Yusuf Kalyango

Political News Use and Democratic Support: A Study of Uganda's Radio Impact

This study examines the role of radio during the democratization process in Uganda. It tests whether the use of political news and information on radio in Uganda leads to support for democracy, accounting for public interest in politics. Radio is the most accessed medium for current affairs in Africa, and remarkably so in Uganda. Public opinion survey data show considerable use of radio for political information, but no direct influence on support for democracy. Greater use of radio to get political news was strongly related to measures of political interest; which is also a moderating variable to democratic support. The utility of this study and its implications are discussed in detail.

Thirty Years of Broadcasting Africa on U.S. Network Television News

This study examines the coverage of Africa by the U.S. television networks over a 30-year period, to determine whether the evening news broadcasts pay equal attention to Africa compared to South America and Europe. Also assessed is whether incidents of wars, famine, and public health crises and the increasing importance of Africas oil, gold, and diamonds on the international market, continue to dominate the U.S. television network evening news coverage of the continent. A content analysis of ABC World News, NBC News, and CBS Evening News shows that coverage of Africa has steadily decreased more than coverage of other regions. The majority of international stories were about Europe while coverage of Africa on all three networks was far less when compared to other regions. Also, conflicts and crises dominated Africas coverage throughout the 3 decades and stories linked a considerable amount of the news events to a particular U.S. interest. More results and their implications are discussed in detail.

Media performance, agenda building, and democratization in East Africa

This chapter discusses media performance during the democratization process in the Eastern African countries of Burundi, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, and Rwanda, which form a regional union called the East African Community (EAC). The analysis is inspired by over 200 seminal academic studies and expert texts from various disciplines, mostly on East Africa, to assess how these governments influence media performance during their wave of democratization. The chapter examines a range of issues that demonstrate the autocratic means of building a government agenda, such as restrictive press laws, sectarianism, election malpractice, political and ethnic violence, and influence peddling. It shows how this agenda-building approach exercised by the EAC member states undercuts the contributions of the media to the democratization process. The authors demonstrate how the emergence of independent media and religious institutions in some of the EAC member states constitute the most vigilant and influential part of civil society. Further, the argument is that media performance is most successful when its agenda mobilizes citizens to challenge the structures of authoritarian rule by promoting human rights, economic empowerment, and the rule of law.

Facebook use and negative body image among U.S. college women

ABSTRACT Young women increasingly spend time on social media, but the relationship of this exposure to body image is still in the initial stages of exploration. In this study the authors used social comparison theory to examine the relationship between time spent on Facebook and body image. A survey of 881 U.S. college women was conducted in April–May 2013. Findings showed that 10.1% had posted about weight, body image, exercise, or dieting, and 27.4% had commented on friends’ posts or photos. More time on Facebook related to more frequent body and weight comparisons, more attention to the physical appearance of others, and more negative feelings about their bodies for all women. For women who wanted to lose weight, more time on Facebook also related to more disordered eating symptoms.

International journalists’ expectations from the US media coverage of Hurricane Katrina:

This study examines how international journalists evaluated the performance of the US media in the coverage of Hurricane Katrina through the concept of journalistic expectations. A survey was conducted to determine whether expectations were met and whether they differed across cultures. Data were collected from Europe, Asia/ Middle East, Africa, North America, and South America. Expectations were not met for accuracy, diversity, and skepticism but were satisfied for investigative reporting and public dialogue. Major differences existed between journalists from Europe and other continents. This study advances the concept of journalistic expectations and contributes to understanding how they vary across cultures and how international journalists evaluate their counterparts covering a major natural disaster.

Journalists’ Development Journalism Role Perceptions: Select countries in Southeast Asia, South Asia, and sub-Saharan Africa

Development journalism remains an important concept in the journalism studies literature, but it has, at the same time, suffered from a lack of empirical research. Drawing on a survey of 2598 journalists from eight South Asian, Southeast Asian, and sub-Saharan African countries, which was conducted as part of the Worlds of Journalism Study, this study assesses the importance journalists ascribe to three key development journalism roles—social intervention, national development, and educating people. It also compares these perceptions across the countries, between government- and privately owned news media in these countries, and between these countries and 19 Worlds of Journalism Study countries in Western Europe and North America, which profess to adhere to an objective and democratic press function. Findings suggest that journalists from the eight countries, across government- and privately owned media, considered development journalism important, and detached, adversarial journalism as less important. Their rating of the latter roles differed considerably from those of journalists from the 19 comparison countries. Results suggest that journalists were more likely socialized into their roles rather than being forced into the same by the heavy hand of government.

Public attitudes toward media control and incitement of conflicts in Eastern Africa

Public opinion research in two post-conflict African countries, Ethiopia and Rwanda, offers new insights into how audiences view the trustworthiness and performance of different media and different ownership sectors. This survey examines how citizens of Rwanda and Ethiopia describe the role of mass media in covering conflicts and in stoking the attitudes that can lead to or worsen conflicts. State-owned media are widely used as a source of news, yet are also widely distrusted, particularly when covering conflicts. They are also seen as less reliable than the privately-owned media. Still, different levels of use and confidence in state media suggest that top-down reconciliation efforts can have measurable results. Media can play a role in damping the flames of ethnic conflict, much as they can play a role in fanning those flames.

Mobile Learning: Rethinking the Future of Journalism Practice and Pedagogy.

Despite the proliferation of mobile devices, there is limited awareness of how journalism students are prepared for the evolving nature of the workplace in regard to mobile devices and how journalism professionals utilize this technology in daily routines. This study examines how journalism educators, students, and practitioners embrace the proliferation of rapidly growing mobile technologies in the United States. The study finds that challenges lie ahead for both journalism professionals and scholars as media ecology expands current capabilities and redefines work routines, from funding technologies and gauging ways audiences use new technologies to selecting hardware and software that make reporting relevant.

Cross-national content analysis of the coverage of the 2008 Russia-Georgia conflict

This study compares media framing of the Russia-Georgia conflict across leading news outlets in Romania, Bulgaria, Ukraine and Russia. A content analysis of 288 stories from eight news media outlets in these countries examined two major frames – reactionary depiction and partisan alignment. Results show that Russian and Ukrainian news outlets covered the conflict through the partisan alignment frame but with different categories from it. Romanian news outlets covered events with a reactionary depiction frame, while the Bulgarian news outlets covered the conflict with both frames.

Influence of Facebook on Body Image and Disordered Eating in Kazakhstan and USA

Women in the United States of America (USA) are ranked fourth heaviest in the world, while women in Kazakhstan are generally thin. This difference in average female weight leads to interesting questions regarding perceptions of beauty. Is there less negative body image in Kazakhstan given that, on average, Kazakh women are slimmer compared to American women? The “thin ideal” is pervasive in all genres of mass media and has been linked to negative body image, which in turn is a risk factor for eating disorders, and a significant predictor of low self¬-esteem, depression, and obesity. Young women spend an increasing amount of time with social media both in Kazakhstan and the USA, but the relationship between this growing exposure and body image is not fully understood. This study uses objectification to examine the relationship between time spent on Facebook and body image among Kazakh and American college women. Time on Facebook predicted BSQ and EAT-26 scores in Kazakhstan but did not in the USA, suggesting Facebook may have a more subtle effect in the USA. Time on Facebook predicted attention to appearance and negative feelings in both countries. Practical and theoretical implications are detailed.