Madagascar has been suffering from an unresolved political crisis since 2009 which has resulted in declining economic and human rights indicators and a widening communications gap between the Malagasy population and its leaders. With no mechanisms to ask for information, or hold their leaders to account, the population remains marginalised and disenfranchised from the democratic process with negative impacts on local governance. In the rural south in particular, where almost three quarters of the population are not literate, poorly educated and isolated, radio is the only source of...

A research summary report of the African Media Development Initiative (AMDI)14, indicates that literacy rates for urban areas of Tanzania average 35.4% and that the country has some of the lowest rates of access to Television and Newspaper based media across sub-Saharan Africa, with only 34% watching TV and 31% reading a newspaper at least once a week. The AMDI report also highlights low levels of professional, ethical, management and technical standards among media practitioners, which is attributed to: insufficient or poor-quality training institutions; rapid expansion of media outlets (...

The media are essential to implementing the public information laws, enabling citizens to have a better knowledge of the current legislation, but they are also a tool for the exercise of journalistic activity in its role as watchdog of state institutions. Although Uruguay has an acceptable level of media development –considering its number of commercial, community and state radio stations and the number of existing newspapers- the same cannot be said about the diversity and plurality of the country’s media system as a whole. Among audiovisual media, private supply is thoroughly predominant...

In this age of information, the processes of production, circulation and consumption of information, are leaving the unidirectional broadcasting logic and are radically transformed by the development of a decentralized network. In this context of disintermediation, it is essential to understand and adapt to the possibilities that new technologies bring to not continue reproducing obsolete communication models. It is a priority, then, to highlight the most favorable aspects of the adoption of ICTs and encourage uses that contribute to strengthening the fulfillment of human rights, such as...