"TThe 2012 MSI study for Europe & Eurasia revealed a mix of positive developments, regression, and stagnation (or resilience, depending on one’s point of view). Nearly half of the 21 countries included in this study showed little change either way, their overall score moving by 0.10 or less. Six c
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ountries showed improvement and five slid backward. The former Yugoslavia accounted for all but one of the countries with lower scores this year. Montenegro improved, Croatia remained roughly unchanged, but the rest of the former Yugoslavia—Serbia, Bosnia, Kosovo, and Macedonia—suffered losses (note that Slovenia is the only country of the former Yugoslavia not studied by the MSI) [...] Moldova continued to improve and achieved the highest score among the four countries in “Russia and Western Eurasia.” All objectives except Objective 4, Business Management, received a score in the “near sustainability” range. Armenia maintained its leadership amongst the three countries in the Caucasus. Its overall score remained mostly unchanged, although the score did slip slightly. Georgia continued to slowly regain ground lost in 2008. Russia’s score improved; despite serious lingering challenges, panelists expressed a cautious optimism that the situation will continue to improve in the coming years. Kyrgyzstan returned to the top spot in Central Asia as the political situation there stabilized. However, two objectives, those covering professional journalism and business management, remain well below the “near sustainability” range." (Executive summary, page ix)
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"Thanks to digital media, Lebanon’s residents have access to a variety of news platforms, from 24-hour cable channels to internet sites and text message services. Despite easy access to Al Jazeera, Al Arabiya, CNN, BBC,and others through subscriptions to pirated cable bundles or satellite receiver
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s, Lebanese households prefer local news channels. Most of the country’s news media outlets support and represent the agenda of a political personality or party. And most of them are owned, managed, or financed by local or regional powers. Digitization has had little or no effect on changes in the media market or the impact of ownership on media performance and independence. This may be because Lebanon remains in a protracted state of transition to digitization, exacerbated by a rough political climate. Although the government has occasionally tried to improve this situation, Lebanon will have to make gigantic efforts before it can hope to embrace the digital era with a set of laws and regulations that could meet the needs of citizens and business." (Open Society website)
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"According to the ITU, the percentage of the population with internet access rose from 0.1 in 2000 to over 43 in 2010. The number doubled between 2008 and 2010. The report calls for the Digital Strategy to be finalized without further delay, and then implemented. Broadcasting regulation should be am
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ended to bring it into full compliance with the AVMSD. The report also focuses attention on the need for government support to help the public broadcaster to catch up with the digitization process. Last but not least, the report stresses the need for improved working conditions in journalism, in order to discourage self-censorship, and for implementation of a code of ethics in the new media, in order to minimize slander and violations of copyright." (Publisher description)
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"Hungarian lawmakers have established a set of comprehensive new media laws that critics say are inconsistent with democratic free-press principles and European practices and norms. Hungarian officials say the legislation conforms to EU standards and its elements are drawn from existing regulations
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in other European and EU-member states. In December 2010 and January 2011, the Hungarian Government released two statements summarising the main criticisms of its new laws and providing examples of regulations from 20 European and EU-member states as precedents for Hungary’s media legislation. For this study, the Center for Media and Communication Studies (CMCS) commissioned media policy experts in each of these 20 countries to examine every example cited by Hungary’s Government. The findings of this report are based on these expert assessments. The purpose of this study is to examine the accuracy of the precedents cited by the Hungarian Government in order to shed light on the more critical question of how consistent Hungary’s media laws are with other media systems in Europe. As such, the focus of the study is narrow by design: the analyses are based on a set of specific examples of similar legislation as cited by the Hungarian Government." (Executive summary, page viii)
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"In the report, we included two chapters. The first describes the media legal environment, namely guarantees and restrictions of the freedom of expression and the second chapter highlights media freedom situation in 2011." (Preface, page 5)
"Through a series of qualitative interviews with a range of media stakeholders, the ultimate conclusion of this thesis is that the media landscape in Cambodia is diverse –with some (mostly foreign-owned and run) able to operate freely and independently, while others (most local Khmer media, partic
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ularly broadcast media) are not. While media development activities over the course of the last 20 years have been clearly beneficial to improving the quality of the media, many factors are preventing all media in Cambodia from becoming free, independent and sustainable. A lack of political will, improper legal intimidation, politicisation of the media, a lack of journalistic ethic and professionalism (among some), unsupportive institutional frameworks, media illiteracy among the broader population and little coordination of media development efforts are just some of the barriers that hinder real improvement in this critical sector." (Abstract, page 4)
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"Only 40 percent of Nigerians had access to a television in 2008 according to the International Telecommunication Union, and radio is still the dominant medium, reaching three-quarters of households. Both commercial and state broadcasters favor urban audiences and those in the south of the country.
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While there is potential for increased diversity through the spread of internet services, progress is hampered by variables that continue to widen rather than bridge the digital divide. These include irregular power supply, low literacy levels, and the high cost of digital devices relative to gross domestic product (GDP). There is also an extreme gender divide: women constitute less than 1 percent of active internet users [...] Neither market liberalization nor digitization has had a meaningful impact on the independence of news providers. Even purely commercial outlets retain entrenched links with the political establishment and there remain a host of restrictive laws, which militate against media independence. There are notable exceptions to this in the online domain. News websites such as Saharareporters.com have to some extent avoided both legal and extra-legal state interference by basing their operations abroad. There is also evidence of burgeoning expression and debate in the blogosphere over issues generally considered off limits for mainstream news providers." (Executive summary)
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"This learning resource kit aims to provide an answer to the current gender gap in news content and lack of existing self-regulatory mechanisms to confront gender bias. It is organised in two books that may be read independently of each other. Book 1 discusses conceptual issues pertaining to gender,
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media and professional ethics, while Book 2 presents gender-ethical reporting guidelines on several thematic areas [...] Book 1 also contains case studies of experiences in the adoption and implementation of gender-focussed media codes in 2 countries – Canada and Tanzania. A third case study profiles the experience of the Inter-Press Service in a groundbreaking initiative to cover stories on gender equality and women’s empowerment related to the third Millennium Development Goal (MDG3). All case studies distill lessons learnt through the processes. Book 1 will appeal to media decision makers as well as to civil society actors interested in gender media policy adoption or improvement." (Preamble, page 3)
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"As with other countries in the region, Peru shows high levels of media concentration. Digitization has not yet aff ected the dominant positions in the Peruvian mass media market. On the contrary, the largest media groups’ hegemonic position has grown stronger. For example, the influence of Grupo
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El Comercio is felt in the political, social, and cultural arenas, where its ability to shape news agendas through its broadcasting and print outlets is unmistakable. The way in which digital terrestrial television has been regulated and the distribution of the digital spectrum add to the power of established media groups." (Executive summary)
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