Media, Communication and the Struggle for Democratic Change: Case Studies on Contested Transitions

Description

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. Front Matter ....Pages i-xvii Introduction: Democratization Conflicts as Communicative Contestations (Katrin Voltmer)....Pages 1-31 Front Matter ....Pages 33-33 Media, Power, Citizenship: The Mediatization of Democratic Change (Katrin Voltmer, Lone Sorensen)....Pages 35-58 Conflict-Sensitive Journalism? Journalistic Role Perceptions and Practices in Democratization Conflicts (Judith Lohner, Irene Neverla, Sandra Banjac)....Pages 59-81 Peace, But at What Cost? Media Coverage of Elections and Conflict in Kenya (Nic Cheeseman, Jacinta Maweu, Seth Ouma)....Pages 83-105 Front Matter ....Pages 107-107 Creativity and Strategy: How Civil Society Organizations Communicate and Mobilize in Egypt, Kenya, Serbia and South Africa (Tanja Bosch, Wallace Chuma, Herman Wasserman, Rebecca Pointer)....Pages 109-131 Tweeting in Precarious Times: Comparing Twitter Use During the 2013 General Election in Kenya and the 2012 Presidential Election in Egypt (Walid Al-Saqaf, Christian Christensen)....Pages 133-157 Minority Media, Democratization Conflicts and the Politicization of Coptic Communal Identity in Egypt (Yosra El Gendi, Gamal Soltan)....Pages 159-181 Front Matter ....Pages 183-183 Hybrid Governance, Strategic Communication and the Quest for Institutional Legitimacy (Gianluca Iazzolino, Nicole Stremlau)....Pages 185-204 Communicating Power and Resistance in Democratic Decline: The 2015 Smear Campaign against Serbia’s Ombudsman (Nebojša Vladisavljević, Aleksandra Krstić, Jovica Pavlović)....Pages 205-228 Dialogue of the Deaf: Listening on Twitter and Democratic Responsiveness during the 2015 South African State of the Nation Address (Lone Sorensen, Heather Ford, Walid Al-Saqaf, Tanja Bosch)....Pages 229-254 Front Matter ....Pages 255-255 The Participation Approach in Media Development Cooperation (Ines Drefs, Barbara Thomass)....Pages 257-279 Conclusion: How Does the Concept of Public Communication Challenge the Concept of a Media System? (Terhi Rantanen)....Pages 281-296 Back Matter ....Pages 297-305