"Even with a backdrop of political instability, Sri Lanka’s overall 2019 MSI score remained at 1.80, the same as it was the last time the study was conducted in 2017. This year, the Freedom of Speech objective just crossed the threshold into the near sustainable category due to continued improveme
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nt in the legal framework after the 2015 election and the fact that no major incidents were committed against the media in 2018. Professional Journalism (Objective 2) was the only objective to decrease this year, which panelists attribute to politicization of news media, self-censorship, and few resources to pay adequate salaries or invest in quality, investigative journalism. This study separately analyzed how the media serves the public in Objective 6, with panelists noting that the media tends to reflect the views of the government, media owners, or the elite, rather than the concerns or needs of the general public." (Page 5)
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"The main subject of this work is the dynamically evolving Polish media system, which is under the influence of institutions and external stakeholders. Thanks to this, it is easier to understand that the "crossroads" is not only a problem of the Polish media system, but a global one. For this reason
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, a comparative perspectiveis employed. Three chapters help to provide an answer to research questions dedicated to political parallelism and journalistic professionalization. The analysis would be limited and unrepresentative if the book enclosed it with one country's border, omitting the broad global, European and Centro-European context." (Publisher description)
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"Presentamos aquí datos básicos de los 13 casos analizados, principalmente desde la perspectiva de sus responsables. La Diaria, fundado en 2006, es un periódico impreso [...] Portal 180 es un portal web informativo que opera con una lógica empresarial basada en la venta de espacios publicitarios
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[...] Sudestada es un portal web que busca focalizarse en «la investigación periodística, el periodismo de datos y las coberturas de contexto» [...] Canal U es una señal de televisión que se emite en sistemas para abonados («cables») nacionales y regionales [...] Giro TV fue un proyecto empresarial que se conformó entre La Diaria y un conjunto de realizadores audiovisuales para presentarse al llamado a televisión digital terrestre comercial en 2013 [...] Mi Canal, un proyecto de la central de trabajadores PIT-CNT, también se presentó y obtuvo una frecuencia en el llamado de televisión digital terrestre de 2013 [...] Parking Films es una productora audiovisual de cine y televisión, proyecto unipersonal reciente (2014) de un realizador con trayectoria previa en otras productoras [...] Coral Films-Efecto Cine es una empresa dedicada a la realización de películas con potencialidad de difusión masiva (Coral) y a la proyección itinerante en pantalla inflable en espacios públicos de filmes propios y de otros realizadores uruguayos (Efecto Cine) [...] Tiranos Temblad difundía semanal o quincenalmente en YouTube acontecimientos uruguayos seleccionados de los videos subidos a esa red por los usuarios [...] El responsable del semanario impreso San José Hoy transitó una experiencia anterior, el periódico cooperativo Hechos de San José, que en sus tres años de existencia en los 80 empataba las cuentas [...] La Asociación de Radios del Interior (RAMI) reúne a 140 emisoras distribuidas en todo el interior del país [...] Las radios comunitarias uruguayas surgieron en la década de los 90 y se mantuvieron en la ilegalidad hasta la aprobación de una ley que inició un proceso de regularización que ha amparado hasta ahora a 165 [...] Televisión Nacional de Uruguay (TNU), el canal estatal fundado en 1965, cubre casi todo el territorio nacional gracias a una red de repetidoras locales." (Página 11-13)
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"Drawing from often overlooked sources of evidence, this report shows that China’s homegrown social media platforms have responded to market incentives by subtly shielding users from certain forms of online censorship and repression. Meanwhile, the party confronts rising costs—both economicall
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y and politically—for stamping out the diffuse forms of dissent that spread across these networks. Has the debate over the role of new communications technology in China’s political system really been decided? China’s $56 billion internet advertising market now dwarfs advertising in print, radio, and broadcast—and investments have frequently followed audiences to platforms where they feel free to express themselves. Chinese state officials are frequently raising concerns about the growing threat to the party’s control posed by social media, including the dangers of “out of control” algorithms. Hiding key indicators from the censors, reviving banned accounts, and creating opportunities for collective action: social media platforms are quietly and subtly testing the political boundaries in response to their audience’s preferences." (Key findings)
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"Spotlight report on the state of public access to information in Canada, Indonesia, Mongolia, Pakistan, Serbia, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Tanzania, Tunisia, and Ukraine prepared for the 2019 cycle of the Voluntary National Reviews and the 2019 UN High Level Political Forum." (Subtitle)
