My name is Sophie Mukenge Kabongo. Well, actually in full it is: Katanda Sophie Esperance Mukenge Kabongo.

I was born in Cologne, Germany 25 years ago, did my A-level in Leverkusen, still in Germany, went to Spain to study Spanish in Malaga and then finished a 4 year bachelor degree at the University of Namibia (UNAM) in French Studies and Media Studies. If you are interested you can follow the link and see the UNAM web page (check).I completed an original study on intercultural communication and integration through media in Namibia using 2 popular soap opera as example and teachers as a research population. The study was published in April 2007 in the issue of the NID's (Namibia Institute for Democracy) publication 'Analyses And Views'. It is available online here.

Hate Speech in Germany

The main question discussed in this paper is:

Is Germany's restriction of freedom of speech patronizing the political maturity (Mündigkeit) and the understanding of democracy of German citizens by undermining the right to debate all topics? Or is it justified in the name of democracy?

Main Claim:

Despite the fact that the issue is often framed as entirely new file sharing is not a newly invented practice but it shows how consumers make use of technology to fulfil existing needs and hence influence technology.

1) Problem definition and key questions

File-sharing -  a phenomenon that surfaced in the advent of the internet and digitalization -  and music sharing in particular have become a pertinent issue mainly mentioned in relation to ownership, intellectual property rights and the music industry loosing revenue. Henry Jenkins (2006) extends the discussion and discusses file-sharing as one example or characteristic of new popular culture: convergence culture in which the boundaries between consumers and producers are blurred and content reaches audience via different channels and media systems (Jenkins, 2006, pp.2-3). We are however interested in the consequences of file sharing for the consumer and in particular how it has influenced the relation people have to music.

This is the idea behind the agenda setting theory claiming that the audience attaches importance to issues due to their representation in the media (ibid).

Constistent with Baudrillard (2002), however, I think we would have to modify the sentence and say "Mass media does not only tell us what to think about but they also tell us what we are suppose to consider real."

One aspect, which really made me think was the situation in which he asks a Chechen woman  how she feels and as an answer she points at the bombed building behind her.