International Communication Gazette

Recent theories of communication for development consider the lack of political, economic and cultural power of lower-status sectors as the central problem to be addressed in development. The majority do not have access to the education, technical assistance, good health and housing needed to make a contribution to national development. A deeper issue are the cultural values which see minorities such as women as not capable of making a contribution. Thus, the new movements seek to ‘empower’ themselves by resignifying the meaning of gender, youth, race, ethnicity and region as key actors in the development process and therefore as worthy of access to resources. Empowerment is central to the process of development, but empowerment, it is argued, needs to be located within a broader framework, which sees the goal of development as the cultural and political acceptance of universal human rights. Power must be seen as a source of social responsibility and service. Movements cannot stop at their own empowerment but must gain the respect for the rights of all in the society.

Development journalism is often touted as more applicable to Asian countries like Malaysia and Singapore than the western liberal approach, for historical and cultural reasons. Proponents see its premise of media–government partnership as necessary for securing economic development for the country. The approach is also not considered a hindrance to press freedom or democracy because of regularly held political elections that empower elected leaders the right of influence over the press. How well development journalism performs during elections, which are adversarial by definition, is thus crucial to the legitimacy of elections as well as the approach itself. This pioneer study aims to shed light on the legitimacy of Asian-based development journalism by examining coverage of the 1999 general elections in Malaysia by three major newspapers in the country. Findings obtained through media-framing analysis indicate that it needs a lot more work.

Current advances in cyber-technology present technologically challenged countries in Africa with a major dilemma. Before now, the main challenge these countries faced was how to close the North–South technology gap. But now the challenge has shifted to a precarious level: how not to become irrelevant in the New World. Even in America, former US President Bill Clinton spent a significant part of his second term urging his people to bridge ‘the digital divide’ to avoid leaving behind huge segments of the American population as the world, led by the US, figuratively flies into cyberspace. This article examines the dilemma of African countries as they are swept along by this Internet ‘e-uphoria’. It provides data on Internet use in Africa and on impediments to growth and development of the Internet on the continent. The article shows that even though all 54 countries in Africa now have Internet access, at least in their capital cities, the global impact of their connectivity is negligible. It argues that ongoing efforts to widen connectivity on the continent, being undertaken by American and European companies driven entirely by the profit motive, may create a new and dangerous form of techno-dependency. The article concludes with suggestions for resolving this and other problems that accompany current efforts to introduce widespread Internet use in African countries.

It has been shown that educational messages via mass media based entertainment can improve family planning behavior. It is likely that audience participation in the form of listening groups may enhance the impact of these programs. In Fulbari (Nepal), a partnership between local government agencies, community leaders, audience members and program staff led to the launch of listening groups complementing a mass media family planning initiative. Using survey data supplemented by anecdotal evidence and service statistics, this study examines the association between membership in these listening groups and family planning behavior. Multivariate logistic regression models show a significant relationship between radio listenership and knowledge and behavior variables above and beyond the positive association with the radio program itself. Results affirm the importance of a partnership between program organizers, community leaders, NGO partners and the audience community, in order to at least sustain positive family planning outcomes.