Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at the City University of New York

Abstract The COVID-19 pandemic revealed deep fissures in India’s socio-economic landscape, exposing the precarity of internal migrant workers. Assam, particularly its eastern districts, became a compelling site of observation when tens of thousands of labourers were compelled to return home after the national lockdown in March 2020. This paper critically engages with those migratory experiences through The Migration Tale Animation Project, a participatory storytelling intervention co-created with Brahmaputra Foundation for Social Research and Livelihood Practices,Dibrugarh commissioned by IATSS Forum, Japan. The project transformed oral testimonies of select migrant labourers from tea garden, riverine, and tribal communities into animated stories that circulated through digital platforms and village screenings. Drawing on Paulo Freire’s Pedagogy of the Oppressed, Stuart Hall’s encoding/decoding model, Arjun Appadurai’s notion of mediascapes, and Everett Rogers’s diffusion of innovations, this paper argues that participatory animation operates as a dialogical form of communication for social change. By situating animation as a vernacular pedagogy of resilience, the study not only documents the socio-cultural aftermath of migration but also demonstrates how aesthetic participation can reclaim narrative sovereignty, foster empathy, and co-produce future strategies for community resilience in post-pandemic Assam. Keywords: internal migration, Assam, participatory animation, storytelling, communication for social change, community media.

The minimum wage is a payment that paid to a person with the expectation that it will cover their basic needs, such as food, drink, housing, health, culture, and socialization, at a minimum level for a month. In developing countries, the proportion of workers earning the minimum wage has been higher compared to developed countries. More importantly, the disadvantages arising from being on a minimum wage can disproportionately affect women and men. The focus of this study is to investigate this unequal distribution, with a focus on women. To this end, the economic difficulties women experience within the household, in families where the sole earner is on a minimum wage, and thus where the only income is the minimum wage, have been examined. A semi-structured survey was applied to housewives in 100 families with these characteristics, and in-depth interviews were conducted with 30 of them. As a result of the study, in line with our hypothesis, it was found that in families where the sole earner receives the minimum wage, and thus the only income is the minimum wage, women are more negatively affected than men due to the low living standards associated with the minimum wage.

Amidst the escalating energy demand, the development of nonfossil, biorenewable, and sustainable resources becomes particularly pressing and crucial. In this research, a biomass polyurethane acrylate (JPUA) derived from jatropha oil (JO) was successfully synthesized and a JPUAx composite coating was successfully fabricated by doping monolayer graphene (LG) nanoparticles. After rapid UV curing, JPUAx has twice the mechanical properties of JPUA coatings, with tensile strengths of up to 15.8 MPa, a significant advantage over other coatings of this type, as well as excellent corrosion resistance. The coating was immersed in strong acid, alkali, and high-salt solutions for 30 days with negligible changes in quality or surface morphology. Based on the outstanding corrosion resistance of JPUAx, a composite fluorescent coating of JPUAx with biobased properties was prepared by loading fluorescent powders of different colors, and a dual anti-counterfeiting system was constructed by combining the coating and Morse code. Fluorescent stickers have also been developed to facilitate long-term encryption in daily life. Overall, this work not only expands the synthesis strategy of biomass polymers derived from nonfossil resources but also provides an additional way for multifunctional composite fluorescent coatings in anti-counterfeiting and information encryption applications.

The art of Veena making in Simpadipura represents a well-established craft that embodies India's rich musical and cultural heritage. The documentary The Melody Makers of Simpadipura has been widely used in comparative analyses exploring the village’s significance to the world of classical music, as it is home to some of the finest traditional Indian string instruments—the Veenas. This research paper, based on qualitative analysis of the aforementioned cultural documentary, delves into the intricate process of Veena crafting, the various types of Veena, and their importance within the framework of Carnatic classical music. The study highlights the craftsmanship of Simpadipura's artisans and their unwavering dedication to preserving this ancient tradition amid contemporary challenges. Through in-depth documentary analysis, the research emphasises the artisans’ efforts to maintain both their craft and the cultural identity of Karnataka. The findings reveal that their work is not merely about instrument-making, but also about safeguarding a legacy deeply embedded in India’s artistic and spiritual traditions. Using thematic analysis, the study uncovers the artisans’ perspectives on tradition, innovation, and survival in a rapidly transforming world. While Veena making remains a revered art, the study suggests that socio-economic constraints and shifting musical trends pose significant threats to its continuity. Nevertheless, the commitment of these craftsmen stands as a testament to the enduring power of cultural heritage. The research concludes by advocating for conservation efforts to ensure the sustainability of this tradition for future generations.

This chapter examines the complex dynamics of covert action and proxy wars in Afghanistan following the Taliban’s return to power in 2021. Drawing on a combination of historical analysis from the author’s previous works and recent interviews conducted in the region, it explores the evolving role of intelligence agencies, particularly the Taliban’s General Directorate of Intelligence (GDI), and their interactions with those of regional powers like Pakistan’s Inter-Service Intelligence (ISI) and Iran’s intelligence services, as well as the persistent influences of the United States, Russia and China. The principal argument is that the Taliban’s security policies and intelligence operations, influenced by past practices and external pressures, could further destabilize Afghanistan and embroil the region in deeper conflicts.

