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31. TSG IntelBrief: The Islamic State: A Monopoly on Messaging

Publication Date:
10-2014
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
The Soufan Group
Abstract:
The deliberate targeting and killing of journalists by The Islamic State (IS) and the resulting lack of outside reporting has created a nearly information-free zone for the group to fill with its own messaging. The group's embrace of the decentralized nature of social media has allowed its many thousands of cyber-supporters to create and operate their own ministries of propaganda. Abu Mohammad al-Adnani is the official spokesman for the group, but the notion of an official spokesman does not really apply to IS in the way it has applied to al Qaeda; the crowdsourcing of messages negates the need for a single point of contact.
Topic:
Islam, Terrorism, Communications, Mass Media, and Insurgency
Political Geography:
Iraq, North Africa, and Syria

32. Why should we care about 3D-printing and what are potential security implications?

Author:
Dr Gustav Lindstrom
Publication Date:
10-2014
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
The Geneva Centre for Security Policy
Abstract:
Additive manufacturing, also known as 3 dimensional printing, is not a new technology.The first 3D-printer was unveiled in 1984 by 3D Systems Corporation - some thirty years ago. Some might even argue that the origins of 3D-printing were foreshadowed in the early 1900s through the automated pointing machine used by German sculptor Max Kruse. However, it was only around 2010 that a growing number of businesses and households began to explore its potential, largely due to the introduction of less expensive models. From 2007-2011, sales of 3D-printers grew 200-400 percent every year.
Topic:
Security, Communications, Mass Media, Intellectual Property/Copyright, and Sanctions
Political Geography:
Germany

33. China's Public Opinion Management: Tightening the Grip in the Digital Age

Author:
Elina Sinkkonen
Publication Date:
10-2014
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Finnish Institute of International Affairs
Abstract:
The number of netizens in China is growing year on year and the increase in the use of mobile technologies to access the internet is the most notable trend of late. Around half of the Chinese population are now internet users. The Chinese leadership has tightened internet control since August 2013. In February 2014, China established Central Internet Security and Information Leading Group, headed by President Xi Jinping, to monitor Chinese cyberspace. Defamatory social media posts were criminalized, and the first sentence was imposed in April 2014. Despite stricter internet control, criticism of the state and politicians has often been tolerated in social media, whereas any content that promotes offline collective action is systematically censored. However, the idea that the development of the internet in China would lead to significant political change seems unwarranted in the current circumstances. Poll data released on September 9 show that almost 90 per cent of the Chinese respondents harbour negative views about Japan. Internet forums and increasing commercialization of the traditional media are contributing to this public opinion trend, which complicates the handling of China's turbulent relations with Japan.
Topic:
Politics, Communications, Mass Media, and Public Opinion
Political Geography:
Japan, China, and Asia

34. Fragmentation and Concentration in the New Digital Environment

Author:
Richard P. Adler
Publication Date:
08-2014
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Aspen Institute
Abstract:
In 1987, back at the dawn of the Internet age, two studies were published that provided perceptive looks at the evolution of electronic networks and the impact that they would likely have on the way business is conducted in the U.S. and globally. Both studies concluded that rapidly evolving information technologies were helping to break down old hierarchical business structures in favor of new, more decentralized models of economic activity.
Topic:
Economics, Science and Technology, Communications, and Mass Media
Political Geography:
United States

35. The People Behind the Press: Building Social Capital in New Media Ecologies

Author:
Steve J. Fox
Publication Date:
12-2013
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
East-West Center
Abstract:
The aim of this article is to introduce an original framework in which new media ecologies can be understood to develop. Specifically, it examines the unique, world-leading online ecology of South Korea, to suggest how new forms of democratic process and social organisation can be emulated elsewhere. The discussion identifies and analyses several policy and cultural factors to distil three encompassing variables that comprise a framework for understanding the Korean situation, and the application of new technologies: structure, ethos and activity. Ultimately, it is a framework that may be used to investigate social organisation mechanisms that may potentiate news media's role in democratic society. This concept of social organisation is constructed around the notion of social capital and theorised as an infrastructure for new news media models. In the outcome, it is argued that news media could themselves become civic socialization mechanisms that encourage a more active and engaged citizenry, reflecting social capital's strong relationship with political participation, and thus a continuing foundational role for journalism in democracy.
Topic:
Civil Society, Democratization, Communications, and Mass Media
Political Geography:
United States, East Asia, and South Korea

36. 'WE ARE GAÚCHOS, WE ARE GAÚCHAS...' INCITEMENTS TO GENDERED AND REGIONAL SUBJECTIVITY IN THE 2002 BRAZILIAN ELECTION CAMPAIGNS

