Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Public broadcasting – Political aspects – Case studies'

This study is a comparative examination of approaches to talk radio as a genre on three Ugandan radio stations. The aim is to draw conclusions, from observations made about these stations, about the potential of talk radio to encourage public debate around social issues and improve democratic participation despite pertinent challenges in Uganda. The study first outlines a theoretical framework, which is informed by Habermas's theory of the media as a 'public sphere'. This framework is applied to an exploration of traditions of talk radio that have emerged globally in order to assess the potential of these traditions to play a role in contributing to the establishment of such a 'public sphere'. The study then goes on to discuss the historical development of radio in Uganda and the establishment of the current broadcast landscape. The focus is on the way in which this history has been defined by a struggle around public expression, in which government has repeatedly sought ways to control media as a vehicle for public expression. It is proposed that Ugandan talk radio has the potential to play an important role in ensuring broad participation in public expression. It is against this background that the study then describes and analyses the development of the talk genre at three Ugandan radio stations (each one an example of, respectively, a commercial, community and public service station). It is explained that staff on all three stations emphasise the importance of talk radio in encouraging participation, by their audiences, in the public debate of social and political issues. It is argued that, because of limitations that exist within these stations, none of the talk show teams fully realize the potential of the genre for participation in such debate. The picture that emerges is one of unequal access, with those sections of radio audiences in positions of privilege being further empowered, while those on the margins remain excluded from public discussion. The study finally recommends ways to improve public participation on Ugandan talk radio, noting the need to review government support, the problems of organizational culture within the stations, the need for more guidelines on practical arrangements around talk show production and the question of contradictions that exist at policy level.

The implementation of neoliberal economic and political policies is often touted as a way to increase overall individual well-being and freedom. While these policies may benefit those already wielding economic security and political power, marginalized populations often bear the negative cost associated with such policies. As deregulation and privatization increases, social safety nets and social spending are dramatically reduced. At the local level, liberalization has resulted in increased surveillance and regulation of public space. Organized resistance to global corporatization and increased economic and political marginalization has occurred across the globe. Resisting neoliberalism is complex as the adaptability of the state and capital requires an adaptive form of resistance. Portland Food Not Bombs provides an empirical example of an oppositional social movement organization that resists neoliberal logic and reclaims public space for collective use by serving free meals. This case study includes participant observation of both Portland FNB chapters conducted at chapter specific meal preparation and serving sites. It also includes ten interviews with individuals who are heavily involved with the SMO. Publicly available documents such as Facebook pages, chapter specific websites, and the FNB website provided important contextual information as well. This study finds that the organizational structure of Portland FNB lends itself to more democratic practices and ideals, coinciding with the values of the respondents. Through transparent, consensus decision-making and a resistance to formal leadership, Portland FNB facilitates a different form of political engagement. By using public space, Portland FNB temporarily alters the physical urban environment by socially constructing a more inclusive space, emphasizing that collectively using public space, is indeed a human right. Portland FNB seeks to create a more just society within the existing institutional framework, while rejecting practices associated with 501(c)(3) organizations and other mainstream SMOs.

Thesis (MTech (Public Management))--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2014.
Ethical conduct displayed by members of the public sector is integral to creating a sustainable democratic government, which upholds the constitutional tenets of accountability, transparency and professional ethicality. Furthermore, a true constitutional democracy emphasises and advocates the notion of service leadership that nurtures public participation and engages with citizens in a positive manner. Ethical conduct in the public sector earns public trust; it is hence a key principle in good governance. Yet, in the years since the advent of democracy in South Africa, the government has been plagued by rampant corruption and maladministration by public officials and politicians in leadership positions. The external control measures passed by government in an attempt to ensure ethicality and accountability within the public sector include codes of ethics, rules of conduct and the enactment of legislation. These are intended to shape the mindset of members of the public sector, with the ultimate aim of an efficient, effective, ethical and responsive public service. The purpose of the current study is to analyse non-compliance with external control measures within the public sector by means of selected case studies and to present the reasons for this occurrence. The three cases selected are: the South African Arms Deal, the corruption trial of Jackie Selebi, and the investigation of Bheki Cele regarding irregularities in the procurement of SAPS assets, the latter two who served as National Commissioners of the South African Police Service but were each dismissed from that post. The reasons for non-compliance with external control measures in the public sector as well as recommendations based on the findings to improve compliance will be undertaken. The three case studies demonstrate the experience and impact of corruption and/or maladministration, which have contributed to the increasing loss of confidence in political leadership in the country as elsewhere in the world. A qualitative methodology of inquiry, including a review of literature covering the theories applied to the case studies will be employed. Owing to the subject nature of the current study, the findings will be validated by an independent source, which has been identified as the Office of the Public Protector.