Short videos on social media are the dominant way young people consume content. News outlets aim to reach audiences through news reels—short videos conveying news—but struggle to translate traditional journalistic formats into short, entertaining videos. To translate news into social media reels, we support journalists in reframing the narrative. In literature, narrative framing is a high-level structure that shapes the overall presentation of a story. We identified three narrative framings for reels that adapt social media norms but preserve news value, each with a different balance of information and entertainment. We introduce ReelFramer, a human-AI co-creative system that helps journalists translate print articles into scripts and storyboards. ReelFramer supports exploring multiple narrative framings to find one appropriate to the story. AI suggests foundational narrative details, including characters, plot, setting, and key information. ReelFramer also supports visual framing; AI suggests character and visual detail designs before generating a full storyboard. Our studies show that narrative framing introduces the necessary diversity to translate various articles into reels, and establishing foundational details helps generate scripts that are more relevant and coherent. We also discuss the benefits of using narrative framing and foundational details in content retargeting.

This study focuses on the framing theory as a lens to analyze the coverage and frames of political parties by two prominent news channels, Dunya News and Geo News. A comprehensive content analysis spanning over three months was conducted to assess the frequency, story types, frames, and tone of news coverage related to political leaders from 1st Sep 2023 to 20th Dec 2023 through purposive sampling. For this purpose, five themes, party manifesto, and plans, leader’s character, past performance of the party, voting worth, bias, and victimization were designed to explore the study’s objectives. The findings indicate a notable disparity in the salience given to political parties, with both news channels showing a higher emphasis on PMLN compared to PTI and PPP. Furthermore, the results reveal that Nawaz Sharif, received more favorable coverage from both news channels, followed by Imran Khan. Bilawal Bhutto Zardari receives comparable coverage to Imran Khan on Dunya News but notably less on Geo News. Additionally, the majority of the stance from these news channels leans in favor of PMLN leader Nawaz Sharif, while PTI leader Imran Khan tends to receive a more negative stance across both channels. A frames-wise analysis uncovers that Dunya News provides a more diverse range of perspectives when portraying political leaders, encompassing frames such as party manifesto, party previous performance, and voting worth, in contrast to Geo News, which maintains a more consistent distribution of emphasis across different frames. Findings also revealed that Nawaz Sharif’s frames prominently centered on the manifesto category. On the other hand, Imran Khan received coverage under the attributes of leaders’ character while party performance was a common attribute covered related to politicians.

Purpose: Companies are today struggling for survival in a very competitive business environment. It has become very important for them to identify the factors that influence customers’ loyalty to various products and how these factors are connected to the choices consumers make, hence their loyalty to the products they chose. This study examines how often consumers use various Les Brasseries du Cameroun products and test to what extent consumer loyalty depends on consumers’ satisfaction with branding and quality of the company’s products.
 Methodology: Using survey method, a total of 390 questionnaires were administered to consumers of Les Brasseries du Cameroun products who were resident in the Buea municipality. 380 questionnaires were properly filled and returned.
 Findings: The findings reveal that a majority of the respondents had never consumed any of the alcoholic beverages (33 Export, Mützig, Castel and Beaufort) produced by Les Brasseries du Cameroun as compared to non-alcoholic beverages (Djino, Top Grenadine, Top Orange, Top Pamplemousses, Top Anana and Malta Tonic). The data also suggest that the higher the rate of satisfaction amongst consumers with branding and the quality of Les Brasseries du Cameroun products, the more they agree that branding and product quality influenced their loyalty and vice-versa. The level of significance of these findings was further confirmed using linear regression in which the significance value of 0.000<0.05 was recorded in each of the cases. Therefore, both satisfaction with branding and quality of Les Brasseries du Cameroun products significantly influence customers’ loyalty to the company’s products.
 Unique Contribution to Theory, Practice and Policy: The findings validate the cognitive dissonance theory in the sense that, a consumer who is unsatisfied with any aspect of a product like quality, may look for other reasons, like his or her satisfaction with product branding to reduce any inconsistency within to remain loyal.

Emerging information technologies, including ChatGPT, require proper stewardship. An intergovernmental panel to synthesize the evidence offers the best path forward. Emerging information technologies, including ChatGPT, require proper stewardship. An intergovernmental panel to synthesize the evidence offers the best path forward.


 This paper explores the media representation of the Nepali Army in its efforts of rescue and relief operations at home and abroad. In recent decades, the Nepali Army personnel have been directly involved in multiple public–welfare affairs along with their primary responsibilities of national security and territorial protection. Media representation of the Nepal Army has been examined from the perspective of Stuart Hall's classification of representation of meaning through language works. To unfold the media representation of the Nepali Army in its significant roles and core principles, I have taken a sample of the Nepali mass media content from the coverage of the Sankatmochan rescue and relief operations launched by the Nepal Army in two major national dailies, Kantipur and Nagarik in the aftermath of the 2015 Gorkha earthquake, for a period of a fortnight. The Nepali Army’s effective manoeuvre of the earthquake relief embodies the institution’s relevance in serving the cause of humanity along its core tasks of maintaining security, peace and order at home and abroad. In this paper, the coverage of different activities run by the Nepal Army is characterized as either reflective, intentional or constructionist. Moreover, the content concerning such rescue and relief operations has been contributing to shaping the image of the institution.