Journal of Mass Communication & Journalism

Communication occupies a pivotal role in the total development of every human being. Communication as a basic social process is influenced by the philosophical and societal value system. The objective of this paper is to underscore the importance of Buddhism as a way of thought in the discourse of human communication. Buddhism, which has its origins in ancient India, focuses on the centrality of human effort in the attainment of salvation. That Buddhism has much to contribute to the understanding of the communication phenomenon is evident from the works of Dissanayake and others. This paper is furtherance in that direction. The author shall try to analyze the essence of communication from Buddha’s teachings and thus explore and reinvent Buddhist view of communication in today’s communication perspective through the method of discourse analysis.

Journalism education and training is changing due to the rapidly evolving information communication technologies. These technological developments have transformed the media environment leading to new ways of communication. As a result, there has been concern about the impact of digital technologies and consequently, appropriateness of journalism training in Kenya. The purpose of the study was therefore to establish the perception of digital media training in four selected universities in Kenya. The study was guided by the diffusion of innovation theory which highlights the need for learners to acquire appropriate knowledge for the purposes of employment and career development. The study adopted a survey research design targeting a total population of 223. Mixed research approach with quantitative as well as qualitative techniques was used in the study. The findings show that the study digital media training is essential in giving hands on training to graduates and empowers them with adequate competencies and skills that they can use in the market such as in the process of collecting, processing and packaging news in the right way. The findings also revealed that journalism programs are too conceptual and spend little time on practical journalistic skills such as online reporting, computer applications, digital editing among other courses. Time spent on theory classes especially in teaching practical oriented courses is not useful for the daily lives of journalists. It is recommended that universities should review journalism training and integrate their curricula with digital media courses required by the market. Furthermore, the study recommends that journalism departments need to identify and provide resources that enhance the quality of digital media training.

The main objective of this study was to assess audiences’ perceptions towards informative programs broadcasted from Jimma Fana FM 98.1 radio station in Jimma, Ethiopia. Cross-sectional research design was used in the study as a research design. Primary data were collected from 218 respondents using questionnaire and focus group discussions. The collected data were analyzed using quantitative and qualitative methods of data analysis. The finding of the study revealed that audiences had very good perceptions towards informative programs broadcasted from Jimma Fana FM 98.1. Finally, conclusions and recommendations were given on the basis of the above finding.