http://www.globalmediajournal.de/home
Call for Papers:
Special Issue (Autumn 2014):
International Media Assistance
http://tinyurl.com/Call-GMJ-2-2014
Guest Editors:
Christoph Dietz, CAMECO, Germany
Marie-Soleil Frère, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium
Mary S. Myers, Independent Media Consultant, United Kingdom
Deadline: July 15, 2014
The Global Media Journal, German Edition, invites submissions for its autumn 2014 issue on the theme of international media assistance. This issue is primarily focused on the ways in which international donors have supported the media sector in developing countries over the last 25 years.
Support to the media sector is usually understood as aid to strengthen an independent, diverse and plural media, including press, broadcast and digital/social media. Justifications for this kind of aid are usually articulated in terms of promoting freedom of expression, accountability, good governance, peace and human rights in beneficiary countries as part of bilateral and multi-lateral aid spending. Assistance is also given to the media as a vehicle for public education and behaviour change. This sector has seen millions of aid dollars spent, especially since the media liberalisation that followed the ‘democracy wave’ which, it is said, swept across developing countries since the 1990s. Arguably this can be dated from the fall of the Berlin Wall, 25 years ago, and the end of the Cold War era. The practical aspects of this assistance usually involve (but are not limited to) training in various aspects of journalism and communications, aid to press and broadcast infrastructure, strengthening of media businesses (both private and public), support to legal and regulatory aspects, promotion of public media literacy, support for the human rights of journalists and advocacy for freedom of speech.
Original submissions are invited that look at the practical or theoretical aspects of international media assistance or those that question the ideological underpinning for this kind of assistance.
Possible topics include but are not limited to:
· media assistance in conflict-prone societies (e.g. the promotion of peace journalism)
· media assistance in (semi-) authoritarian regimes
· integration of media assistance into broader democracy support and development agenda , e.g. as part of the post-2015 Millenium Development Goals (MDGs)
· empirical studies on the role of media assistance in strengthening governance and accountability
· digital and social media and citizen journalism in international media assistance
· hidden agendas in international media assistance (public diplomacy, public relations, Western values)
· concepts and practices of impact assessment in media assistance
· approaches to strengthen media and communication research capacities in developing and transitional countries
· concepts and practices of fostering media accountability and transparency
· approaches to strengthen media sustainability in low-income markets
· strengthening advertising market transparency and audience measurement capacities in developing countries
· the role of multilateral organizations in international media development
· youth and youth cultures in media assistance
· gender issues in media assistance
· transformation of state media into public service broadcasters.
See the submission guidelines at http://www.globalmediajournal.de/submission-guidelines/. Articles (30.000-50.000 characters) will be peer-reviewed, but reports from the field (20.000-40.000 characters) and essays and commentaries (10.000-30.000 characters) are welcome as well.
Please do not hesitate to contact [log in to unmask] or [log in to unmask] for any queries regarding this special issue.
Please send your submissions until July 15, 2014 to [log in to unmask].