"The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan has great humanitarian responsibilities towards a war-torn region. Deliberately referred to as a regional entrepreneurship hub, over eight million of Jordan’s citizens (86.4%) have access to the internet, and they produce more than half of the digital content avail
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able online in the Arabic language. As Jordanians navigate together through an ongoing humanitarian, economic and political crisis, the mainstream social media platforms to which they are active contributors, such as Twitter and Facebook, with the latter being the top app in the country, are turning into interactive spaces critical for public debate and socio-political transformation. The uses of mainstream social media include coping with the consequences of war, displacement, and the identity negotiations of a young nation. This policy brief identifies gaps and opportunities uncovered by the current programmes offered by organisations aiming at serving groups such as disadvantaged Jordanians and refugees. Overall, the country’s social media landscape reveals underlying societal tensions, collective concerns, and hopes for progress, equity and stability. This policy brief analyses social media impacts on the Jordanian society in 2018-2019." (Overview)
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"The world is flooded with news of how social media is being used to influence democracy in conflict-affected areas, for better or worse. Colombia is not an exception. The era of social media brings opportunities and challenges to a broad range of stakeholders in this country, to harness the power o
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f technological innovation to foster a more open and transparent democracy in the midst of conflict. This policy brief examines the positive and negative influence of social media in three cases: (i) the 2016 plebiscite about the endorsement of a peace agreement with the FARC-EP guerrilla; (ii) the presidential elections of 2018; and (iii) the threats and crimes against social leaders since the peace agreement was signed. Based on the cases analysed, the document draws recommendations for different actors at the local, national and international levels, to both minimise the harm and maximise the good of using social media in Colombian democratic spaces." (Abstract)
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"This policy brief summarises extensive information on digital rights violations and politically motivated information disorders affecting Venezuelans, principally social media users. The brief focuses on the conflict dynamic between an authoritarian government and those fighting for re-democratisat
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ion. Venezuelan government policies and actions amid the process of eroding democracy are revisited. The most pressing issues affecting internet freedom and digital rights are scrutinised. Emphasis is placed on the discussion of the dynamics of the coordinated spread of online propaganda and government-sponsored disinformation. Issues surrounding the deployment of digital ID, biometrics data, and risks of massive surveillance are also identified. The brief concludes with policy recommendations for social media companies, journalists, civil society organisations, and policy shapers involved in democratic transition efforts." (Abstract)
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"This book gives an overview of public service media in South East Europe; referring to the ten countries, which the Media Programme of the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung covers. From Croatia to North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the Republic of Moldova, liberalised media markets have emerged following the c
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ollapse of socialism and its state-controlled media systems. State broadcasters have become public service media. For the first time, essential information about individual public broadcasters is being gathered. Media experts from the respective countries write, among other things, about the history, the legal framework, the financing model and organisational structures in place. The chapters are supplemented with the results of a recent representative opinion poll commissioned by the Media Programme and conducted by the research institute Ipsos. We have asked the same six questions in all ten countries. In the results summarised for the entire region, two answers are very clear: almost 70 percent of respondents say that public service media are important for democracy. Unfortunately, almost 65 percent see these channels under political influence. In South Europe, in particular, this discrepancy becomes visible and audible at demonstrations when people take to the streets against their government. Then usually public service media are focus of protests and have been criticised as mouthpieces of the government." (Preface)
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"Myanmar Media in Transition: Legacies, Challenges and Change is the first volume to overview the country’s contemporary media landscape, providing a critical assessment of the sector during the complex and controversial political transition. Moving beyond the focus on journalism and freedom of th