This research study investigates Lotus FM, as one of many South African Media components that are catering for one specific cultural or religious group. The investigation explores the implications of practice of a pecific media component that caters for specific cultural or religious groups operating in a post-apartheid South Africa. After the end of the apartheid era in South Africa, a number of South African media components have proclaimed their commitment to reconciliation and nation building within South Africa by attempting to unite audiences. The South African Broadcasting Corporation, which held the monopoly on South African Broadcasting for decades, has promulgated the notion of the rainbow nation to audiences in South Africa. Since 1994, sub-components of the different South African media segments were developed to cater for specific ethnic or cultural groups by the station managements. This was aimed at reversing the effects of pre-1994 media that catered for the former ruling minority only or ethnic groups that were categorized by the former political dispensation. It is possible, however, that this has resulted in a renewed and continued separation of interest groups present in South Africa today.

This thesis explores the political use of branding in international relations by focusing on the branding exercises of the Republic of Kazakhstan and the State of Qatar over the last two decades. In most of the existing literature, branding is theorised as a representational and instrumental practice that is strategically used to increase a country's competitive edge. Adopting a critical constructivist lens to the study of International Relations (IR), this thesis challenges this reading and argues instead that branding is a productive and inherently political practice that (re)produces dominant interpretations of state-identity rather than merely describing them. Based on the core constructivist claim that much of politics revolves around the competition to give meaning to the world, this thesis argues that the version of the state promoted through branding is neither neutral nor brand new, but inherently politicised and tied to the conversation and legitimation of the incumbent political regime. Inspired by the ongoing practice turn in IR, the starting point for the analysis is a focus on the display of the state through a range of everyday practices long ignored by IR scholars. In particular, it focuses on how the political leadership in both Kazakhstan and Qatar has used the urban development of their capital cities, the hosting of international sports events, and the construction of 'world-class' universities to present new ideas about their state to various inter/national audiences. Using an original data corpus of multimodal primary and secondary material, the analysis traces how branding practices produce and normalise a certain interpretation of Kazakhstani and Qatari statehood, and then interrogates how we can understand this interpretation as politicised and tied to the interests of the regime. The goal of the analysis is twofold. First, this thesis aims to elucidate how relevant instances of state- branding unfold and travel across different empirical contexts (Kazakhstan and Qatar) and cases (urban development, sports and education). Second, it aims to push current scholarly understandings by (re)conceptualising branding as a genre of contemporary identity politics, and produce broader insights about the characteristics and mechanisms of this increasingly normalised - yet often as politically non-salient dismissed - practice of international relations.

Defense date: 18 December 2009
Examining Board: Adrienne Héritier (EUI/RSCAS), Anker Brink Lund (Copenhagen Business School), Gianpietro Mazzoleni (University of Milan) (External Co-Supervisor), Alexander H. Trechsel (EUI) (Supervisor)
François Mény Prize for the Best Comparative Study of Political Institutions, 2010.
In this thesis, I demonstrate that the degree of political independence that a public service broadcaster has depends on the degree of legal protection given to it, and on the size of the market for news in that country. The latter affects broadcaster independence by creating more standardized and professionalized news, which in turn reduces politicians’ incentives to intervene in the broadcaster. The former affects broadcaster independence by making it less likely that such intervention will be effective. I demonstrate these claims in two ways. First, I conduct a large-N statistical analysis of 36 public service broadcasters (PSBs), in which I demonstrate that legal protection news market size are statistically significant predictors of PSB independence (as I operationalize it), and that other suggested explanatory factors — party system polarization and bureaucratic partisanship — have no effect. Second, I carry out a comparative historical analysis of six European PSBs—Radiotelevisione Italiana, Radiotelevisión Española, Radio Telefís Éireann (Ireland), the British Broadcasting Corporation, Danmarks Radio, and Sveriges Radio and its associated companies (Sweden) — and substantiate the claims made in my statistical analysis. In particular, I demonstrate that where the market for news was bigger, broadcasters capitalised on pre-existing journalistic experience, adopting the house-styles of press agencies and learning from journalists’ associations. Conversely, where the market was small, that experience could not be drawn on, and broadcast journalism attracted political intervention.
Version of thesis published as a book "HANRETTY, Chris, Public Broadcasting and Political Interference, Abingdon/New York, Routledge, 2011, Routledge Research in Political Communication"

