Article
Making Meaning of Media Development Today
International Journal of Communication
(2019)
Abstract
This article aims to fill a gap in the academic literature on how employees at a media
development intermediary construct meaning of their work. Based on in-depth interviews
with 18 employees of Internews, this research shows that employees believe the
organization has “evolved” from the past to include the entire “information ecosystem”
today. Themes that emerged include a focus on information as a solution, an emphasis on
local communities, the desire to give voice to marginalized communities, and a practice
of listening. Interviewees strictly adhered to official narratives of their work and to
contemporary development orthodoxy, perhaps because of group think and participant
bias. Despite these narratives, we have to consider the ulterior motives of media
development as a neocolonial project. Although some of the results may seem obvious,
there is merit in documenting these findings to demystify media development work today.
Keywords
- information ecosystems,
- international development professionals,
- Internews,
- interviews,
- media development
Disciplines
Publication Date
2019
Publisher Statement
This article was originally published in the International Journal of Communication, 2019, Volume 13.
Citation Information
Margaretha Geertsema-Sligh. "Making Meaning of Media Development Today" International Journal of Communication Vol. 13 (2019) p. 2437 - 2456 ISSN: 1932-8036 Available at: http://works.bepress.com/margaretha_geertsema/30/
Creative Commons license
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons CC_BY-NC-ND International License.