- Media and propaganda in an age of disinformation
Authors: Nelson Costa Ribeiro (Editor) Barbie Zelizer (Editor)
New York : Routledge, 2025.
An innovative and engaging collection that argues that the concept of propaganda needs to be central to discussions about the contemporary media landscape and its informational ecosystems. This book explores how ‘propaganda’, a foundational concept within media and communication studies, has recently been replaced by alternative terms (disinformation, misinformation, and fake news) that fail to capture the continuities and disruptions of ongoing strategic attempts to (mis)guide public opinion. Edited by Nelson Ribeiro and Barbie Zelizer, the collection highlights how these concepts must be understood as part of a long legacy of propaganda, and not just as new phenomena that have emerged in the context of the digital media environment. Chapters explore the strategies and effects of propaganda through a variety of globally diverse case studies, featuring both democracies and autocratic regimes, and highlighting how only by understanding propagandistic forms and strategies can we fully begin to understand how public opinion is being molded today by those who resort to deception and falsehood to gain or keep hold of power. An important resource for students and scholars of media and communication studies, and those who are studying and/or researching media and propaganda, media and power, disinformation, fake news, and political communication“– Provided by publisher.
- Ancient Pasts for Modern Audiences : Public Scholarship and the Mediterranean World
Authors Chelsea AM Gardner(Editor) Sabrina C Higgins (Editor)
London : Routledge, 2025.
This volume brings together specialists from a broad demographic and professional range – academics, museum curators, students, and content creators – to discuss case studies, challenges, and potential future avenues for public scholarship on the history, archaeology, and cultures of the ancient Mediterranean, North Africa and Western Asia. Together, the contributions promote the creation of inclusive methods of knowledge mobilisation and communication in public spheres across three main areas: cultural heritage, pedagogy and public-facing scholarship. These areas have all been directly affected by Eurocentric structures that have claimed ownership of ancient Mediterranean cultural heritage and have dictated how it has been taught in schools and communicated to the broader public. The volume is divided into three sections – Museums, Teaching and Learning, and Global and Local Projects – each addressing pressing challenges faced within these interrelated fields and offering ways for us to overcome the exclusionary narratives that plague them. Ancient Pasts for Modern Audiences provides an invaluable resource for those interested in public history, from academics to lay audiences, in the fields of Ancient Mediterranean, North African, and Western Asian Studies. The book also appeals to professionals and researchers whose interests lie in public-facing scholarship, pedagogy, digital humanities, decolonisation studies, museum studies and popular media.The Open Access version of this book, available at http://www.taylorfrancis.com, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives (CC BY-NC-ND) 4.0 license.
Link to the book:
- Climate Change, the Journalists and “the Engaged”: Reflections from South Africa, Nigeria, and Kenya
Authors: Dominic Ayegba OkolikoMartin Petrus de Wit
Article2025 in Journalism Practicev19 n3 (20250304): 581-608
This paper explores the political dimension of mediated climate change communication and the role of climate journalists in it. While the increasing plurality of actors engaged in mediated ways of sensemaking around climate change is well documented, the role of journalists in facilitating engagement between actors is less clear, especially in Africa. Using an African relational framework (ARF) that emphasises inter-subjectivity and co-creative deliberation, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 11 journalists covering climate change in three African countries to gain insights into the political dimension of climate journalism. Results indicate that several interacting factors, clustered around the journalists’ role orientation, norm application and work environment, influence how climate journalism is practised in these African settings. One of such interactions relates to how the journalists’ “disseminator” role orientation, commitment to “objectivity” and “authority-order” norms, and resource deficits interact to orient the coverage of climate change in the cases towards elites and away from other subjectivities and place-based knowledge. Based on the insights from the relational media framework, the paper argues that climate journalism can benefit from a perspective grounded in the ability of people to “commune with”, rather than “communicate to” others.
Authors: Hongwei Bao (Editor) Daniel H Mutibwa (Editor)
This book explores the media and cultural exchanges between Africa and China in the twenty-first century against the backdrop of the rise of Africa and China in global geopolitics. It situates these cultural encounters in historical and contemporary contexts and through the critical lens of the Global South. It identifies a rising Global South consciousness, despite lingering historical entanglements and emotional ambivalences that continue to characterise Africa-China relations. Bringing together scholars from various disciplines and from different parts of the world, this book examines a wide range of cultural expressions such as arts, literature, translated works, traditional and digital media artefacts and services, and film festivals. It also interrogates emerging cultural interactions, experiences and practices engendered by the increasingly digitalised information and communication technology infrastructure underpinning Africa-China connections and links. In doing so, the book contributes to a more nuanced understanding of Africa-China relations today and the concept of the Global South.” — Publisher’s description.
- Indigenous African Communication and Media Systems in a Digitized Age
Edited by Unwana Samuel Akpan and Eddah Mbula Mutua
Through a meticulous exploration of oral traditions and community-based media practices, Unwana Samuel Akpan, Eddah Mutua, and the contributors of Indigenous African Communication and Media Systems in a Digitized Age explore the intricate interplay between traditional African communication methods and the modern digital terrain to unveil how these age-old systems are continuously evolving in response to globalization and digital advancements. From the rhythmic beats of the talking drum to the vibrant tapestry of oral histories, this book traces how Indigenous African societies have historically disseminated knowledge and preserved cultural identities. It examines the transformative impact of digital technologies on these practices to explore the rise of social media, mobile connectivity, and online storytelling platforms within African contexts. Akpan and Mutua challenge conventional narratives of media development by highlighting the resilience and relevance of African cultural expressions in an increasingly interconnected world. This book is essential reading for Afrocentric scholars and those interested in media studies, cultural anthropology, and the dynamic intersections of tradition and technology.
Link to the Book: https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781666965308/Indigenous-African-Communication-and-Media-Systems-in-a-Digitized-Age