mediadev library

Filter

Sort by:

Direction:

Download (2)

News Literacy and Democracy

Seth Ashley

Routledge (2020), xi, 206 pp.

External Link (17)

Media Influence Matrix: Slovakia

Marius Dragomir

Budapest: Center for Media, Data and Society (CMDS), 2nd, updated ed. (2020), 110 pp.

"Seemingly, Slovaks have access to a wealth of news sources. In reality, though, the market is concentrated in the hands of a few large players. Powerful financial groups such as Penta Investments and J&T, and a handful of magnates including Ivan Kmotrik and Andrej Babis (who is also Czech Republic� ... ��s prime minister) exert decisive influence in the ownership of most major media companies. They are also close to politicians (if they are not themselves one), which means big leverage in regulatory affairs. The entry on the Slovak market of PPF, a Czech financial group led by another wealthy oligarch, Petr Kellner, which bought Markiza TV in 2019, is further cementing the oligarchic control in the country’s media. The Antimonopoly Office of the Slovak Republic known as PMU is much responsible for the shape of the Slovak media market. It has been the PMU that approved a spate of merger cases allowing the expansion of some media owners. Decisions by the PMU in 2015-2016 allowed Penta Investments to take over several major publishers. It was one of these deals that prompted journalists from the daily Sme (acquired by Penta) to leave and set up DennikN. Civil society exerts little influence. International groups are not effective either. The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), a Vienna-based intergovernmental group, has some political leverage, but that does not materialize in any earth-shattering policy changes or palpable improvements for journalists. For example, in early March 2018, Harlem Desir, the head of media at OSCE, called on Slovak authorities in a meeting in Bratislava to investigate the killing by unknown assaulters in February 2018 of the Slovak investigative journalist Jan Kuciak. Instead, two months later, Slovak police began to harass Pavla Holcova, a Slovak journalist who was trying to help with the police investigation. It was only after massive pressures from citizens and journalism groups from abroad that four people were finally charged in October 2019 over Kuciak’s killing. Besides regulation, tightly controlled by authorities and highly politicized, the government plays also a direct role in the Slovak media market. Funding from license fees collected from all Slovak households and state budget makes the public broadcaster RTVS the largest player in the country’s media with a budget in excess of €115m. That is not necessarily bad. For some years, the Slovak public got its money’s worth. The station earned a feather in its cap for improved programming." (Key findings, pages 6-7) more

Download (1)

Media Influence Matrix: Georgia

Giorgi Jangiani

Budapest: Center for Media, Data and Society (CMDS) (2020), 86 pp.

Google Scholar (17)

WorldCat (18)

Media Studies: Critical African and Decolonial Approaches
Top Insights

Sarah Chiumbu, Mehita Iqani (eds.)

Cape Town: Oxford University Press Southern Africa (2020), xii, 340 pp.

Download (2)

Media Influence Matrix: Jordan. Government, Politics and Regulation

Ian Graham

Budapest: Center for Media, Data and Society (CMDS) (2019), 22 pp.

Download (2)

Media Influence Matrix: Romania. Government, Politics and Regulation

Dumitrita Holdis

Budapest: Center for Media, Data and Society (CMDS) (2019), 21 pp.

Download (2)

Media Influence Matrix: Pakistan. Technology, Public Sphere and Journalism

Ifra Asad, Mackenzie Nelson

Budapest: Center for Media, Data and Society (CMDS) (2019), 20 pp.

"With particularly low internet penetration rates, intense state censorship and heavy Chinese investment, Pakistan presents elements of an authoritarian internet culture where surveillance is a barely-questioned norm, unless probed by civil society organizations or journalists. Social media giants s ... more

Google Scholar (15)

WorldCat (17)

The Age of Surveillance Capitalism: The Fight for a Human Future at the New Frontier of Power

Shoshana Zuboff

London: Profile Books (2019), viii, 691 pp.

"The challenges to humanity posed by the digital future, the first detailed examination of the unprecedented form of power called "surveillance capitalism," and the quest by powerful corporations to predict and control us. The heady optimism of the Internet's early days is gone. Technologies that we ... more

Download (2)

Media Influence Matrix: Kyrgyzstan. Government, Politics and Regulation

Gulnura Toralieva

Budapest: Center for Media, Data and Society (CMDS) (2019), 22 pp.

Download (1)

Token Transformation? A Critical Political Economy of the Media Analysis of Ownership and Content Diversity in South Africa's Print Media

Prinola Govenden

Johannesburg: University of the Witwatersrand (2019), 304 pp.

Download (3)

Media Influence Matrix: Kyrgyzstan. Funding Journalism

Gulnura Toralieva

Budapest: Center for Media, Data and Society (CMDS) (2019), 22 pp.

"The media sector in Kyrgyzstan is heavily dominated by the government through both ownership and funding. The government funds a large pool of state-owned media companies, including newspapers, radio broadcasters and the public service operator KTRK. According to our estimates, the government spent ... more

External Link (23)

Media Capture in Europe

Marius Dragomir

Media Development Investment Fund (MDIF) (2019), 25 pp.

"The collusion between the political class and media owners [in Central and Eastern Europe] has reached unprecedented levels, leading to a phenomenon known as media capture, a situation where most or all of the news media institutions are operating as part of a government-business cartel that contro ... more

Download (3)

Media Influence Matrix: Kazakhstan. Funding Journalism

Adil Nussipov

Budapest: Center for Media, Data and Society (CMDS) (2019), 26 pp.

