The Challenges of Hosting Televised Deliberations in Ethiopian Media

2021 ◽  
pp. 194016122110202
Author(s):  
Gebru K. Kiflu ◽  
Adem C. Ali ◽  
Hagos Nigussie
Keyword(s):  
Public Sphere ◽  
Addis Ababa ◽  
Capital City ◽  
Basic Knowledge ◽  
Commercial Television ◽  
The Public ◽  
Political Landscape ◽  
The Media ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Public Sphere

This paper explores the factors constraining public service and commercial television channels in constituting the public sphere in Ethiopia. It focuses on three television stations and their respective programs, such as the Ethiopian Broadcasting Corporation's Ethiopian television (ETV)'s Medrek, Fana Broadcasting Corporation's Zuria Meles, and LTV's Sefiw Mehidar. The data was collected starting from 2019 to 2020 in Addis Ababa, the capital city of Ethiopia, where the three TV stations are located. These programs were designed to entertain different views, including ideologies, policies, and strategies to be deliberated and critiqued. They have created opportunities for debate and discussion as the Ethiopian media did not have new program formats for public deliberation-related shows previously. However, results showed that these platforms remained ineffective to entertain a diversity of views. One of the major challenges for this is that the production process encounters multiple obstructions from the media, the guests, and the government authorities. Guests fear to deliberate their views openly and prefer to remain abstinent. Also, the hosts lacked the courage, professionalism, and basic knowledge about the topics for discussion. Government authorities do not want the programs to be critical and deliberative. Equally, failures to achieve an inclusive public sphere are the outcomes of the unstable political landscape in the country. Therefore, due to different factors, including a highly controlled media landscape in Ethiopia, creating platforms for public debate seems unattainable.

The Contentious Public Sphere

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ya-Wen Lei
Keyword(s):  
Public Sphere ◽  
The State ◽  
The Internet ◽  
The Public ◽  
Political Critique ◽  
The Media ◽  
The Government ◽  
Uncertain Future ◽  
The Public Sphere ◽  
Legal Subjects

Since the mid-2000s, public opinion and debate in China have become increasingly common and consequential, despite the ongoing censorship of speech and regulation of civil society. How did this happen? This book shows how the Chinese state drew on law, the media, and the Internet to further an authoritarian project of modernization, but in so doing, inadvertently created a nationwide public sphere in China—one the state must now endeavor to control. The book examines the influence this unruly sphere has had on Chinese politics and the ways that the state has responded. It shows that the development of the public sphere in China has provided an unprecedented forum for citizens to influence the public agenda, demand accountability from the government, and organize around the concepts of law and rights. It demonstrates how citizens came to understand themselves as legal subjects, how legal and media professionals began to collaborate in unexpected ways, and how existing conditions of political and economic fragmentation created unintended opportunities for political critique, particularly with the rise of the Internet. The emergence of this public sphere—and its uncertain future—is a pressing issue with important implications for the political prospects of the Chinese people. The book offers new possibilities for thinking about the transformation of state–society relations.

The Digital Citizen

2008 ◽  
pp. 108-115
Author(s):  
Zizi Papacharissi
Keyword(s):  
New Media ◽  
Public Sphere ◽  
Cultural Context ◽  
Role Model ◽  
Political Activity ◽  
The Public ◽  
Media Technologies ◽  
The Media ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Public Sphere

The objective of this article is to sketch out the profile of the digital citizen. The premise for this article rests upon utopian views that embrace new media technologies as democratizers of postindustrial society (e.g., Bell, 1981; Johnson & Kaye, 1998; Kling, 1996; Negroponte, 1998; Rheingold, 1993) and cautionary criticism that questions the substantial impact new media could have on reviving a dormant public sphere (e.g., Bimber & Davis, 2003; Davis, 1999; Hill & Hughes, 1998; Jankowski & van Selm, 2000; Jones, 1997; Margolis & Resnick, 2000; Scheufele & Nisbet, 2002). Concurrently, declining participation in traditional forms of political involvement and growing public cynicism (e.g., Cappella & Jamieson, 1996, 1997; Fallows, 1996; Patterson, 1993, 1996) position the Internet and related technologies as vehicles through which political activity can be reinvented. Still, conflicting narratives on civic involvement, as articulated by the government, politicians, the media, and the public, create confusion about the place and role of the citizen in a digital age. The digital citizen profile, therefore, is defined by historical and cultural context, divided between expectation and skepticism regarding new media, and presents hope of resurrecting the public sphere and awakening a latent, postmodern political consciousness. This article outlines these conditions, reviews perceptions of the digital citizen, and proposes a digital citizen role model for the future.