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e press that characterizes many media-focused volumes, Myanmar Media in Transition also explores developments in fiction, filmmaking, social movement media and social media. Documenting changes from both academic and practitioner perspectives, the twenty-one chapters reinforce the volume’s theoretical arguments by providing on-the-ground, factual and experiential data intended to open useful dialogue between key stakeholders in the media, government and civil society sectors. Providing an overview of media studies in the country, Myanmar Media in Transition addresses current challenges, such as the use of social media in spreading hate speech and the shifting boundaries of free expression, by placing them within Myanmar’s broader historic social, political and economic context." (Publisher description)
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"Indonesia, the state with the largest Muslim population in the world, is in a process of continuous societal transformation. From the perspective of Media and Communication Studies, recent political developments towards an increasingly consolidated democratic system are of great interest. The compa
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rison with Germany may seem unusual and asymmetrical. The countries differ with regard to the religious and cultural practices, and media and social developments are neither intertwined nor similar at first glance. A closer look, however, reveals structural similarities between Germany and Indonesia: dynamics and regressions of political transformation under pressure from radical political movements; hyper-modernization in parts of the economies and social life-worlds of post-modern urbanization; a heritage of genocides and cultural struggles over the multi-ethnic and multi-religious fabrics of society. The book deals with the role media play in the course of these political, economic and cultural transformations. Do they ‘follow’ or ‘lead’ the changes in political systems and societies? What can countries learn from each other if they step outside the usual ethnocentric comparisons and engage in a more intense global dialogue? The book is a groundbreaking endeavour in comparative Media and Communication Studies and brings together well-known researchers from hitherto largely separated academic communities." (Publisher description)
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"The 2019 Europe and Eurasia Media Sustainability Index (MSI) saw another improvement in the combined average score for the 21 countries studied: In 2018, the combined average score was 1.84, and in 2019 this increased to 1.86. In comparison with the previous year’s study, there were modest gains
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at the regional level in Objectives 1 (Freedom of Speech), 2 (Professional Journalism), and 3 (Plurality); the largest increase happened in Objective 5 (Supporting Institutions), which moved from 1.99 in 2018 to 2.04 in 2019. Objective 4 (Business Management) saw a slight decline, reflecting the financial and economic challenges media across Europe and Eurasia continue to experience. At the country level, Armenia moved into the highest ranking position (by overall score) of all countries studied by the MSI with an overall score of 2.60 – powered by, in the words of the chapter’s author, “[a] momentous revolution, dubbed “velvet” by its leader, Nikol Pashinyan, [that] changed the Armenian political landscape, turned the media world upside down, and made 2018 a truly unprecedented year in Armenia’s modern history.” Following Armenia, the top five highest ranked countries included Kosovo (2.53), Albania (2.49), and Montenegro and Romania (tied at 2.45)." (Executive summary, page ix)
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"Kosovo’s overall score for the MSI dropped slightly this year, in comparison to its overall score of 2.56 in the previous year’s study. Despite this decline, Kosovo remains in the “near sustainability” classification. The 2019 chapter for Kosovo shows drops in the scores for the freedom of
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speech, professional journalism, and business management objectives, and moderate increases in plurality of news and supporting institutions. Panelists noted that while Kosovo enjoys good diversity in media, the steady shift away from traditional print media to the online environment has seen ethical standards diminish." (Page 3)
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"The sample of media investigated by MOM includes 52 national outlets: 14 Television channels, 14 radio stations, 10 printed newspapers and 14 news websites. Most of them are owned by a few private companies mostly located in the metropolitan area of Buenos Aires. They concentrate audience shares, i
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ncome from private and state advertising, news production and distribution networks. State-owned media outlets are less and less influential. Each of the four media sectors (TV, radio, printed press and online) in the MOM study shows high levels of ownership and audience concentration. Grupo Clarín is the only conglomerate that has a considerable market power in all areas of the media and telecoms industry. Other less important actors include Grupo América (formerly, Grupo UNO), which has focused on free TV and radio since it sold its cable TV company Supercanal in 2018; and Grupo Indalo, which holds interests in radio, TV and print, although its future is uncertain due to the judicial investigation involving the group’s owners, who were in prison at the time of this study." (http://www.mom-rsf.org/en/countries/argentina)
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