"This chapter demonstrates the critical importance of stringers and local journalists to international news production, and how much harder we need to work to understand the motivations and perspectives of these excluded groups of journalistic actors. News bureaus should restructure to cater to the
...
needs of these vital subaltern journalists to create higher quality journalism, while according these journalists proper credit and compensation. Post-Colonial theory finds several applications in current news structures. It is my belief that this analogy, which I introduce in some detail, can be further developed to better understand how modern news production systems function and can diminish their appropriation from the margins and subalterns. Chronicles about stringers and local journalists serve to humanize and illuminate these journalists, in particular for readers generally unaware of the invisible actors behind their daily international news. With greater empathy and understanding, the gap between news producers and consumers narrows, and consumers, in seeing the inner workings of news production, come to understand just how much to trust what they read on the page or hear on television." (Conclusion)
more
"Of all 10 African countries surveyed, only in South Africa is more than half the population online. The Internet penetration rate in Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho, Nigeria and Senegal is above the 20% threshold – but even this requires further investigation in a developing country context, where the unaf
...
fordability of data means that usage is generally very low and most people are using services passively, not in the high-speed, always-on environment where studies of causality in relation to penetration and economic growth have been done. In some countries, the low Internet uptake is a result of no coverage – there is insufficient broadband extension beyond the major urban centres in the case of Mozambique, Nigeria and Uganda. Yet even in countries where there is extensive coverage, such as in Lesotho, Rwanda and South Africa, the cost of devices is a major barrier to uptake. Such demand-side constraints relate not only to affordability of devices and services, but also to classical issues of human development. In several countries, including Nigeria and Tanzania, the lack of awareness or skills on how to use the Internet accounts for the large numbers of people who remain offline." (Executive summary)
more
"This book provides an international perspective on the different aspects of journalism – the situation in which journalists work, their working conditions, educational backgrounds, struggles and successes. It is aimed at an international public interested in the field of journalism and freedom of
...
speech. It addresses journalists, trainers and academics. Furthermore, institutions in the field of development cooperation, education or cultural policy and cultural education are the focus of this work. Though the book is focused on journalism and journalism education in developing countries, contributions are from across the globe." (Publisher description)
more
"This report presents findings and recommendations from the whole-of-Intermediate Result (IR) evaluation of activities generated from the USAID Civil Society and Media Project Appraisal Document (PAD) created in 2015. The evaluation included two current activities—Liberia Accountability and Voice
...
Initiative (LAVI) and Liberia Media Development (LMD)—and incorporated information and interviews from the Civil Society and Media Leadership (CSML) activity, which predated the PAD. The evaluation determined how USAID activities made progress toward achieving the Project Purpose—Increased influence of citizens in the governance of public goods and services—and provided recommendations to inform development of a future Civil Society and Media strategy.
The evaluation found that the PAD contributed to increasing opportunities for civil society organizations (CSOs) and media outlets to play a “watchdog” role over governance. However, evidence is lacking that (1) CSOs can sustain the coalition approach beyond current USAID support, (2) CSOs can use the coalition approach to mobilize citizens more broadly to engage with government decision makers, and (3) media outlets can increase the quality of news and information disseminated to citizens.
Critical gaps exist in making connections among the three stakeholder groups within governance accountability systems: (1) Political Leaders, (2) CSOs and Media Outlets, and (3) Citizens. A key priority for a future PAD would be to create interactive information and activity loops that better connect political leaders to citizens, using CSO coalitions and media outlets as channels through which citizens directly engage with government institutions." (Abstract)
more
"Les entretiens menés en septembre 2019 avec des communicateurs en santé et des résidents ont révélé que les barrières linguistiques empêchent la compréhension d’informations cruciales sur l’Ebola. Les informations diffusées en français et en swahili ne sont pas comprises par tout le
...
