"When the Communist barricades collapsed in 1989, hundreds of Americans rushed to Eastern Europe and the former Soviet republics to spread the gospel of democracy. Among them were some of America’s most altruistic journalists, who hoped to midwife a newly independent press. Since then, the U.S. go
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vernment and private agenc ies have spent more than $600 million on media development. The payoff for these millions has been the training and empowerment of thousands of journalists, the establishment of numerous television and radio networks, the resurrection and creation of newspapers and, in some countries, the toppling of corrupt governments due to reporting that was unimaginable before 1989. Balancing these successes, though, is a second wave of repression and censorship in many places, including the core post-Communist societies where most of the money was spent. In much of the former U.S.S.R, for example, millions of dollars in aid have not produced a viable independent media." (Introduction)
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"Gaus plädiert - ganz einfach und ganz konsequent - für soliden Journalismus: gründliche Recherche und eine eigene Meinung. Als Korrespondetin hat sie selbst aus Somalia und Ruanda berichtet und greift an vielen Stellen auf diese Erfahrungen zurück. Das trägt mit dazu bei, dass ihr ein ungewöh
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nlich ehrliches Buch (bis hin zur Selbstkritik und zum Eingeständnis von Ratlosigkeit) über eine eitle Branche gelungen ist. Mit professioneller Bestimmtheit mahnt Bettina Gaus eine kontinuierliche sachkundige Berichterstattung aus Kriegs- und Krisengebieten an, 'die auch im Gedächtnis haftet'. Gelegentliches Trommelfeuer und anschließend langes Schweigen, wie in vielen Medien üblich, folge nur der Kurzatmigkeit der Politik." (Renate Wilke-Launer in "der überblick", 1/2005, Seite 95-96)
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"This OECD-DAC Donor Information and Communication Technologies Strategies Matrix CD-Rom presents the latest information on how bilateral and multilateral donors [21 OECD countries and 25 multilateral organizations] have mainstreamed information and communication technologies (ICT) in their developm
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ent assistance programmes in order to more effectively and efficiently achieve development goals, particularly the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). This new compilation exercise builds on two previous ones: the first was conducted jointly by the OECD-DCD and IDRC in February 2001, the second was carried out by the OECD-DCD in February 2003. This latest version, prepared as a contribution to the first phase of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), is not only updated, it is also enriched with the inclusion of a large number of strategy papers and other related documents." (Introduction)
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"This cross-country study compiles data and calculates ICT Development Indices for the following: connectivity (physical infrastructure for ICTs, in penetration rates of Internet hosts, PCs, telephone mainlines and mobile phones per capita); wider access to ICTs (literacy, GDP per capita and cost of
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local calls, as well as actual number of Internet users); usage of ICTs (incoming and outgoing telecom traffic, as an alternative to Internet data traffic flows in the absence of publicly available statistics on these); and policy environment (a wider policy framework conducive to the adoption and absorption of ICTs, which can be evaluated in terms of the presence of a domestic Internet exchange, as well as competition in the local loop, domestic long-distance and ISP markets). This study analyses country and regional rankings based on these index measurements, and reviews results over time to identify interesting trends. It also seeks to evaluate the extent and evolution of the digital divide, using basic measures of hardware equipment and numbers of Internet users in each country, to determine how the digital divide is evolving over time." (Preface)
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