Archive

Media Reform. Ashish Sen writes on "Media reform in India: Legitimising community media", Larry Hollon shows how "Under corporate control, there is no guarantee of free of speech". Regina dos Santos gives us her "Reflections upon racism in the context of Brazilian mass media reform", and Robert A. Hackett and William K. Carroll analyse "Critical social movements and media reform". Aliza Dichter looks at U.S. Media activism and the search for constituency and asks "Where are the people in the ‘public interest’?". Cheon Young-Cheol examines "Internet newspapers as Alternative Media" by looking closely at the case of OhmyNews in South Korea. Sally Burch writes on "Global media governance: Reflections from the WSIS experience" and Philip Lee leads with "Jingoism and the old lie - ‘Dulce et decorum est…’"

Indymedia. Graham Meikle leads with "Indymedia and the new net news" and Dorothy Kidd looks at Indymedia as it rolls out across the world in "The Independent Media Center: A new model". DeeDee Halleck shows how this dynamic worldwide movement is being constructed in "Indymedia: Building an international activist internet network" and Aliza Dichter asks "Is this what media democracy looks like?".
Regional input comes from Germany and Arne Hintz with "Indymedia Germany A local node of the global Indymedia network", from South Africa as Prishani Naidoo shows us "The Independent Media Centre – South Africa" and from the UK we see "The Growth and Growth of Bristol Indymedia" and the road "From Indymedia UK to the United Kollektives" with Annie and Sam.

China, Media Industries and the Market. In this issue David Banisar examines "The Great Firewall of China: Cyber-policing dissent", Yuezhi Zhao writes about "Skimming cream off the Chinese market: Transnational capital and tensions in Chinese communication", and Colin Sparks shows us Murdoch at work in China. Dan Schiller offers thoughts on "International Communications and Political-Economic Power: Interpreting China’s Emerging Role" and Yik-chan Chin writes on "The nation-state in a globalising media environment: China’s regulatory policies on transnational television drama flow". Other articles take on communication as an advocacy tool for refugees, story-telling on screen and film documentaries promoting rural theology and media ministry.

Science, IT and Society. Keith Suter writes on "Balibo and the murder of journalists: The story won’t go away", Peter Horsfield considers "The ethics of virtual reality: the digital and its predecessors" and Gergana Doncheva writes on "Antiheroes in films about Vietnam, Chechnya, Afghanistan, and former Yugoslavia". Albert van den Heuvel writes on "Grace and the Information Society" while Paula Tompkins examines "Truth and trust in cyberspace". Pradip Thomas defines features of the knowledge economy with "Digital Cohabitations: The Social Consequences of Convergent Technologies". "Pushing informationalized capitalism into science and information technology" comes from Dan Schiller and Kim Yong-Bock offers us "Faith and Science for Life on Earth"

Intellectual Property Rights and Communication. This issue comes with a glossary of terms as well as a set of online links and resources to help guide you through this huge subject. Perspectives for Free Software and the Open Source movement worldwide are considered by Camilo Zamora. "Copyright and the commodification of culture" is analysed by Ronald V. Bettig, "The ‘folkloric copyright tax’ problem in Ghana" is examined by John Collins. Christine Morris takes on "Intellectual Property and traditional law", Ravi Srinivas Krishna looks at "Innovations and creativity: Open Source, Bio Linux and Seeds" and Lawrence Liang covers "Global commons, public space and contemporary IPR"

The Campaign for Communication Rights in the Information Society. Five CRIS issue papers lead into a series of articles on the subject. 1: Is the ‘information society’ a useful concept for civil society? 2: Why should intellectual property rights matter to civil society? 3: What is the special significance of community media to civil society? 4: Media ownership: Big deal?, and 5: The corporate sector and information control. Sasha Costanza-Chock examines "The CRIS Campaign: Mobilizations and blind spots", Cees Hamelink takes on the "Moral challenges in the information society" and Antonio Pasquali makes "A case for setting up an international tribunal". Seán Ó Siochrú gives "A personal account of WSIS PrepCom 1" and Bruce Girard has prepared a "Statement on PrepCom". Other WSIS and CRIS resources are provided for further reading.

Reporting the Israeli/Palestinian Conflict. Following on from two international debates run by WACC, articles accompany the main piece which is a "Journalists' Code of Fair Practice - Style-sheet on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict" prepared by J. Martin Bailey. Marda Dunsky asks "What consitutes full and fair media coverage of Israeli-Palestinian issues?", Sarah Eltanawi shows how "US media turn a blind eye to the Israeli occupation" and James Wall examines "Sharon's cunning plan". Haroon Siddiqui shows the view from Canada with "International media coverage and changing societies" and other articles by Isabelle Graesslé and Gabor Karsai complement the issue.

Mass Media and Impunity. This issue includes articles on Digna Ochoa y Plácido, murdered in Mexico for speaking out, "Breaking the silence on the war in Algeria - the fight for truth and reconciliation" by André Jacques, and relfections on "Impunity, the media and Dietrich Bonhoeffer" by Edwin H. Robertson. Charles Villa-Vicencio brings in the South African perspective on amnesty with "Neither too much, not too little justice", Jake Lynch looks at impunity in journalism, "The Red Sea catch: A Palestinian perspective" is an instructive case study put forward by Mitri Raheb of Bethlehem and Cees J. Hamelink shows how "Communication may not build peace but it can certainly contribute to war". Other articles in French and Spanish are also included.

Mass Media and Democratisation in Eastern Europe. Articles in this issue include: "Empowering women and men through participatory media structures" by Colin Sparks, "Issues for media theory in Russia's transistion from dictatorship" by John D.H. Downing, and "A global blancing act: New structures in the Russian media" by Elena Vartanova. Media and political society in Eastern Europe are looked at by Peter Gross. Additional material from the East is provided: " The role of media in China's democratisation" by Junhao Hong, "Democratisation and restructuring the media industry in South Korea" by Sunny Yoon, and "Media, democracy and globalisation: a comparative perspective" by Joseph Man Chan.

Communication, from Confrontation to Reconciliation. Memory and Reconciliation: Media and ways of communicating ; Culture, Censorship and Voice ; Grandmothers Uniting ; Memory and reconciliation: The story of Guatemala ; Confronting cultural rights ; Communication must strengthen civil society ; Restoring human dignity and reconciling the people of Rwanda ; Reconciliation is an act of mutual recognition ; Culture and Reconciliation ; Statement by the World Association for Christian Communication (WACC) ; Déclaration de l’Association Mondiale pour la Communication Chrétienne ; Erklärung der Weltvereinigung für christliche Kommunikation ; Declaración de la Asociación Mundial para la Comunicación Cristiana ; Community, dignity, reconciliation ; Communication: From confrontation to reconciliation – The challenges;