"This book is meant to present the basics of freedom of information or right to information, defined as the universal right to access information held by public bodies. It presents in an easy-to-understand and non-technical fashion the basic principles of freedom of information, such as maximum disc
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losure, obligation to publish, promotion of open government, limited scope of exceptions and the process to facilitate access. In this new edition, the introduction, the comparative chapter, and the section on international standards and trends, have been totally revised. The country chapters provide an in-depth-analysis to the right of access in Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, India, Jamaica, Japan, Kyrgyzstan, Mexico, Peru, South Africa, Sweden, Thailand, Uganda, United Kigdom and the USA. According to the author "since the last edition five years ago, we can now say that every region of the world has adopted right to information laws." (CAMECO Update 2-2008)
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"Um die Medienlandschaft Bulgariens steht es nicht zum Besten – trotz zweier Jahrzehnte Distanz zum Fall des Kommunismus und eines von zahlreichen Medien vereinbarten Ethik-Kodex, der von Wahrhaftigkeit und Achtung der Menschenwürde, von Zensurfreiheit und redaktioneller Unabhängigkeit spricht.
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Als Handelsgesellschaften registriert, entziehen sich die Medien in der Regel einer Kontrolle ihrer Finanzierungsquellen. Ausländische Investoren fördern zwar die Modernisierung etwa der Printmedien, behindern aber durch ihre Preisgestaltung die Etablierung einer unabhängigen Presse. Beherrscher des Printmedienmarktes sind die WAZ-Gruppe mit Produkten wie Trud, 24 tschassa und 168 tschassa sowie das auf Wirtschaftsthemen spezialisierte Verlagshaus Economedia. Im Rundfunk- und TV-Bereich, der durch das Hörfunk- und Fernsehgesetz reguliert ist, wacht der Rat für elektronische Medien über die Einhaltung von Bestimmungen etwa zu Werbung, Urheberrecht und Jugendschutz. Doch fördern weder die Politik des Rats selbst noch die Besitzverhältnisse der Einzelmedien deren tatsächliche Freiheit und programmatische Souveränität. Als weitgehend unabhängig gilt allenfalls das Internet. Die Zeiten sind nicht günstig für anspruchsvolle Medien und einen selbstbewussten, investigativen Journalismus in Bulgarien. Zu hoffen bleibt nur, dass die zunehmende Verwurzelung des Landes in Europa auf lange Sicht positiv wirkt." (Seite 6)
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"The experience of citizen involvement in public policy advocacy around the world has shown that the status quo tends to prevail unless political will to implement change is strengthened by active citizen participation. A “Global Information Society Watch” is needed to make governments and inter
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national organisations accountable. This publication, the first in a series of reports covering the state of the information society on an annual basis, focuses on the theme of participation. The report has three interrelated goals: surveying the state of the field of ICT policy at the local and global levels; encouraging critical debate; and strengthening networking and advocacy for a just, inclusive information society. It discusses the WSIS process and a range of international institutions, regulatory agencies and monitoring instruments from the perspective of civil society and stakeholders in the global South. Alongside this discussion, we present a series of country reports which examine issues of access and participation within a variety of national contexts." (Introduction)
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"For policy making, the 24/7 news cycle means high levels of exposure to fast-breaking international stories receiving global attention and producing a powerful 'do something!' effect. This topical book widens the debate beyond US media and policy making by considering the case of Western and Easter
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n European media and policy processes. It tests the wider application of existing theoretical approaches and provides useful comparisons, allowing the reader to draw conclusions on the media-policy relationship." (Publisher description)
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"This report records and analyzes the results of a study in which partners of the Justice Initiative in 14 countries filed a total of 1,926 requests for information. In each country, seven different requesters twice submitted up to 70 questions to 18 public institutions. Requesters included NGOs, jo
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urnalists, business persons, non-affiliated persons, and members of excluded groups, such as illiterate or disabled persons or those from vulnerable minorities. The requests were for the types of information that public bodies hold—or should hold." (Summary of findings, page 11)
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"This book presents a network analysis of media ownership dependencies in ten Central and Eastern European countries. In addition to a detailed description of the media landscapes in the Czech Republic, Estonia, Romania and Slovenia it furthermore gives an overview of news agencies operating in thes
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e countries. The publication is the final report of the research project "Media markets in Central and Eastern Europe - Chances of and threats against media pluralism in Europe" carried out at Danube University Krems (Austria)." (Publisher description)
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"It is a simple fact that it is hard to find reliable information on the media in South Eastern Europe. The 'South East Europe Media Handbook' bridges this gap in a unique way and offers basic information about the situation of the media in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus,
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Greece, Hungary, Macedonia, Moldova, Romania, Serbia and Montenegro/Kosovo, Slovakia, Slovenia, Turkey and Ukraine. It hereby supports the better understanding of the particular situation of the media in the countries of South Eastern Europe. On the other hand, it gives a very good overview and provides a useful database of all important media in South Eastern Europe. Last but not least it is an outstanding source of information regarding press freedom violations in the past year. Once again I want to emphasize that the media are the agents of democracy. Hence it is very important to encourage the governments in the region to establish safe working conditions for journalists and this is one of the basic objectives of this handbook." (Erhard Busek, Special Coordinator Stability Pact for Eastern Europe, page XI).
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