"Only three of the ten most popular television channels in Kazakhstan are not government-owned. Former President Nursultan Nazarbayev directly or through his family, also owns television channels. For example, KTK, the second most watched television channel in the country is run by the Foundation of ... the First President of the Republic of Kazakhstan-Elbasy. Another popular television channel, NTK, is owned directly by a Nazarbayev family member. Nazarbayev resigned in March 2019, but political analysts say that he did so to be able, before he dies, to supervise a smooth transition to a new regime that will continue his policies, ensuring centralization of political control and preventing criticism of authorities as Nazarbayev did during his 29-year tenure. When it comes to online news, the Government owns three of the 10 most visited websites: Kazinform.kz, Bnews.kz and 24.kz. In fact, none of the most popular news portals in Kazakhstan are independent and truly free of government control. For example, TengriNews.kz, one of the most read news websites is owned by the company Alash Media Group, which is known for promoting a strong pro-government narrative. The foreign influence in Kazakhstan’s media landscape is limited as foreigners can own only 20% of a media company. That being said, the Russian influence in the Kazakh media is notable. The most popular television channel in the country, Eurasia, jointly owned by the governments of Kazakhstan and Russia, is known for promoting a heavy pro-Russian agenda on world affairs. Another popular television channel, Channel 31 (31 Kanal) is co-owned by Bulat Utemuratov, a wealthy local businessman, and the Russian-funded STS Media Holding. Kenes Rakishev, another entrepreneur, owner of Channel Seven (Sedmoy Kanal), is also a partner in Fastlane Ventures, a prominent Russian venture fund that usually invests in internet companies. The Government is by far the largest funder in the media, with over €144m spent in cash dished out to media companies in 2017, more than the overall ad spend in Kazakhstan, according to industry estimates. Most of the government funding goes to government-owned media companies or privately held outlets that show support of the Government. For example, in television, the biggest chunk of government cash is spent on financing Khabar and Qazaqstan, two government-owned channels. In such a centralized media environment in which the Government plays a disproportionately big role, there is hardly any space for independent journalism. Owned by a civil society activist and journalist, Vlast.kz is arguably the sole truly independent news website among the 10 most visited websites in the country. There are other independent news media such as Azattyq, the local service of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, but their audience is much smaller." (Page 4) more

Google Scholar (15)

WorldCat (19)

Understanding Global Media

Terry Flew

London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2nd ed. (2018), xii, 227 pp.

External Link (29)

Google Scholar (12)

WorldCat (13)

The Plight of the Private Press During the Zimbabwe Crisis (2010–18)

Pedzisai Ruhanya

Journal of African Media Studies, volume 10, issue 2 (2018), pp. 201-214

"This study critically examines how the private press in Zimbabwe survived during periods of economic and political crises. In year 2010, the Zimbabwe media fraternity saw the re-opening of Associated Newspapers of Zimbabwe (ANZ) after closure in 2003 and the emergence of the NewsDay, published by t ... more

External Link (20)

Google Scholar (13)

WorldCat (11)

Digital Activism and Cyberconflicts in Nigeria: Occupy Nigeria, Boko Haram and MEND

Shola Abidemi Olabode

Bingley: Emerald Publishing (2018), xiv, 256 pp.

"This book offers fresh insights on digital activism and cyberconflicts through a comparison of sociopolitical and ethnoreligious movements in Nigeria. Occupy Nigeria, Boko Haram and The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) highlight the digital and organizational aspects of confl ... more

External Link (20)

Google Scholar (21)

WorldCat (17)

The Palgrave Handbook of Media and Communication Research in Africa
Top Insights

Bruce Mutsvairo (ed.)

Cham: Palgrave Macmillan (2018), xxix, 497 pp.

"This handbook attempts to fill the gap in empirical scholarship of media and communication research in Africa, from an Africanist perspective. The collection draws on expert knowledge of key media and communication scholars in Africa and the diaspora, offering a counter-narrative to existing Wester ... more

External Link (20)

The Political Economy of Media Capture: What Influences Media Capture in Less Developed Countries (LDCs) and How Does This Present Opportunities and Challenges for Progress in Achieving Key Components of SDG 16?

Pamela Jiménez Cárdenas, Antony Declercq, Mandy Shi Lai, Nathan Rasquinet

London: London School of Economics (LSE), Capstone Project (2017), vii, 75 pp.

"In South Sudan, media capture, media market and audience segmentation are driven by: the ongoing civil conflict (since 2013), ethnic and linguistic divisions, a lack of rule of law, the legacy of clientelistic networks in the media and the government, a stark urban-rural divide, and a lack of infra ... more

External Link (17)

Google Scholar (14)

WorldCat (13)

The Political Economy of Climate Change Reporting in Nigeria

nnaEmeka Meribe

African Journalism Studies, volume 38, issue 1 (2017), pp. 40-65

"While scholarly inquiries into the coverage of climate change in Africa are growing, there appears to be a dearth of studies focusing on how the political economy shapes the coverage. This qualitative study addresses this gap by exploring how vested interests, corruption and declining advertising r ... more

Google Scholar (15)

WorldCat (13)

Ukraine's Post-Communist Mass Media: Between Capture and Commercialization

Natalya Ryabinska

Stuttgart: ibidem-Verlag (2017), 174 pp.

"In the period after the fall of communism, peculiar new obstacles to media independence have arisen. They include the telltale structure of media ownership, with news reporting being concentrated in the hands of politically engaged business tycoons, the fuzzy and contradictory legislation of the me ... more

Media Studies: Critical African and Decolonial Approaches Top Insights

The Palgrave Handbook of Media and Communication Research in Africa Top Insights

Media Studies: Critical African and Decolonial Approaches
Top Insights

The Palgrave Handbook of Media and Communication Research in Africa
Top Insights