This report addresses the state of the media in Syria; the laws that regulate and restrict the media, and the attacks on the media and journalists. The report also provides a Media Map, a list of print and online publications, radio and TV stations in Syria. According to the conclusion, "the interna
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tional community and media development organizations should provide funding and training courses for media establishments in Syria that are committed to professional and objective reporting and that promote diversity and tolerance in the country."
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"Digitization has had profound effects in Brazil. In journalism, information flows faster than ever, and from a greater number of sources; journalists have to adapt to an environment that demands immediate coverage of events, sometimes privileging speed over content. The internet has become the seco
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nd main source of news, and the number of people reading newspapers online has nearly tripled over four years. Brazilians are heavy users of social media and user-generated content platforms, with Facebook and YouTube being the second and fourth most accessed URLs in September 2013. Access to mobile telecommunications is widespread, and there are more SIM cards circulating in Brazil than there are Brazilians. However, serious gaps in internet regulation topics such as net neutrality, ISP liability, privacy, and user rights still have not been addressed by legislation. In an attempt to fill these gaps, the Civil Rights Framework for the Internet (Marco Civil da Internet), a draft bill produced through a process of public online debate carried out by the Ministry of Justice, was sent to the National Congress in 2011. The text faced strong opposition from some quarters, and the bill has not yet been introduced in Congress." (Publisher description)
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"The current UIS Questionnaire on Media Statistics provides information for three UNESCO frameworks, namely the Media and Information Literacy Framework, the Media Development Indicators Framework and the Framework for Cultural Statistics. The questionnaire collects data for reporting global progres
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s on Action Lines C2, C3, C8 and C9 of the World Summit on Information Society (WSIS) in UNESCO’s fields of competencies. In particular, Action Line C9 recommends appropriate policies to foster and sustain media and information development. This document provides country profiles for each of the countries that participated in the two pilot surveys conducted in 2011 and 2012." (Background, page 3)
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"Freedom House has conducted a comprehensive study of internet freedom in 60 countries around the world. This report is the fourth in a series and focuses on developments that occurred between May 2012 and April 2013. The previous edition, covering 47 countries, was published in September 2012. 'Fre
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edom on the Net 2013' assesses a greater variety of political systems than its predecessors, while tracing improvements and declines in the countries examined in the previous editions. Over 70 researchers, nearly all based in the countries they analyzed, contributed to the project examining laws and practices relevant to the internet, testing the accessibility of select websites, and interviewing a wide range of sources. Of the 60 countries assessed, 34 have experienced a negative trajectory since May 2012." (Page 2)
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"The Indian newspaper market still keeps growing and has attracted the interest of multinational corporations. One reason for this is that India is presently one of the largest markets for English-language newspapers and magazines in the world. Notwithstanding the continued growth of the English-lan
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guage press, it is above all daily newspapers in the major Indian languages which form the motor of this unprecedented press boom. The article shows that in the wake of economic liberalization and the enforcement of the consumption-oriented market economy, the newspaper market in India can be said to be changing from a linguistically ‘split public’, which was characterized by many asymmetries for decades, to an integrated multilingual ‘consumer sphere’. It can thus be argued that in this new consumer sphere, the old existing and imaginary boundaries between ‘English-language’, ‘Indian-language’ or ‘regional newspapers’ are becoming increasingly fuzzy, whereas the new geographies of the ‘regional’ are now very important for the expansion and consolidation of daily newspapers." (Abstract)
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"Wie kann sich Kirche in einer durch Medien bestimmten Gesellschaft noch Gehör verschaffen? Sind Kirche und Medien überhaupt kompatibel? Und wie gelingt ihr der Spagat zwischen ihrer Aufgabe authentisch zu verkündigen und sich zugleich an die Eigenlogik der Medien anpassen zu müssen? Kirche wird
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sich den Veränderungen stellen müssen, auch weil traditionell kirchliche Medien ihre Adressaten und so ihre Bedeutung zunehmend verlieren werden. Das Katholische Medienhandbuch lässt die Medienmacher der Kirche zu Wort kommen. Kirchliche Kommunikation wird dabei ebenso grundsätzlich in den Blick genommen wie die Vielgestaltigkeit einzelner kirchlicher Medieninstitutionen. Ein Handbuch, das sich grundlegend mit dem Thema Kirche und Medien beschäftigt und Antworten auf die Herausforderungen der Zeit gibt." (Verlagsbeschreibung)
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"GISWatch 2013 shows that gains in women’s rights made online are not always certain or stable. While access to the internet for women has increased their participation in the social, economic and governance spheres, there is another side to these opportunities: online harassment, cyberstalking, a
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nd violence against women online all of which are on the increase globally." (www.giswatch.org, July 6, 2014)
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"The digital switchover (DSO) is the commonly accepted name given to the process of changing the underlying radio broadcast technology from the outdated analogue system to a system based on equipment capable of transmitting and receiving digital signals. This guide was produced to help with the proc
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ess of implementation and is aimed at those involved in the process. Of course, the DSO is a process that affects citizens as part of the broadcasting audience and potential users of mobile broadband, but this guide is aimed at groups and individuals implementing the DSO, including policy makers, regulators, telecommunications operators and service providers, and broadcasters and media professionals." (Introduction)
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"Out of the twelve countries surveyed, only four have specific access to information laws. These countries are: Nigeria, South Africa, Uganda, Zimbabwe. However, a significant indication of the shifting tide on the continent is that six of the countries surveyed have some form of specific access to
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information in a Bill or parliamentary process. These countries are: Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, Malawi, Senegal, Tanzania, Zambia." (Page 5)
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"The objective of this IST Briefing Note issue is to provide an up to date list of Somali media outlets. The aim of this paper is to help relevant actors understand the landscape of Somali media and use this information in order to guide their engagement and approach with Somali media outlets. Based
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on empirical research this review includes: key findings; a brief presentation of the media observatory project; followed by a list of all media outlets (Radios, TV, print and news websites) according to their geographic location in South/Central Somalia, Puntland and Somaliland." (Page 1)
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