The Digital Citizen

2011 ◽  
pp. 315-320 ◽  
Author(s):  
Z. Papacharissi
Keyword(s):  
New Media ◽  
Public Sphere ◽  
Cultural Context ◽  
Role Model ◽  
Political Activity ◽  
The Public ◽  
Media Technologies ◽  
The Media ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Public Sphere

The objective of this article is to sketch out the profile of the digital citizen. The premise for this article rests upon utopian views that embrace new media technologies as democratizers of postindustrial society (e.g., Bell, 1981; Johnson & Kaye, 1998; Kling, 1996; Negroponte, 1998; Rheingold, 1993) and cautionary criticism that questions the substantial impact new media could have on reviving a dormant public sphere (e.g., Bimber & Davis, 2003; Davis, 1999; Hill & Hughes, 1998; Jankowski & van Selm, 2000; Jones, 1997; Margolis & Resnick, 2000; Scheufele & Nisbet, 2002). Concurrently, declining participation in traditional forms of political involvement and growing public cynicism (e.g., Cappella & Jamieson, 1996, 1997; Fallows, 1996; Patterson, 1993, 1996) position the Internet and related technologies as vehicles through which political activity can be reinvented. Still, conflicting narratives on civic involvement, as articulated by the government, politicians, the media, and the public, create confusion about the place and role of the citizen in a digital age. The digital citizen profile, therefore, is defined by historical and cultural context, divided between expectation and skepticism regarding new media, and presents hope of resurrecting the public sphere and awakening a latent, postmodern political consciousness. This article outlines these conditions, reviews perceptions of the digital citizen, and proposes a digital citizen role model for the future.

Mass Media, Elections, and Good Governance

2017 ◽  
pp. 1-17
Author(s):  
Godwin Ehiarekhian Oboh
Keyword(s):  
New Media ◽  
Public Sphere ◽  
Good Governance ◽  
The Public ◽  
General Elections ◽  
The Media ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Public Sphere ◽  
Mass Participation ◽  
Tripartite Relationship

This paper explores the tripartite relationship between the media, elections and good governance in the contemporary Nigerian politics. It examines the growing impact of the media (especially with the emergence of the new media) on the various ways in which Nigerian political parties, politicians as well as governments present themselves to the electorate both for the purposes of electioneering campaigns and promotion of government policies as agenda for development. The paper foregrounds the critical roles that the media have to play in order to open up the public sphere and facilitate mass participation in governance with the implication of enhancing democratic values and cultures in Nigerian democracy. In this regard, particular focus is paid to reporting the 2007 general elections and the influence of the Nigerian newspaper proprietors and the government on the editorial stance of the media on the elections. It was noted that the government owned newspapers tended to reflect the position of the authoritarian model, while their private owned counterparts operated along the lines of the libertarian perspective while reporting on the elections.

Challenging representations of Muslims and cultural métissage in the ethnic comedies L’Italien (2010) and Mohamed Dubois (2013)

2021 ◽  
pp. 095715582110091
Author(s):  
Ramona Mielusel
Keyword(s):  
Public Sphere ◽  
Social Critique ◽  
The Public ◽  
French Culture ◽  
French People ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Public Sphere ◽  
Legislative Measures

In this article, I am looking at two popular ‘ethnic’ comedies, L’Italien (2010) and Mohamed Dubois (2013), that promote dialogue and conviviality between Franco-Maghrebi and Franco-French people in France while questioning the societal feasibility of legislative measures of inclusiveness, visibility and equality of chances promoted by the government in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Considering some challenges in the representations, the comedies offer, at times, a social critique of certain stereotypical views on Islam and the destiny of Muslims on French soil, but they conclude in an optimistic tone supporting the idea that there is cultural métissage in France and that Muslims and Christians do mix in today’s diverse France. The popularity of these comedies attests to the fact that there is a need to bring up the issues of Islam in France and of the cohabitation between Muslims and Christian French citizens in the public sphere. I suggest however that while the Franco-Maghrebi’s ‘essentialist identity’ is challenged in the films, there are still neo-colonialist tensions in the artistic productions that entail ambivalence towards the Muslim characters. In a Franco-French dominated film-consuming culture, the Franco-Maghrebi characters are still subject to mimicry, which consistently maintains their subordinate position in the French culture.

scholarly journals Klummen som politisk barometer

1970 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lene Rimestad
Keyword(s):  
Public Sphere ◽  
Private Sphere ◽  
The Public ◽  
Before And After ◽  
The Media ◽  
The Public Sphere ◽  
Two Parameters

Columns generally take up a lot of space in the media. But what can an employed journalist write in his column? How is this particular freedom managed and shaped? In this article the columns written by journalists working for Berlingske Tidende are analyzed. The analysis covers two months before and after substantial changes in the paper in 2003. Two parameters are used in the analysis: Political: Is the column pro-government, anti-government, apolitical or mixed. And what sphere does the column cover: Does the column take place in the private sphere or the public sphere? Finally the changes in the period are discussed. But initially the column as a genre is defined.