monde. Les gens ont du mal à interpréter le sens de termes médicaux en français qui paraissent pourtant simples. Le swahili est mieux compris dans la variante locale de Beni, tandis que les femmes et les personnes âgées de la région ont besoin d’informations dans la variante locale du nande. Pour les militaires et leurs familles, c’est en lingala qu’il faut donner les informations. Pour communiquer de façon efficace au sujet d’Ebola, il faut relayer l’information dans ces quatre langues. L’utilisation de la terminologie technique présente sa propre barrière linguistique. Certains termes médicaux clés spécifiques à l’Ebola sont en français et ne sont pas toujours traduits de la même manière. Les personnes chargées de la communication en santé ellesmêmes se trompent sur leur sens. Les participants de cette étude ont expliqué que certains des mots liés à l’épidémie sont inacceptables sur le plan social et culturel. Ces mots sont perçus comme étant violents et offensants, surtout ceux associés à la mort. Par conséquent, beaucoup de gens rechignent à les employer. Les communicateurs en santé les remplacent par leurs propres explications enveloppées d’euphémismes. Ces alternatives peuvent parfois être incohérentes et vagues et causer des malentendus. Les personnes chargées de la communication en santé ont besoin de soutien pour traduire les termes liés à l’Ebola d’une manière harmonisée et acceptable pour la population locale. La teneur des informations communiquées pose, elle aussi, un problème. Les messages actuels sur l’Ebola ne communiquent que des informations et des consignes de base. Ils ne fournissent pas les éléments nécessaires qui pourraient aider les gens à comprendre pourquoi et comment la prévention et le traitement d’Ebola fonctionnent. Aussi, avec l’évolution de l'épidémie et de la stratégie d'intervention, les questions des gens ont changé. Les participants de cette étude ont demandé que des informations complexes et transparentes leur soient communiquées dans une langue et un style qui leur sont familiers. Ils veulent des explications approfondies sur les derniers développements. Or il manque aux communicateurs en santé les outils de communication et la formation adaptés à ces développements, d’où la difficulté qu’ils ont à fournir des réponses à la fois claires et cohérentes. Les malentendus et les contradictions qui en résultent sont source de confusion pour les populations, et le manque d’explications détaillées ne fait qu’exacerber les doutes et les frustrations." (Résumé, page 3-4)
more
"This study engages in a comparative analysis of the history, importance, and benefits of infographics, in general, and in the media, in particular in Nigeria. It looks at the history of the Nigerian press, as well as the scale of use of infographics and new media tools in communicating business sto
...
ries in the country by its journalists. It also measures the level of approval of this new trend in the Nigerian journalism space." (Abstract, page 4)
more
"The trend in international newsgathering is to greater reliance on local journalists and fixers to provide crucial information to a global audience. At the same time, these local journalists are themselves becoming targets of violence. Increasingly, local journalists are being killed in the line of
...
fire. Their deaths create stress for their colleagues, families and communities. It remains a challenge to discern areas in which the global community can provide support to journalists in these circumstances. As long as we continue to rely on fixers and local journalists for news and information from hot spots around the world, we must also provide them with adequate support to mitigate risk, including to their mental health. Local journalists, such as those in the Central African Republic, are one of the most likely groups of journalists to experience psychological trauma, thanks to the implicit risks of their work, combined with public pressure to provide news from these situations. What support can be provided to these journalists and how can it best meet the specific needs of such a community? Can we promote resiliency? The first step is to acknowledge the dearth of relevant research on mental health and psychosocial support for local journalists in conflict or emergency settings.There is a need for research on the kinds of trauma (and resilience) that journalists experience and their causes, including impacts on the individual and colleagues and impacts on the work … Second, "little has been done to develop treatments based on local coping styles, culture-specific idioms of distress, and culturally appropriate helping methods" (de Jong 2017, 209) … Third, any training efforts of journalists should be accompanied with mental health and psychosocial support … Finally, the United Nations has adopted the UN Plan of Action on the Safety of Journalists and the Issue of Impunity This may at least give some wider symbolic support to journalists who are victims of traumatic attacks. Ultimately, there must be a recognition that the mental health of the journalist can have an impact on their reporting - something that is particularly critical in conflict environments." (Conclusion)
more
"This study analysed the media-literacy content in curricula of nine select universities in Africa’s most populous nation: Nigeria. Some key findings revealed that: (a) media-literacy courses proper were not on the curricula; (b) media-literacy-related courses, which stood as proxies, accounted fo
...
