"This books draws a comparative balance of twenty years' international media assistance in the five countries of the Western Balkans. The central question was what happens to imported models when they are transposed onto the newly evolving media systems of transitional societies. Albania, Bosnia-Her ... zegovina, Kosovo, Macedonia and Serbia undertook a range of media reforms to conform with accession requirements of the European Union and the standards of the Council of Europe, among others. The essays explore the nexus between the democratic transformation of the media and international media assistance. The cross-national analysis concludes that the effects of international assistance are highly constrained by the local context. From today's vantage point it becomes obvious, that scaling media assistance does not necessarily improve outcomes. The experiences in the region suggest that imported solutions have not been very cognitive in all aspects of local conditions but international strategies tend to be rather schematic and lacked strategic approaches to promote media policy stability, credible media reform and implementation. The book offers valuable insights into the nature and effects of media assistance and the strategies deployed by international aid agencies, local political forces, media professionals, civil society organizations and other actors." (Publisher description) more

"This article explores the nexus between the democratic transformation of the media and international media assistance (IMA) as constrained by the local political conditions in the five countries of the Western Balkans. It aims to enhance the understanding of conditions and factors that influence me ... dia institution building in the region and evaluates the role of international assistance programs and conditionality mechanisms herein. The cross-national analysis concludes that the effects of IMA are highly constrained by the local context. A decade of IMA of varying intensity is not sufficient to construct media institutions when, in order to function properly, they have to outperform their local context. From today’s vantage point it becomes obvious, that in the short-term scaling-up IMA does not necessarily improve outcomes. The experiences in the region suggest that imported solutions have not been sufficiently cognitive of all aspects of local conditions and international strategies have tended to be rather schematic and have lacked strategic approaches to promote media policy stability, credible media reform and implementation." (Abstract) more

"This study carries out an independent assessment of the Audiovisual Media Authority (AMA) of Albania. The scope of the study is to apply the INDIREG methodology to the AMA and provide contextual interpretation of the results with policy recommendations. The INDIREG methodology offers a scientifical ... ly backed methodology to appraise the formal and de facto independence of supervisory authorities in the audiovisual media sector on five different dimensions: (1) Status and powers, (2) Financial autonomy, (3) Autonomy of decision-makers, (4) Knowledge and transparency and (5) accountability." (Executive summary) more

"This report focuses on online risks for children and policies to protect them as Internet users. It examines direct and indirect policy measures available to OECD member and non-member countries to help mitigate risks for children online in order to: • Present and compare existing and planned pol ... icy approaches for the protection of children online; • Explore how international co-operation can enhance the protection of minors on the Internet. Three broad categories of online risks for children are considered in this report: i) content and contact risks, including exposure to pornography, cybergrooming and cyberbullying; ii) consumer risks related, for example, to online marketing and fraudulent transactions; and iii) privacy and security risks, including the use of social networks without sufficient understanding of potential long-term consequences." (Executive summary, page 4) more