Employing of Media during Terrorism

2014 ◽  
pp. 157-170
Author(s):  
Muhammad Ayish
Keyword(s):  
Public Sphere ◽  
Terrorist Organizations ◽  
The Public ◽  
Media Institutions ◽  
The World ◽  
Research Findings ◽  
The Media ◽  
Practical Experiences ◽  
The Public Sphere ◽  
Vital Resource

Communication has proven to be an integral component of the terrorism phenomenon. To unravel the opportunities and challenges embedded in employing the media during terrorism, this chapter draws on research findings and practical experiences around the world to identify prime actors associated with this issue and to describe their objectives, tactics, and channels of communication. It is argued here that media constitute a vital resource in the war on terror with both terrorist organizations and states harnessing communication to advance their causes in the public sphere. In this context, four categories of media users have been identified: media institutions, terrorist organizations, governments, and citizen groups. The chapter discusses enduring issues associated with each actor's use of media and calls for evolving new conceptual frameworks for understanding media use during terrorism. It concludes by arguing that while we seem to have a huge pool of research findings and practical experiences related to using the media during terrorism, we seem to have a critical shortage in how we conceptually account for the different variables that define the use of media in terrorism situations.

The Necropolitics of Documents and the Slow Death of Prisoners in Turkey

2019 ◽  
pp. 97-117
Author(s):  
Başak Can
Keyword(s):  
Public Sphere ◽  
Health Condition ◽  
State Violence ◽  
The State ◽  
Political Crisis ◽  
The Public ◽  
Penal Institutions ◽  
Multiple State ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Public Sphere

The government used medico-legal documentation of prisoners’ health condition to solve the biopolitical crisis in penal institutions immediately after the end of death fast (2000-2007) and released hundreds of hunger strikers, who suffered from incurable conditions. That the state turned a political crisis into a medical one using the illness clause had unprecedented consequences for how claims are made in the political sphere. Human rights activists, Kurdish and leftist politicians are now using the plight of ill prisoners to make political arguments in the public sphere. The health conditions of political prisoners, specifically the use of the illness clause has thus emerged as one of the most contentious fields in the encounters between the state and its opponents. This chapter examines how temporality works as an instrument of necropolitics through the slow production and circulation of the medico-legal bureaucratic documents that are produced through encounters with multiple state officials. I argue, first, that medico-legal processes surrounding the detainees are mediated through the discretionary sovereign acts of multiple state officials, including but not limited to physicians, and second, that legal medicine as a technology of state violence is central to understanding the intertwined histories of sovereignty and biopolitics in Turkey.

Down the Tube: Religion on Australian Commercial Television

2006 ◽  
Vol 121 (1) ◽  
pp. 136-148
Author(s):  
Peter Horsfield
Keyword(s):  
Community Service ◽  
Influential Factors ◽  
National Character ◽  
Commercial Television ◽  
Dual Nature ◽  
Australian Society ◽  
The Public ◽  
Public Consciousness ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Public Sphere

Since 9/11, the question of the place of religion in the public sphere has re-entered public consciousness in Australia, most recently in links drawn between religion and terrorism, debates about free speech and religious vilification, and discussions about religion and the national character. This paper sets a background to these contemporary issues by examining some of the influential factors and personalities in the changing legislation about the mandatory broadcast of religion on Australian commercial television, from its earliest influences through some of the key contests in its subsequent developments. A range of ambiguities and ambivalences is identified, arising primarily from the dual nature of broadcast licences as commercial enterprises and community service, and the contested place of religion in Australian society. These include questions about the constitutionality of the government mandating the broadcast of religion; contests over what is and isn't religion and who has authority to determine this distinction; conflicts arising from the competing interests of stations, churches and the government in the implementation of the legislation; difficulties in defining the purpose of mandatory broadcast of religious content as the place of religion in Australian society has changed; and resistance on the part of government agencies to acting to resolve those ambiguities in such a contested and contentious domain.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document