r about two per cent of the curricula; and (c) media-literacy-related courses were available to students only as electives. The present research indicates that media-literate students tend to be skilled in accessing information about their health, environment, education and work. They would also be able to evaluate media content critically and to make informed decisions as users of digital technology sources, as well as to becoming producers of media contents in their own right. Based on the accumulated skills of media literacy for contemporary young people, it was recommended that communications programmes redesign their curricula to include media literacy and related courses. Also, communication educators should be more receptive to the importance of media literacy skills in the education of their students." (Abstract)
more
"La présente étude ambitionne de formuler une meilleure régulation des radios communautaires à travers une approche descriptive, analytique et prospective. Il s’est agi tout d’abord de dresser un état des lieux des radios communautaires; ensuite d’analyser la régulation de ces médias da
...
ns les trois pays; et enfin d’entrevoir les voies et moyens pour renforcer les liens organiques entre les radios communautaires et la régulation institutionnelle. La réalisation de l’étude a tenu compte des impacts de l’insécurité sur le travail quotidien des radios communautaires, des attentes des acteurs médiatiques et des expériences des instances de régulation des médias. Elle a débouché sur la formulation d’une approche de régulation, à la fois innovante et opérante, dont la finalité est de contribuer à consolider les libertés individuelles et collectives dans l’espace du Liptako – Gourma. Le rapport de cette étude pourra servir à alimenter les débats sur la régulation des médias en période de crise en général et sur la régulation des radios communautaires en particulier. Il pourra également servir à renforcer la stratégie de plaidoyer sur la liberté de la presse mise en œuvre au Burkina Faso, au Mali et au Niger par les organisations faîtières des médias, dans le cadre du Programme Sahel." (Introduction)
more
"Mobile phone surveys are increasingly prevalent in low- and middle-income countries. The main modes include computer-assisted telephone interviewing (CATI), interactive voice response (IVR), and short message service (SMS, or text messaging). But there is surprisingly little research to guide resea
...
rchers in selecting the optimal mode for a particular survey. To address this gap, this study compares cross-sectional CATI, IVR, SMS, and face-to-face (FTF) surveys of the general population in Nigeria. We ask four research questions: (1) What are production and response rates to CATI, IVR, SMS, and FTF surveys? (2) How representative (age, gender, education, marital status, literacy, household assets, urbanicity) are CATI, IVR, and SMS respondents relative to FTF respondents? (3) Can IVR and SMS provide an unbiased estimate of voting behavior? If there is bias, to what extent can weights reduce bias? (4) How does the cost and time differ across mobile phone survey modes? We find that FTF had the highest response rate (99%), followed by CATI (15%), IVR (3%) and SMS (0.2%). All mobile phone modes had substantial deficiencies with representativeness: mobile phones underrepresented women, older people, the less educated, and people in rural areas. There were differences in representativeness among mobile phone modes, but differences were relatively small and inconsistent. Both SMS and IVR produced biased estimates of voting relative to official statistics—but SMS was less biased than IVR. Weighting SMS and IVR data for demographic characteristics did not reduce bias. With regard to cost, we find that CATI is the most expensive mobile phone survey mode. For a survey of 3,000 completes, IVR is 43% the cost of CATI, and SMS is 24% the cost of CATI. SMS is significantly less expensive than IVR. We discuss the implications of these results for research and practice." (Abstract)
more
"This review presents evidence about the impact of mass media and digital media on young people’s family planning (FP) attitudes and behaviors. It primarily focuses on the Ouagadougou Partnership countries, but also describes lessons learned from other initiatives implemented more widely in Africa
...
