Last Moyo

Tuesday, 20 October 2015

Last Moyo -A Senior Lecturer in Media Studies

Last Moyo is a Senior Lecturer in Media Studies. His research interests include new ICTs and participatory democracies in Africa; media political economies; comparative media systems; development communication; and media, peace journalism. Moyo has been in higher education as Lecturer and Researcher since 2001.

Last Moyo presents the Print and Electronic Media in Zimbawe. The Zimbabwe Media Commission (ZMC), authorised in February 2009 as part of the constitutional amendment that formed the government of national unity, oversees media registration and the authorization of foreign media players. The commission carries out this mandate in consultation with sector stakeholders to restore freedom of the press in Zimbabwe.

In May 2010, the ZMC called on all journalists and media houses to register. This subsequently saw the registration of 3 daily newspapers; NewsDay, The Daily News and The Daily Mail. All three are independent newspapers and join The Herald and the Chronicle for a total of 5 daily newspapers in publication. In April 2011, more publications were registered bringing the total number of applications registered by the ZMC since its formation to 22.

The Broadcasting Authority of Zimbabwe (BAZ), established by the Broadcasting Services Act (BSA) in 2001, licenses broadcasting media houses in Zimbabwe. Currently, the state owned broadcaster, Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC), enjoys a monopoly of the airwaves for both radio and television.

Some attempts have been made by independent broadcasters to register to no avail. Once such example is Community Radio Harare (CORAH) which, after being denied a license to broadcast has filed an application with the High Court seeking a relief to have its broadcasting license application considered by BAZ.

Community Radio Harare files a High Court application as it battles for a broadcasting license. MISA-Zimbabwe (Kubatana blog, 8 April 2011)http://www.kubatana.net/html/archive/media/110408misaz.asp?sector=MEDIA

Saturday, 26 September 2015

Background Details of Last Moyo, Carniege Funded Project Media Studies

South Africa has the biggest number of Internet users in the SADC region which are estimated at 4.6 million.

1. Most people in the country gain access to new ICTs mainly through shared public access points such as cyber cafes, public libraries, and telecentres (Thlabela & Roodt, 2006; Jensen, 2004, Mutula, 2003). Because of a pervasive digital divide due to widespread poverty and a limited telecommunications infrastructure, access to the Internet at home is still very low and limited mainly to the rich. Therefore, public access to the Internet in South Africa is the epicenter of ICTs policies to bridge the digital divide and ensure universal access. Universal access is seen as key to participatory democracy and development for all its 45 million citizens.

2. To achieve this, the country has a well co-ordinated policy of universal access that seeks to create an enabling environment that pools efforts by all state and non-state telecoms players (Voslo, 2005; Thlabela & Roodt; 2006). Through the UniversaL Service and Access Agency of South Africa (USAASA), the government organizes and co-ordinates all national connectivity initiatives that seek to bridge all forms of the digital divide. For example, in 2006 the government and other agencies built a total of 689 cyber cafes in all the 9 provinces of the country so as to enhance shared community access to the Internet.

3.Established telecommunications operators such as Telkom, MTN, Vodacom, Cell C and others also contribute to the Universal Access Fund which is used to generate capital to boost public access levels. Through cyber Cafes, mostly owned by private individuals, municipalities, public agencies, NGOs, and churches, people can access a range of telecommunications services such as the Internet, telephony, faxing, photocopying, and printing services. While government policy may be paying dividends in terms of the roll out of ICTs to communities to ensure physical access, it is not very clear how the political economy of the cybercafé industry is actually influencing access and use patterns. Consistent access and use depends largely on whether people can afford cyber café charges and on whether cyber café facilities are available and easily accessible in their communities. Again, democracy and development in the country depend largely on what communication and informational resources citizens have access to and most importantly, how they can use them to empower themselves. In addition to the questions of affordability, availability, and accessibility of cyber café services, the research will also study the political economy of local languages and local content and its potential impact on access. The provision of local content on the Internet has been one of the biggest challenges in South Africa. While the South African government has also openly acknowledged the importance of local content online, Unwin (2004, 65), notes that generally in Africa there is ‘very little multimedia content being developed by and for African people, let alone in African languages.’ This research believes that this has a negative impact on the potential impact of public access, especially with regards to the participation of ordinary people. As such, it will also seek to investigate how local content affects people’s access, uses, and the overall impact of cyber cafes in South Africa.

Local content refers to ‘the locally owned and adapted knowledge of a community- where the community is defined by its location, language, culture, religion, or other shared interests’ (Ballantyne, 2002; also see Khan 2009; Kariithi, 2003, UNDP Report 1999). In simple terms, local content on the Internet refers to the locally-generated media texts such as news, data, information, video, films, music, e-books, blogs, websites, data bases, etc, that people can access and use in cyber cafes. As Vosloo (2005, 24) explains, the key to local content is that it must be content ‘coming from the local people [and] created by the local community, or taken from external sources and then adapted by the community to meet its needs.’ It does not have to be necessarily in the community’s language, although local and indigenous languages are clearly important.

[1] Statistics are based on the latest figures from the Internet World Statistics, a website that basis its figures from the ITU and NielsenNet ratings. For more about the Internet in South Africa visit the websites of Africa Information Society Initiative (AISI), Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) at http://www.uneca.org/aisi and http://www.unaca.rg/aisi respectively.

[2] South Africa signed the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) in 2000 pledging to eradicate poverty and improve human dignity of its citizens. However, millions of South Africans remain poor and economically marginalized. New ICTs are seen as an opportunity to promote sustainable development through creating platforms for e-heahth, e-education, e-government, etc.

