Ethnic Media And Democracy

Placing ethnic media within the context of democratic theory, this book suggests novel ways of thinking about media from the margins. After discussing ethnic media research and defining the concept, John Budarick provides a succinct and in depth discussion of liberal democracy, deliberative democracy and agonistic pluralism, critiquing the explanatory and normative power of each in relation to media, journalism and ethnic diversity. Ultimately, Ethnic Media and Democracy demonstrates the power of agnostic pluralism, an underused theory in media studies that provides a framework for analysing ethnic media. By using this unique approach, the book engages with some of the most pressing issues in the fields of media, politics and democracy, and prompts innovation in the application of traditional models.

An overview of the press and mass media in Africa today and their contribution to democratization

Met lit. opg. Objectives: To analyse the ethnic minority media sector within several national media systems, and to examine the participation of members of minority communities in the production of printed and broadcasting media. Contents: International comparative case studies in the US, the Netherlands, France, Norway, Australia and the U.K.; Examination of exclusionary policies in media systems; Consideration of the political economy of ethnic minority media production; Analysis of the relation between mainstream and ethnic minority media and multi-ethnic societies. Summary of findings: While ethnic minority communities do play a creative role in the media and are active in generating ethnic minority media production, there are still barriers to true ethnic democratisation of the mass media.

A landmark narrative history of American media that puts race at the center of the story. Here is a new, sweeping narrative history of American news media that puts race at the center of the story. From the earliest colonial newspapers to the Internet age, America’s racial divisions have played a central role in the creation of the country’s media system, just as the media has contributed to—and every so often, combated—racial oppression. News for All the People reveals how racial segregation distorted the information Americans received from the mainstream media. It unearths numerous examples of how publishers and broadcasters actually fomented racial violence and discrimination through their coverage. And it chronicles the influence federal media policies exerted in such conflicts. It depicts the struggle of Black, Latino, Asian, and Native American journalists who fought to create a vibrant yet little-known alternative, democratic press, and then, beginning in the 1970s, forced open the doors of the major media companies. The writing is fast-paced, story-driven, and replete with memorable portraits of individual journalists and media executives, both famous and obscure, heroes and villains. It weaves back and forth between the corporate and government leaders who built our segregated media system—such as Herbert Hoover, whose Federal Radio Commission eagerly awarded a license to a notorious Ku Klux Klan organization in the nation’s capital—and those who rebelled against that system, like Pittsburgh Courier publisher Robert L. Vann, who led a remarkable national campaign to get the black-face comedy Amos ’n’ Andy off the air. Based on years of original archival research and up-to-the-minute reporting and written by two veteran journalists and leading advocates for a more inclusive and democratic media system, News for All the People should become the standard history of American media.

Recent discussion of democratization in Africa has focused primarily on the reform of formal state institutions: the public service, the judiciary, and the legislature. Similarly, both scholars and activists have shown interest in how associational life-and with it a civil society-might be enhanced in the countries of the African continent. Much less concern, however, has been directed to the communications media, although they form a vital part of this process. Media and Democracy in Africa provides the first comprehensive and up-to-date assessment of the role of the media in political change in sub-Saharan Africa. The central argument of the volume is that while the media may still be relatively weak compared to their positions in liberal democracies, they have come to play a much more important role than ever before since independence. Although they have not yet demonstrated sufficient effectiveness as public watchdogs and agenda setters, they have succeeded in creating new communicative spaces for people who have previously been intimidated or silent. Building on this the contributors argue that a different conceptualization of democratization than the mainstream currently uses may be necessary to capture the process in Africa where it is characterized by contestation rather than consolidation. This volume shows that the media scene in Africa is diverse. It stretches from the well-developed and technologically advanced situation in South Africa to the still fledgling media operations that are typical in sub-Saharan Africa. In these countries, print media as well as television and radio are just beginning to take their place in society and do so using simple and often outdated technology. The volume also examines how these growing outlets are supplemented by informal media, the so-called radio trottoir, or rumor mill whereby the autocratic and bureaucratic direction of public affairs are subject to private speculation and analysis. Media and Democracy in Africa is organized to provide a historical perspective on the evolution of the African media, placing the present in the context of the past, including both colonial and post-colonial experiences. It will be of interest to Africa area specialists, students of media and communications, political scientists and sociologists. Goran Hyden is Distinguished Professor of Political Science at the University of Florida. Michael Leslie is associate professor in the College of Journalism and Communications at the University of Florida. Folu F. Ogundimu is associate professor in the School of Journalism at Michigan State University, East Lansing.

Ghana is widely acknowledged by the international community as a model of democracy: the first black African sub-Saharan country to gain political independence from Britain. Focussing on the matrix offered by the media-democracy paradox in Ghana, Africa and the Global South, it will generate debate in democracy, media, journalism and communication.

"Framed is a wake-up call for those who think that race does not matter in Canada. Pushing the field of Canadian political science in new directions, this groundbreaking work combines an empirical analysis of print media with in-depth interviews of elected officials, former candidates, political staffers, and journalists to reveal the connections between race, media coverage, and politics in Canada. As Erin Tolley shows, overt racism rarely occurs on the pages of Canadian newspapers, but assumptions about race and diversity often influence media coverage. Consequently, as reporters go about selecting which political issues and events to cover, who to quote, and how to frame stories to make them resonate with the public, they give visible minorities less prominent and more negative media coverage than their white counterparts. Further, visible minority politicians are more likely to be portrayed as products of their socio-demographic backgrounds, as uninterested in pressing policy issues, and as less electorally viable. The resulting news coverage weakens Canada's commitment to a robust, inclusive democracy. The problem is systemic, but Tolley offers recommendations to politicians, pundits, journalists, and the public for challenging the racial assumptions that underpin news coverage. By drawing attention to the ways in which race continues to matter, this book provides a new foundation for thinking about diversity and equality in Canada."--

This book investigates the role of media and communication in processes of democratization in different political and cultural contexts. Struggles for democratic change are periods of intense contest over the transformation of citizenship and the reconfiguration of political power. These democratization conflicts are played out within an increasingly complex media ecology where traditional modes of communication merge with new digital networks, thus bringing about multiple platforms for journalists and political actors to promote and contest competing definitions of reality. The volume draws on extensive case study research in South Africa, Kenya, Egypt and Serbia to highlight the ambivalent role of the media as force for democratic change, citizen empowerment, and accountability, as well as driver of polarization, radicalization and manipulation.