The Drum Beat 580 - Blogging on Development Policy

This issue of The Drum Beat shares with you entries from a blogging contest, which closed on March 15 2011, focused on topics related to the role of media in democratic development. The Communication Initiative (The CI) and one of The CI's Partners, the BBC World Service Trust (WST), invited CI Network members from around the world to send their persuasive critiques and opinion pieces on the relationship between media, communications, and international development policy to the collaborative blog at Communication, Media, and Development Policy. For more information on the contest, please click here.

Awards at stake:

• The top 10 outstanding bloggers from the network will receive a stipend of 240 UK pounds each to support their writing of 3 additional blog posts.
• The top 2 controversial bloggers from the network (and these may or may not be the same bloggers as are within the Top 10, above) will receive a stipend of 50 UK pounds to acknowledge their skill in inspiring dialogue.

Below please find links to all of the entries that were received as part of the contest. These are the voices of people often at the sharp edge of development practice. What follows are opinions on a wide range of issues - from the place of social media in political crisis...and...the role of the media in preventing humanitarian organisations from exacerbating natural disasters...to...female immobility/invisibility.

We encourage you to read and comment on these blogs, as the judging process is now underway.

CONTRIBUTING BLOGGERS

1. wgibbings

• Independence, Diversity and Self-Confidence

2. tyokunbo

• Bullets and The Media
• A FLAME THAT BURNS VERY FAST

3. Simply Suparnaa

• Crossing Borders-Policy or Politics
• 15second Byte
• Talkin about a revolution
• A Socially Apt Democracy 

4. Shweta

• Being Effective in using Internet Forums for Dialogue
• Saving Sakineh from Iran!

5. pkalas

• Blossoming Seeds of Change in Tunisia - The tale of an ICT-enhanced transformation with real potential for regional flourishing

6. peterdoerrie

• A Basic Income for Everybody - The Forgotten Development Idea
• Towards a New Immigration Policy

Please read and comment on these blog posts! Click on any/all of the links below/above and submit a comment at the bottom of the blog post. The bloggers appreciate your engagement!

CONTRIBUTING BLOGGERS (cont.)

7. Mikele14

• The Humanitarian Equilibrium

8. Makori

• Media stagger as governments snooze on food safety policy 

9. Madeeha

• A Car of One's Own: Female Mobility in Pakistan
• Spinning the Story for Development
• The Development of Demand

10. Laura Madden

• What Does Jammu & Kashmir Need?

11. Kris

• Locating invisible women in new media in global mass media gender assessments
• With BBC gone, who goin' take over town?

12. kmunthali

• The collapse of fortified walls: The power of social media

Comments on blog posts can be read at the bottom of each post; "vote" for your favourites by contributing comments.

CONTRIBUTING BLOGGERS (cont.)

13. jasonbrown.jicc

• How BBC helps dampen controversy

14. Isomlai

• Synchronicity of rhythms
• Development Project Security Feebleness

15. Erina

• Obstacles to Media's Role in Democratic Development
• Role of the Media in Promoting State Stability

16. dpeck

• Techno-Tentative

17. CharlesMafa

• Statutory media regulation not the answer to State-Media conflict
• New Media, a new found "friend" for the youth

Build Your Own Social Networking Space

Looking to network within your organisation? Needing to link together colleagues from different organisations under one project? Contract The CI to build you a branded social networking space using core CI functionality. You can see a customised example here (you will have to join and log in to see all functionality). For more information, contact wfeek@comminit.com

CONTRIBUTING BLOGGERS (cont.)

18. Bhumika Ghimire

• How Nepal's political chaos affects its development efforts
• Nepal's media needs to move on from breaking news
• Nepali Media and West-Inspired Development Policy
• Is development really a priority in Nepal?
• Why limited government in Nepal makes sense
• Doing Egypt in Saudi Arabia?
• China says no to "Jasmine Revolution", what next for the media?
• Examining the media

19. Bella Mody

• What are the development education implications of news?

20. bekalu

• Where do the mass media have stronger effects?

21. ambika samarthya

• The African Al Jazeera
• Bad TV

The Editor of The Drum Beat is Kier Olsen DeVries.

Please send additional project, evaluation, strategic thinking, and materials information on communication for development at any time. Send to drumbeat@comminit.com

The Drum Beat seeks to cover the full range of communication for development activities. Inclusion of an item does not imply endorsement or support by The Partners.

To reproduce any portion of The Drum Beat, click here for our policy.

To subscribe, click here.