Defence date: 10 June 2005
Examining board: Prof. Andrew Webster (University of York) ; Prof. Donatella Della Porta (EUI) ; Prof. Klaus Eder (Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, external co-supervisor) ; Prof. Colin Crouch (University of Warwick, former EUI, supervisor)
First made available online 31 August 2016
Ideas about public engagement with controversial technologies are growing in political prominence. This dissertation delivers a theoretically grounded, empirical analysis of why active public involvement is considered to be of growing importance for the legitimate use of new technologies. It examines the different social dynamics influencing actual attempts to engage the public and the difficulties encountered. Janus Hansen argues that while there are strong normative reasons to further public engagement with the regulation of controversial technologies, there are also strong sociological reasons to reflect carefully on what such engagement can realistically achieve. This dissertation delivers conceptual tools and empirical analyses to support such reflections based on in-depth case studies of important attempts to engage public concerns across Europe.

Tang, Li.
Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2007.
Includes bibliographical references (leaves 130-137).
Abstracts in English and Chinese.
Chapter 1 --- Introduction --- p.1
Chapter 2 --- Literature Review --- p.9
Chapter 2.1 --- Subaltern Public Sphere --- p.9
Chapter 2.1.1 --- Public Sphere: Liberal Model --- p.9
Chapter 2.1.2 --- Criticism on Unitary Public Sphere --- p.11
Chapter 2.1.3 --- Subaltern Public Sphere --- p.12
Chapter 2.1.4 --- Criteria for Subaltern Public Sphere --- p.14
Chapter 2.1.5 --- External Parties --- p.16
Chapter 2.1.6 --- Public Sphere in the Cyberspace --- p.17
Chapter 2.2 --- Public Sphere in Contemporary China --- p.19
Chapter 2.2.1 --- Application of the Concept of Public Sphere in China --- p.19
Chapter 2.2.2 --- Dominant Public Sphere in China --- p.21
Chapter 2.2.3 --- Subaltern Groups in China --- p.23
Chapter 2.2.4 --- Subaltern Public Spheres in Chinese Cyberspace --- p.25
Chapter 2.2.5 --- HBV Carriers Group and the Forum --- p.28
Chapter 3 --- Research Design --- p.32
Chapter 3.1 --- Overall Conceptual Framework --- p.32
Chapter 3.2 --- Research Questions --- p.33
Chapter 3.3 --- Research Methods --- p.36
Chapter 3.3.1 --- Textual Analysis --- p.36
Chapter 3.3.2 --- Interviews --- p.39
Chapter 4 --- Brief Overview of the Forum --- p.43
Chapter 4.1 --- Overall Development --- p.43
Chapter 4.2 --- Structure --- p.46
Chapter 4.3 --- Users --- p.50
Chapter 5 --- Empowerment on the Discursive Level --- p.53
Chapter 5.1 --- Characteristics of the Forum --- p.53
Chapter 5.1.1 --- Alternative Topic --- p.53
Chapter 5.1.2 --- Alternative Information of HBV --- p.54
Chapter 5.1.3 --- Discourse of Self-Narrative --- p.59
Chapter 5.1.4 --- Forum Accessibility --- p.61
Chapter 5.1.5 --- Relative Equality --- p.62
Chapter 5.2 --- Rhetoric of Innocence --- p.64
Chapter 5.2.1 --- Attribution of the Spread of HBV --- p.65
Chapter 5.2.2 --- Attribution of Discrimination --- p.68
Chapter 5.3 --- Summary --- p.70
Chapter 6 --- Empowerment and Collective Action --- p.73
Chapter 6.1 --- The State --- p.73
Chapter 6.1.1 --- State's Impact on HBV Carriers --- p.75
Chapter 6.1.2 --- Resistance Enabled by the Internet --- p.76
Chapter 6.1.3 --- Challenges from the State --- p.84
Chapter 6.1.4 --- Compromise with the State --- p.86
Chapter 6.2 --- The Market --- p.88
Chapter 6.2.1 --- Market Domination --- p.89
Chapter 6.2.2 --- Resistance against the Market --- p.91
Chapter 6.2.3 --- Challenges from the market --- p.99
Chapter 6.3 --- The Mass Media --- p.101
Chapter 6.3.1 --- Mass Media's Domination --- p.102
Chapter 6.3.2 --- Forum's Efforts to Get Favourably Represented --- p.106
Chapter 6.3.3 --- Mass Media's Influence over the Forum --- p.111
Chapter 6.4 --- Summary --- p.113
Chapter 7 --- Conclusion and Discussion --- p.116
Chapter 7.1 --- Assessing Empowerment Capacity --- p.116
Chapter 7.1.1 --- Formation of a Subaltern Public Sphere --- p.116
Chapter 7.1.2 --- Discursive Empowerment --- p.117
Chapter 7.1.3 --- Transformed Relationships with External Parties --- p.118
Chapter 7.2 --- Internet and Empowerment --- p.123
Chapter 7.3 --- Limitations of the study --- p.127
Bibliography --- p.130

