlights how Taobao Villages reinforce the notion that informatization facilitates marketization, thus perpetuating and adapting three mainstream rural development ideas in post-socialist China. The underlying issue of rural China’s underdevelopment, the privatization and capitalization of rural social reproduction driven by China’s neoliberal globalization, sets the stage for another wave of digital labor exploitation. Furthermore, the widespread neoliberal ideology that advocates using e-commerce to foster social development creates internal challenges and generates external pressures within China." (Abstract)
more
"This book addresses the issues raised by digital platforms in the Global South, with an emphasis on the cultural stakes involved. It brings together an interdisciplinary team of researchers - including political economists, socio-economists, geographers, media sociologists or anthropologists - who
...
each explore these issues through an insightful case study at a local, national, regional or international scale. While studying the strategies of some of the main US-based Big Tech platforms or video streaming platforms towards the Global South, the chapters also consider the often-neglected active role local or regional actors play in the expansion of those Western digital players, and highlight the existence of a constellation of local or regional platforms that have emerged in Africa, Asia, Latin America or the Middle East. In addition to analysing the complex relationships of competition, collaboration or dependence between these diverse actors, this volume examines the ways in which the rise of these digital platforms has generated new forms of cultural entrepreneurship and participated in the reconfiguring of the conditions in which cultural contents are produced and circulated in the Global South." (Publisher description)
more