and elsewhere." (Executive summary)
more
"In this article, we assert and demonstrate a particular and enduring adaptability of radio in tandem with observable temporal shifts in development communication theory and practice in Africa. Specifically, we use the historical research method to explore and explain the ideological discourses, pol
...
ity contours and social forces that have overlain the role of radio as both an index and an instrument of development in Ghana. The evidence reveals that radio has transitioned through three key milestones in how the technology has been appropriated and applied to national development efforts: from transplantation, through transmission, to transaction. Each of these phases coincides, incidentally, with paradigm shifts in development communication theorizing: from modernization through diffusion to participation. They also coincide, broadly, with three distinctive epochs of ideological shifts in the historical accounting on radio for development in Ghana: from British imperial hegemony, through post-independence command-and-control, to contemporary liberal pluralism." (Abstract)
more
"What happens at the nexus of the digital divide and human trafficking? This book examines the impact of the introduction of new digital information and communication technology (ICT) – as well as lack of access to digital connectivity – on human trafficking. The different studies presented in t
...
he chapters show the realities for people moving along the Central Mediterranean route from the Horn of Africa through Libya to Europe. The authors warn against an over-optimistic view of innovation as a solution and highlight the relationship between technology and the crimes committed against vulnerable people in search of protection. In this volume, the third in a four-part series ‘Connected and Mobile: Migration and Human Trafficking in Africa’, relevant new theories are proposed as tools to understand the dynamics that appear in mobile Africa. Most importantly, the editors identify critical ethical issues in relation to both technology and human trafficking and the nexus between them, helping explore the dimensions of new responsibilities that need to be defined. The chapters in this book represent a collection of well-documented empirical investigations by a young and diverse group of researchers, addressing critical issues in relation to innovation and the perils of our time." (Publisher description)
more
"This chapter presents the findings from three radio dramas in Africa (Nigeria, Burundi, and Burkina Faso) developed using Population Media Center’s unique entertainment-education methodology. Each case study is presented in detail, including background on the country or region where the program w
...
as implemented, a description of the program design, and highlights of the results obtained by the program in question." (Abstract)
more
"The evidence amounts to a persuasive refutation of the commonly held beliefs that radio had widespread, direct effects and that hate radio was the primary driver of the genocide and participation in it. That said, the evidence suggests radio had some marginal and conditional effects. RTLM broadcast
...
s instigated certain attacks, particularly in and around the capital. The survey research shows statistically significant correlations between radio incitement and higher levels of violence among perpetrators. From that, it might be deduced that RTLM catalyzed some key agents of violence in some locations. Qualitative analysis additionally shows that a minority of the survey genocide perpetrators believed radio coordinated elites and signaled that authorities wanted the population to fight "the Tutsi enemy." In sum, then, the positive evidence of radio media effects is that radio instigated a limited number of acts of violence, catalyzed some key actors, coordinated elites, and bolstered local messages of violence. Based on these findings, it is plausible to hypothesize that radio had conditional and marginal effects. Radio did not cause the genocide or have direct, massive effects. Rather, radio emboldened hard-liners and reinforced face-to-face mobilization, which helped those who advocated violence assert dominance and carry out the genocide." (Page 123)
more
"Cet ouvrage propose une incursion au coeur d’une radio communautaire silencieuse, mais résiliente. Mise en place par une association de femmes au début des années 2000, la station Manoore FM a subi plusieurs pannes au cours de la décennie 2010, jusqu’à cesser d’émettre en 2015. Pourtant
...
, la radio survit. Ses défenseurs occupent encore les lieux, bénévolement pour la plupart, tout en conservant un lien fort avec leurs auditeurs et auditrices les plus fidèles. Une enquête de terrain ethnographique menée dans les locaux de la radio nous a permis de creuser les motivations et les relations qui unissent les participants de cette « famille associative », producteurs et auditeurs, évoluant entre liens affectifs et stratégies professionnelles, au sein de leur "radio refuge." (Dos de couverture)
more