This study examines the role of Ward Committees in facilitating “authentic” public participation, with particular reference to Ba-Phalaborwa Municipality. The key question of the study is whether Ward Committees serve as effective mechanisms to promote public participation in the local sphere of government in South Africa. To answer this question, this research project focuses on the composition, functioning and responsibilities of Ward Committees, and how these contribute to effective public participation. This is important because one of the mandates of local government in the post-apartheid era in South Africa is to promote local democracy through the participation of communities. The empirical findings of this research project reveal that Ward Committees are confronted with a multitude of challenges where their functioning tends to be compromised. This has led this research to recommend the improvement of capacity among Ward Committees as a way of enhancing public participation.
Development Studies
M.A. (Development Studies)

Public diplomacy is understood as the public and interactive dimension of diplomacy. Listening has long been considered a core public diplomacy activity; however, the introduction of social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook have challenged and altered this activity. This thesis investigates how public diplomacy actors are (re)articulating their practices with the introduction of social media. It further considers how social media can be used more effectively to advance listening and engagement (with both foreign and domestic publics) in public diplomacy. To develop the theoretical foundations for this study, I connect public diplomacy scholarship with a new wave of literature that has argued that listening is a critical and previously neglected component of dialogic engagement. In the theoretical part of the thesis I develop the idea of a ‘spectrum of listening’, conceptualising listening as a set of diverse communicative choices and practices that are available to public diplomacy actors. Using this spectrum, this thesis endorses active listening and the embedded concept of dialogic engagement as a concrete yardstick by which to assess successful public diplomacy listening on social media. To explore ways in which social media can extend and enrich listening practices in public diplomacy, I focus my empirical research on Twitter. I argue that quantitative Twitter analytics represent an opportunity to conduct large-scale listening to foreign and domestic publics. However, I argue that such analytics, while useful, do not provide comprehensive insights about the quality of listening and engagement. In order to address this, I propose an innovative mixed method approach that combines ‘thick’ (focused and contextualised) and ‘thin’ (largescale) analysis. To develop and test this methodological approach, the study investigates two international events as exploratory case studies: the 2014 G20 summit in Australia and Expo 2015 in Italy. These cases exemplify the involvement of domestic and foreign publics in discussing and debating important global issues on social media, and the ways in which public diplomacy actors do and do not listen. In summary, I consider listening to be a representational force: a public and active response to publics who are increasingly demanding not only to participate, but also to be listened to. The findings demonstrate that thick and thin listening and, in particular, being seen to listen, are the condition sine qua non for conducting successful digitally mediated public diplomacy.

