Stanhope Network



	Stanhope Network This site features the work of students and doctoral candidates on media and communications issues. If you would like your work to be included here, please send a copy along with a brief introduction and, if you like, a short biography to Matthew Burton. Challenges for Public Service Broadcasting in Serbia: Society in Search of It's Mass Media, and Mass Media in Search of a Society Mila Turajlic recently completed an MSc in Media and Communications at LSE. She holds a BSc in Politics and International Relations from the LSE and a BA in Film and TV Production from the Academy of Arts in Belgrade, Serbia. She works as a producer and documentary filmmaker in Belgrade, and her interests lie in the challenges facing former Yugoslavia in the sphere of media transformation. This is a study of what is missing in the international and local efforts to create a public service broadcaster in Serbia. Following the end of Milosevic’s regime, the transformation of Radio Television Serbia was deemed to be a key part of the democratic reforms. In seeking to identify all the challenges faced by those involved in the process of creating a public broadcaster, it points to the limits of current media theory. The argument is that the importance of political and social contexts is not properly addressed by those undertaking the reform, nor by those theorizing post-communist media transformation. ........................................ Researching Cambodia's Radio News 'Ecology'--Exploring a Way Forward Christine Crowther is a journalist with the Canadian Broadacasting Corporation. She is currently the show producer for the television program, "CBC News: Sunday." She became involved in journalism training while working as a journalist in South East Asia in the 1990s. She took leave of absence from the CBC last year to pursue a masters degree from the London School of Economics' Department of Media and Communications. Her areas of academic interest are the public sphere, public service broadcasting, and the role of media in post-conflict development. "This is an exploratory study. It attempts to build on the work conducted for a series of papers which identify lessons learned from the international community's attempts to use media as a means to consolidate democracy in Cambodia. The consensus is that, despite ten years of training programs and financial assistance, radio news broadcasts still do not meet democratic norms for political communication." ........................................ Radio Tanzania Dar es Salaam: State control, broadcasting and national development Sala Elise Patterson is a MSc student at the University of London's School of Oriental and African Studies. She is also a freelance journalist, covering travel for the New York times and Condé Nast Traveller. "The Tanzanian experience--celebrated in media circles yet largely ignored in development and media circles--teaches us that in some instances it is not only beneficial, but imperative that government control mass communications for development. Media and development theory needs to be expanded to accommodate these more nuanced understandings, and to further the exploration of others." ........................................ What is the position of the Media in Iraq's current Political Process? Mohamed Hussein Shubber (email) works as a freelancer in media and communication with a special focus on international politics, music and culture. He holds a BA in International Relations from Geneva's Insitute of International Studies and a MSc in Middle East Politics from London University's School of Oriental and African Studies, for which this research paper was presented. "After the US-led invasion of Iraq, the dictatorial Baath regime of Saddam Hussein has finally withdrawn from the public sphere and it has stopped being in command of the lives of millions of Iraqis. The first sign of a new freedom of expression has been the emergence of new newspapers, radio and television broadcasts in all parts of Iraq, reviving an old passion of Iraqis for the media. In order to bring a perspective on these dramatic changes, this dissertation addresses the situation and potential role of the media in the emergence of an indigenous and stable democratic political system." ........................................ Forgotten or Ignored? News media silence and the conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo Alison Holder recently completed an MSc in Development Studies at LSE, focusing on conflict, human rights and peacebuilding in Africa in particular. Her area of interest is the Great Lakes region, especially the Democratic Republic of Congo. "In seeking to understand why there was high coverage of the 'first Congo war' and very little news media coverage of the 'second Congo war', this dissertation contends that media coverage was 'indexed' to government policy. In the first Congo war, and especially in November 1996, it was in the interest of the Clinton administration to have media coverage of certain aspects of the unfolding conflict in Congo - specifically, the plight of the Rwandan refugees trapped in eastern Congo - and the government was able to direct the timing and content of this coverage to serve its interests. In the 'second Congo war', on the other hand, news media coverage of the conflict had all but disappeared. This dissertation will argue that this is in part due to the fact that, from the perspective of the US, aspects of the policy landscape had changed, rendering media coverage of the conflict 'unhelpful.'"