This volume presents case studies of news media employing and integrating social media into their news production practices. It links social media use to journalistic practices and news production processes in the digital age of the Global South. Critically, the chapters look at seminal cases of start-up news media whose content is informed by trends in social media, ethical considerations and participatory cultures spurred by the wide use of social media. There has been considerable research looking at the potential of new media technologies, traditional journalism and citizen reporting. The extent to which these new media technologies and ‘citizen journalism’ have morphed or reconfigured traditional journalism practice remains debatable. Currently, there are questions around the limits of social media in journalism practice as the ethical lines continue to become blurred. It is this conundrum of the role of social media in the reconfiguration of the media, news making, production and participatory cultures that requires more investigation. Social media has also turned the logic of the political economy of media production on its head as citizens can now produce, package and distribute news and information with shoestring budgets and in authoritarian regimes with no license of practice. This new political economy means the power that special interest groups used to enjoy is increasingly slipping from their hands as citizens take back the power to appropriate social media journalism to counter hegemonic narratives. Citizens can also perform journalistic roles of investigating and whistleblowing but with a lack off, or limited, regulation. This volume seeks to explore and untangle these issues, and provides an invaluable resource for researchers across the field of journalism, mass media, and communication studies.

This volume examines the trends and patterns of journalists’ harassment in Africa and assesses the policy interventions and protection mechanisms that are put into place in the region. Drawing from case studies from selected African countries, an international team of authors offer a broad insight into the state of harassment across the continent, while building new theoretical perspectives that are also context-specific. The chapters bring previous theories and research up to date by addressing the continual change and development of new discourses, including the use of big data and artificial intelligence in harassing and intimidating journalists and mental health issues affecting journalists in their line of duty. More so, the authors argue that the state and form of harassment is not universal, as location and context are some of the key factors that influence the form and character of harassment. Offering new theoretical insights into the scope of journalism practices in Africa, this book will interest students and scholars of journalism, African studies, political science, media and communication studies, journalism practice and gender studies.

Digitisation, AI and Algorithms in African Journalism and Media Contexts moves the focus from the West, addressing the significant knowledge gaps relating to the current state of AI, algorithms and data-driven journalism, as well as the implications for political, social, cultural, markets, media viability and journalism education.

This book explores how popular cultural artifacts, literary texts, commemorative practices and other forms of remembrances are used to convey, transmit and contest memories of mass atrocities in the Global South. Some of these historical atrocities took place during the Cold war. As such, this book unpacks the influence or role of the global powers in conflict in the Global South. Contributors are grappling with a number of issues such as the politics of memorialization, memory conflicts, exhumations, reburials, historical dialogue, peacebuilding and social healing, memory activism, visual representation, transgenerational transmission of memories, and identity politics.

This book presents selected international research on journalism and safety with a focus on digital threats against journalists and their professional practices. It offers an overview of ongoing developments in the field of journalism and safety from diverse regions around the world. From various theoretical, conceptual and empirical perspectives, the chapters address the escalating global concern of pervasive phenomena such as cyber-surveillance, orchestrated attacks, trolling and online harassment and underscore the precariousness of journalists' work in various geographical locations. A section of the book examines the safety conditions of female journalists, focusing on their responses to gendered online attacks and hate speech, whereas another section analyses and discusses institutional and cultural responses to journalists’ safety. The chapters draw on data from diverse geo-cultural regions globally, and collectively the volume provides a comprehensive overview of recent research on digital threats to journalists’ safety and responses to some of the challenges. Additionally, it presents valuable concepts for further scholarly reflection on these issues. The second of two volumes, this book will be a key resource for scholars, practitioners and researchers of journalism, media and cultural studies, communication studies, and sociology. The chapters in the book were originally published in Digital Journalism, Journalism Studies, and Journalism Practice.

This book presents a new paradigm for attending to gender-based violence (GBV) social media discourse among marginalised Black women in South Africa. Focusing on the intersections of television and social media, the study charts the morphing and merging of the “inside” of the soap opera and the “outside” of the real world, amid a rise in feminist social media activism. The analysis begins with coverage of gender-based violence in a long-running South African soap opera and social media discussion of these issues, in parallel with real-world events and the collective social media response. The author offers pertinent insights into audiences in sub-Saharan Africa, presenting a new feminist trajectory for women and activism in the region. Offering new insights into an important issue, this book will be of interest to scholars and students of gender, cultural studies, film studies, television studies, sociology, development studies, feminism, media, and journalism.