劉淳.
Thesis (doctoral)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2010.
Includes bibliographical references (p. 214-228).
Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web.
Abstracts in Chinese and English.
Liu Chun.

Information has always been strategically relevant for the European Commission, especially during the last thirty years with discussions about a gap in communication and the possible democratic deficit propagating. For that reason, communication was introduced as a policy after 2000. In order to reach specific interests in the Union, the Commission highlighted the importance of the partnership with civil society in 2005 through the “Plan D for Democracy, Dialogue and Debate” and its “going local” approach. The purpose of this thesis is to analyze the communication strategy of the EU through the lens of one of its regional communication instruments, the Europe Direct relays of information. The relays are a first-hand portal for the citizens to enter into the Union not only by acquiring information but also by transferring their comments and suggestions to Brussels. They form, therefore, a debate platform between citizens and institutions under a European “public sphere.” Nevertheless, research has identified two critical points in their function: the host structure, which intervenes in their administration role, and the European Commission, which provides them with financial support and information services. This thesis seeks to ascertain the success or not of the relays in relation to those two variables. In order to achieve that, the Spanish study case is examined. It will be finally verified if, according to the guidance of the European Commission, the relays fulfill their role in fostering national involvement in supranational activities.

The struggle to liberate the continent of Africa from colonialism during the second half of the twentieth century represented an important epoch and as such this history needs to be documented accurately in whatever form for the benefit of posterity. Liberation struggle archives are of differing types and status, which reflects the diverse nature of the struggle itself. R ecords on the liberat ion struggles in Africa were created from within and outside Africa to document this historic ep och from the 1950s to the 1990s. These records have to be made available to the public for research, scholarship and general interest as they are a treasured na tional asset. In view of the above, it is the mandate of archivists to provide a means f or future generations to access historical sources . The purpose of this study was to ascertain whether liberat ion struggle archives are being offered the continuum of c are throughout their lifecycle in order to make such access possible . Considering that few records were created during the struggle for emancipation notwithstanding their neglect, it is therefore incumbent upon archivists to pres erve the legacy of the libe ration struggle that is contained in those few records that were created. The study used both qualitative and quantitative data collection and analysis methods. The study used methodological triangulation techniques in order to capture the phenomenon under study in detail. The study’s’ population were the twenty three archival institutions within east and southern Africa, both public and private that is, which generated a response rate of 39%. Due to the fact that the study population was geographically di spersed, the study employed self - administered questionnaires for data gathering . U nstructured interviews and observations were also used in a limited manner . The researcher administ ered an interview schedule to h e a ds of archival institutions within the eas t and s outhern African region. To complement the iii interviewing, an observation schedule was also used to record phenomena at selected archival institutions. T he data collected using qualitative techniques was content analyzed whilst SPSS was used for quanti tative data. The study unearthed some interesting developments. Liberation struggle archives had been identified and the requisite documentation put in place. T h is was evidenced by the restitution of archives which was an ongoing process albeit a problemat ic one. This process gives the overall picture that the liberation struggle was a global event as records are scattered in different parts of the world. The records so created are of varied nature as the media used to capture the record exists in a variety of forms with photographs predominant. The study also discovered that the arrangement of records was being done by qualified personnel, both archivists and manuscript librarians. In their efforts to promote access, most archival institutions employed a co mbination of finding aids with inventories and summary lists mostly used . Furthermore, t he existence of mechanisms, policies and procedures facilitates archival management practices. The present research established that all archival institutions had missi on statements and that th ese explicitly spelt out the mandate of the organizations . F or some institutions, these existed in written format. Formal p olices were generally in existence but were calibrated at various levels depending on an institution’s colle ction priorities. In this instance, the policy pertaining to digitization of liberation struggle archives was held in high regard and this explains why the majority of archival institutions preferred electronic media for duplicate copies . This preference p oints to the increasingly pervasive influence of digital technology. Archival institutions were liberal in their publication requirements though users had to acknowledge the institution as the source. The major challenge in the management of liberation str uggle records was the processing of backlog s . In addition, the study sought to establish whether archival institutions were providing resources in order to promote a n environment conducive to iv prolong ing the useable life of liberation struggle archives. The infrastructure in terms of knowledgeable and skilled personnel was in existence as the need for an academic background from which archival skills could be developed was given priority. The expertise in preservation management was mostly invested i n disast er planning and recovery, holdings maintenance and preservation planning . The research also established that the majority of archival institutions had a visitors ’ register in place al though its administration lacked consistency. The majority of archival in stitutions had air conditioning though maintenance records were non - existent. It was also noted that fumigation was prevalent and that restorative work was being done by the majority of institutions with the traditional technique s being the most popular. Equally important was the need to establish the preservation needs of the surveyed archival institutions. The study reve ale d that digitization was the most wid ely used preservation strategy and the majority of archival institutions had purpose - built storag e. Fire was considered the biggest threat to archival collections and the disaster plan mostly covered records, the physical building and the evacuation of people. Fire detection systems were in place and archival institutions were making use of their resp ective local fire departments to raise fire precautionary awareness and readiness. Security measures were generally in place though the use of Close Circuit Television ( CCTV ) , cameras and alarm systems was not pronounced. Furthermore, the study identified that information communication technologies had a transformative influence on the management of liberation struggle archives. The majority of the institutions were digitizing their collections though there was no written policy for managing these digital records. It was also established that most archival institutions were not migrating their records. Technological obsolescence and lack of resources were considered by most institutions as constituting the major threats to the survival of digital records an d this could be the reason why donor assistance v was sought as evidenced by the state of the art equipment on digitization infrastructure observed in some institutions visited . Equally significant was the revelation that inherent semantic ambiguities existe d in the legislative apparatus of the majority of archival institutions which partly explains why there was much passivity when it came to managing private records. The study further established that the management of private records was not satisfactory a nd areas noted for concern pertained to the arrangement, storage and custody, finding aids and access relating to these records . Finally, the study put forward a number of recommendations that had to be considered in an attempt to help archival institutio ns professionally manage liberation struggle archives , and two are cited here simply because they encapsulat e others . Firstly, the legislative apparatus had to be modernized in order for liberation struggle archives to be taken care of at national and not organizational level as is presently the case. The implication is that the laws that govern the national archives of countries within ESARBICA are wholly inadequate when it comes to the management of the private record. Lastly, the records continuum model formed the theoretical foundation of the study not only because of its holist ic approach, pragmatism and the fact that it is technologically driven but because it dovetailed with the records keeping issues which the study investigated .
Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2010.