[3] See theDapartment of Communicathons Annual Report(2006)https://www.pinterest.com/lastmoyo/

[4] Local content as used here also refers to any Internet content that is produced under the creative control of South Africans and other African countries. Kariithi (2003:162) adds that apart from the participation of nationals in its production, “local content must be primarily understood by its qualitative relevance, material benefit, and long term contribution to preservation of local cultures and world views.’

Thursday, 11 June 2015

Structure Of The Proposal And Expectations Last Moyo, PhD

Structure	Expectations
1.Statement of Intention	This is sometimes referred to as the Aim of the research project. Here you need to give a synopsis of the aim of your research in terms of what you are researching and where, and to a lesser extent how and why. Word economy is very important at this stage as you are really trying to summarize what your study is setting out to do before you give a detailed discussion of the problem in the Statement of the problem. Some supervisors may require you to explain your Aim in just a sentence or two while others may need a short and focused paragraph.
2.Research Problem	This section is primarily a statement of the research problem. It must be clear and exhaustive. The problem must be discussed at the following levels: a) Descriptive level: Say in simple terms what the research problem is. Avoid use of jargon at this stage. If this is inevitable, explain clearly what the specialized terms mean. b) Contextual level: Give a sense of context by describing the magnitude or intensity of the problem. Statistics and clear examples drawn from the context of your research can be very useful here: Examples 1. Research on media ownership in South Africa · The media in South Africa are owned and controlled by 4 major companies which are Naspers, Independent, Avusa, and Caxton. This demonstrates a development towards the concentration of ownership which can be potentially undemocratic. This research seeks to investigate the extent to which concentrated ownership has a negative influence on news diversity and the participation of ordinary people as news sources and news makers. 2.Research on representation of women · The representation of women in advertisements on both television and magazines in South Africa is generally seen as negative (See A, B, C, and D). NB: Highlighting related research in your area of study helps to reinforce your research problem. Note that at this stage you are not doing an exhaustive review of literature, but just spot lighting key studies closely related to what you are investigating. Unpublished dissertations and theses are usually very useful in creating the context of the problem. c) Analytical level: Discussion of the problem at the two above levels is useless unless you are able to discuss theoretical tensions observed in the problem that you are studying. You must also be able to discuss your research problem at conceptual and normative levels. NB: A, B and C must be done concurrently and this is a skill that you can develop through practice and analysis of presentational aspects of other dissertations.
3.Research Questions	Research questions must summarise your research problem. They must be SMART meaning that they have to be Specific, Achievable, and Realistic given the time frame of your research. Here you must use the funnelling approach where you have to distil your ideas until your questions are very clear and researchable.
4.Rationale	Here you must justify your research project at the following levels: a) Academic significance of your study: You can do this by showing what knowledge gaps you are trying to fill. To achieve this, you can review published and unpublished literature(dissertations and theses) and situate your own concerns. Ask yourself the question: What does my study seek to contribute to my field or area of study? b) Potential theoretical and policy interventions of your research: Does your study seek to contribute to an already existing theory? Are you breaking new ground and proposing alternative media policy trajectories? c) Justify selection and exclusion You also have to justify why you are studying selected news organizations, media texts and genres, and the period under which they will be studied.
5. Literature Review	You have to critically review available literature (books, journals and unpublished theses and dissertations). A literature review must not be a passive, dull reading but should always be analytical and discursive.
6. Theoretical and Conceptual Framework	Discuss the key theory or theories that underpin your work. Theories make the conceptual lens of your study. It is always good to use the ‘best’ theory which can generate rigorous, sound, critical, and analytical judgment over phenomena. Avoid using many theories at this stage as this can create an impression of theoretical dumping or clustering, especially if you fail to draw connections between theories and demonstrate their relevance to you research problem. Another disadvantage of using multiple theoretical frameworks is that it can pre-empty and weaken your analysis in your presentation and discussion of your findings. Remember the whole idea of academic research is to contribute to a body of theory or theories by way of a critical analysis that generates sound academic interventions. Using many theories denies you a specific theoretical standpoint and can also affect the identity of your thesis or dissertation. Contributing to theory or questioning theory assumes that your critique must show, through its efficacy in analysis, the strengths and weaknesses of the theory you are using. Clustering theories (especially if they belong to different traditions such as cultural studies, critical political economy (CPE), or critical theory) can affect how your study will contribute to knowledge. For example, if you use cultural studies mid- range theories, you can review the strengths of your analysis by ‘looking’ at your critique from other theoretical perspectives such as CPE.
7. Methodology	Discuss your research design and the data gathering techniques you are using. Remember you have to justify the methods that you choose to use. The discussion of the methods should not be abstract, but should be done in relation to your research problem. Ask yourself the question: To what extent does this method best address my research questions in terms of its efficacy as a data gathering tool?
8. Chapter Outline	List the chapters of your research and sections and subsections. See example below: Chapter 1: Introduction 1.0 Introduction 1.1 The Research Problem 1.1.1 Research Questions 1.1.2 Significance of Study 1.2.1 Justification of Selected News Media and Civic Organizations 1.2.2 Justification of the Period of Study 1.3 The Origins and Development of the Internet as a Medium 1.3.1 Understanding the Internet: convergence, digitization and interactivity
9. References	List all the key authors and books that you are using for your research. It may always help to Conduct a research on who are the key authors in the field that you are researching. To do this you can look at the references of the relevant journal articles, dissertations, and books that you already have access to.

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