Public Dialogue

Social media platforms are increasingly substituting the conventional traditional media around the world due to increasing accessibility of the internet through affordable mobile devices. In recent years, the Social Network Sites (SNS) have reported tremendous growth of subscribers. In the limited resource settings, publications on youth engagement on public, political and community activities are rare.
 
Methods: In total 655/720 (91%) respondents from two universities (students from Muhimibli University of Health and Allied Sciences in Dar es Salaam region,  Mzumbe University in Morogoro Region), and Out-of-School Youth in Kinondoni Municipality Dar es Salaam Region, responded to the electronic-based questionnaires that was distributed. The data coded to the Excel sheet, was transferred to Statistical Package for Social Scientist (SPSS) for analysis. 

Results: Overall, those aged 18 – 24 years were more likely to use the social media more often and for a longer time compared to 25 – 34 years; mostly through Whatsapp (93%). Only 45% was observed of youth engagement in public, political, and community activities discussions.

Conclusions: Despite reported high use of SNS by youth at the three institutions, there is less substantial engagement in public matters regarding development, politics and governance in the society. Government, Youth, and Civic Society stakeholder should tap on the SNS expansion and social capital in addressing issues of public concern, as part of citizenry responsibilities.


Keywords: Youth, engagement, Social Media, Civic, Political, Governance, Public dialogue

Discussion about journalistic objectivity is conducted from different angles and dialog is complicated because opponents may talk about different levels of journalists' or editorial activities simultaneously. The principle of objectivity in journalism however is very important for evaluating the quality of journalistic work. We analyze in this article editorial, creative and cognitive aspects of objectivity and expose the bias influencing the journalistic work when journalists are not pressed by censorship.

The primary goal of the article is to understand the political and socio-economic incentives for government agencies to adopt various collaborative strategies in promoting current public sector reforms in Kazakhstan. In particular, paying special attention to the recent diffusion of various official blog platforms, public discussion, and civic tracking systems, it aims to identify typical drivers and barriers that policymakers and other interested stakeholders face today in advancing technology-driven government. The key findings of the research suggest that the development of official e-collaborative platforms provides new promising opportunities to promote mutually beneficial cooperation between government and citizens, and to boost public sector innovations. However, the further sustainable development of the movement, not only as a technological tool of public sector reforms, but also more as a new philosophy of governance, would require the further harmonization of regulation policies at all institutional levels, the transformation of the traditional public mindset, and, most importantly, the promotion of more genuine grass-root trends in government. In this regard, the results of the research could conceptually be used to test further the limits of the modern theory of network governance in an unusual institutional context of digital centralization.

Esta investigación presenta una observación a los perfiles públicos de Facebook de los tres candidatos más importantes al gobierno de Jalisco en las elecciones de 2018. El objetivo fue analizar la forma en la que los candidatos se comunicaron con los usuarios de Facebook, y, en particular, cómo es que promovieron, o no, diálogos públicos durante las campañas electorales. A partir de un análisis de texto cualitativo a las publicaciones de los candidatos, se encontró que: a) no existieron las condiciones estructurales y coyunturales para que todos los electores jaliscienses pudieran participar en los diálogos entre las élites políticas y ciudadanos; b) que las campañas políticas no presentaron estrategias públicas y explícitas que incentivaran dichos diálogos, y que c) aun así, existieron interacciones entre políticos y usuarios de Internet, concentradas en conversaciones ligeras y no en intercambios sustanciales sobre la vida pública del Estado. Se concluye que las tres campañas utilizaron Facebook para establecer una “interacción controlada”, una lejana de las promesas que los apologetas de la web 2.0 hicieron a las democracias contemporáneas.

This article analyses the public debate regarding a proposed highway through the city of Guadalajara. This public work, which in the end was not carried out, was controversial and prompted heated debates between political and social actors. The research on which this paper is based scrutinised the coverage of the case in four local newspapers to evaluate the quality of public dialogue about the public work.