The main goal of this thesis was an investigation into the ways in which whiteness is constructed and positioned in the South African soap opera, 7de Laan, and the Flemish soap opera, Thuis, with the emphasis on the possible implications of these constructions for local as well as global discourses on whiteness in the media. In conjunction with the above, this thesis endeavoured to answer a number of subquestions relating to the origin and history of the construct of “whiteness” and Critical Whiteness Studies (CWS) as a theoretical approach and its relevance in the South African and Flemish contexts, specifically as it pertains to the analysis of mass media texts like 7de Laan and Thuis. It, moreover, sought to explore if and how whiteness functions as an organising principle in the narratives and representations of these soap operas with the emphasis on potential similarities, differences and the kinds of whiteness constructed in these texts. Finally, the goal was to draw conclusions on the possible implications of these differences and similarities in the wider context of the way in which whiteness functions in the media. To that end I conducted a controlled case comparison of a sample from these two community soap opera texts, which was informed by a literature review and deep description of each context as part of the qualitative approach I chose to take. Despite a number of similarities between the two contexts, they still differ significantly, and this afforded me an opportunity to highlight both the consistencies and particularities in the ideological patterning of representations of whiteness, across seemingly unrelated domains, to illustrate its pervasiveness. Added to the emergence of three shared rhetorical devices perpetuating whiteness in both texts, I was also able to draw conclusions about the unique way in which whiteness functions in 7de Laan in particular, since South Africa remains the primary context of the study.
Communication Science
D. Litt. et Phil.(Communication)