This book offers the first systematic study of how the ‘Anthropocene’ is reported in mass media globally, drawing parallels between the use (or misuse) of the term and the media’s attitude towards the associated issues of climate change and global warming. Identifying the potential dangers of the Anthropocene provides a useful path into a variety of issues that are often ignored, misrepresented, or sidelined by the media. These dangers are widely discussed in the social sciences, environmental humanities, and creative arts, and this book includes chapters on how the contributions of these disciplines are reported by the media. Our results suggest that the natural science and mass media establishments, and the business and political interests which underpin them, tend to lean towards optimistic reassurance (the ‘good’ Anthropocene), rather than pessimistic alarmist stories, in reporting the Anthropocene. In this volume, contributors explore how dangerous this ‘neutralizing’ of the Anthropocene is in undermining serious global action in the face of the potential existential risks confronting humanity. The book presents results from media in more than 100 countries in all major languages across the globe. It covers the reporting of key environmental issues, such as the impact of climate change and global warming on oceans, forests, soil, biodiversity, and the biosphere. We offer explanations for differences and similarities in how the media report the Anthropocene in different regions of the world. In doing so, the book argues that, though it is still controversial, the idea of the Anthropocene helps to concentrate minds and behaviour in confronting ongoing ecological (and Coronavirus) crises. The Anthropocene in Global Media will be of interest to students and scholars of environmental studies, media and communication studies, and the environmental humanities, and all those who are concerned about the survival of humans on planet Earth.

The Routledge Companion to News and Journalism presents an authoritative, comprehensive assessment of diverse forms of news media reporting – past, present and future. Including 60 chapters, written by an outstanding team of internationally respected authors, the Companion provides scholars and students with a reliable, historically informed guide to news media and journalism studies. The Companion has the following features: It is organised to address a series of themes pertinent to the on-going theoretical and methodological development of news and journalism studies around the globe. The focus encompasses news institutions, production processes, texts, and audiences. Individual chapters are problem-led, seeking to address ‘real world’ concerns that cast light on an important dimension of news and journalism – and show why it matters. Entries draw on a range of academic disciplines to explore pertinent topics, particularly around the role of journalism in democracy, such as citizenship, power and public trust. Discussion revolves primarily around academic research conducted in the UK and the US, with further contributions from other national contexts - thereby allowing international comparisons to be made. The Routledge Companion to News and Journalism provides an essential guide to key ideas, issues, concepts and debates, while also stressing the value of reinvigorating scholarship with a critical eye to developments in the professional realm. The paperback edition of this Companion includes four new chapters, focusing on news framing, newsmagazines, digital radio news, and social media. Contributors: G. Stuart Adam, Stuart Allan, Chris Atton, Brian Baresch, Geoffrey Baym, W. Lance Bennett, Rodney Benson, S. Elizabeth Bird, R. Warwick Blood, Tanja Bosch, Raymond Boyle, Bonnie Brennen, Qing Cao, Cynthia Carter, Anabela Carvalho, Deborah Chambers, Lilie Chouliaraki, Lisbeth Clausen, James R. Compton, Simon Cottle, Ros Coward, Andrew Crisell, Mark Deuze, Roger Dickinson, Wolfgang Donsbach, Mats Ekström, James S.Ettema, Natalie Fenton, Bob Franklin, Herbert J. Gans, Mark Glaser, Mark Hampton, Joseph Harker, Jackie Harrison, John Hartley, Alfred Hermida, Andrew Hoskins, Shih-Hsien Hsu, Dale Jacquette, Bengt Johansson, Richard Kaplan, Carolyn Kitch, Douglas Kellner, Larsåke Larsson, Justin Lewis, Jake Lynch, Mirca Madianou, Donald Matheson, Heidi Mau, Brian McNair, Kaitlynn Mendes, Máire Messenger Davies, Toby Miller, Martin Montgomery, Marguerite Moritz, Mohammed el-Nawawy, Henrik Örnebring, Julian Petley, Shawn Powers, Greg Philo, Stephen D. Reese, Barry Richards, David Rowe, Philip Seib, Jane B. Singer, Guy Starkey, Linda Steiner, Daya Kishan Thassu, John Tulloch, Howard Tumber, Silvio Waisbord, Gary Whannel, Andrew Williams, Barbie Zelizer