Author:
Benjamin Junge
Publication Date:
12-2013
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Kellogg Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
This paper analyzes Brazil's 2002 presidential and gubernatorial election-campaign discourse, identifying recurrent themes and modes of appeal within campaign discourses. In an introductory section, the conceptual and methodological framework is mapped out, drawing from "anthropology of politics" and media studies scholarship. In this context, a framework for analyzing campaign rhetoric's appeals to a gendered subject and a regional (gaucho) subject is presented. Historical background is provided for the political context and stakes of the 2002 elections, followed by an overview the different types of media used in the campaigns. The analysis proper examines the rhetoric of the presidential campaigns (principally that of leftist Workers Party candidate Luiz In á cio "Lula" da Silva), followed by analysis of the Rio Grande do Sul gubernatorial campaigns. In the concluding section, the argument is presented that the citizen-subject implicit in the official discourses of the Lula campaign is individualist for its concern over everyday-life struggles, nationalist for its concern over the country's well-being, and universalist for its concern with moral justice. For the gubernatorial campaigns, discursive appeal is constructed with heavy recourse to the "timeless tradition" of authentic (and symbolically masculine) gauchismo.
Topic:
Democratization, Political Economy, Mass Media, and Governance
Political Geography:
Brazil and Latin America

37. Civil Society Engagement with Political Parties During Elections: Lessons from Ghana and Sierra Leone

Author:
Francis Kwakye Oppong, Franklin Oduro, Mohammed Awal, and Emmanuel Debrah
Publication Date:
12-2013
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:
Oxfam commissioned the Ghana Centre for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana) to conduct a study into how civil society organizations (CSOs) can effectively engage with and/or influence political parties during election campaigns. The fundamental question underlying the study was: "What conditions and contexts facilitate the most effective mechanisms to advance long-term success by CSOs in influencing the political commitments and programmes of political parties during election campaigns?? The study aimed to contribute vital knowledge on this subject, about which there was very little pre-existing documentation, particularly concerning West Africa. The study was based on CSOs? experiences from the 2012 elections in Ghana and Sierra Leone.
Topic:
Civil Society, Democratization, Development, and Mass Media
Political Geography:
West Africa, Sierra Leone, and Ghana

38. You Say You Want a Revolution...Then What? The Challenges of Media Training in Post-Qaddafi Libya: A First-Person Essay

Author:
Carolyn Robinson
Publication Date:
02-2013
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
National Endowment for Democracy
Abstract:
CIMA announces the release of a special report, You Say You Want a Revolution … Then What?, a first-person account by veteran journalist and media trainer Carolyn Robinson of her experiences training broadcast journalists in Libya after the death of leader Moammar Qaddafi. Robinson outlines some of the unusual obstacles and challenges she faced in managing two USAID/OTI grants in Libya for Internews in the very early days after the revolution, and how her team came up with novel approaches to overcome the special circumstances they faced on the ground. Her essay is not so much about what can and should be done for media development in Libya today, but about how to structure training in chaotic post-conflict environments.
Topic:
Civil Society, Democratization, Development, Oil, Mass Media, and Regime Change
Political Geography:
Libya, Arabia, and North Africa

39. U.S. Government Funding for Media: Trends and Strategies

Author:
Peter Cary
Publication Date:
03-2013
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
National Endowment for Democracy
Abstract:
U.S. government support for international media development is declining. Spending by the Department of State and USAID for media freedom and freedom of information programs has dropped 43.5 percent in the past five years–from $135 million in Fiscal Year 2008 to approximately $76.3 million in FY 2012, according to figures supplied by the State Department. This trend and others related to U.S. government support for media development are the subject of this report, which analyzes how U.S. government grant making for media assistance has changed over time and looks at possible reasons those changes have occurred. The data underpinning the report is drawn from two main sources: the State Department's Office of Foreign Assistance Resources, which tracks allocations for foreign aid, and from an in-depth examination and analysis of grant proposals solicited by the U.S. government over the past five years containing at least one media development component.
Topic:
Civil Society, Development, Government, Mass Media, and Foreign Aid
Political Geography:
United States

40. South Africa's Media 20 Years After Apartheid

Author:
Libby Lloyd
Publication Date:
07-2013
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
National Endowment for Democracy
Abstract:
CIMA announces the release of its most recent report, South Africa's Media 20 Years After Apartheid, by Libby Lloyd, a journalist and researcher on freedom of expression and media policy in South Africa. The report traces how in the post-1994 democratic era South Africa's news media has become among the most concentrated in the world, affecting the quality of its content and the sales of its newspapers. It also examines how decreasing international development support has exacerbated that process - See more at: http://cima.ned.org/publications/south-africas-media-20-years-after-apartheid#sthash.4gCKzUe6.dpuf.
Topic:
Apartheid, Democratization, Human Rights, and Mass Media
Political Geography:
Africa