"National and Regional Internet Governance Forums (NRIs) are the stars of the 2017 Global Information Society Watch. The story of NRIs began two years after the first global IGF held in 2006. In 2008, stakeholders from Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Rwanda organised national forums and a subsequent Eas
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t African IGF, to prepare for and discuss common concerns in anticipation of the global forum held later that year in Hyderabad. Soon after, many other national and regional initiatives emerged, impacting the global forum from the bottom up, enhancing inclusiveness and the broad engagement of multiple stakeholders. Today there is widespread agreement that national and regional forums constitute an important part of the IGF process, that their rise has added significance to the global forum and, at the same time, strengthened national and regional initiatives in their quest for inclusive, participatory decision making on their home turf. This GISWatch edition is the first comprehensive look at national and regional IGF initiatives from a critical, civil society perspective. In all, 54 reports are presented, including seven reports addressing cross-cutting themes, 40 covering national IGFs, and seven examining regional initiatives." (Preface)
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"In this volume of essays edited by Anya Schiffrin, media capture is shown to be a growing phenomenon linked both to the resurgence of authoritarian governments as well as to the structural weaknesses presently afflicting media markets. In this environment, political figures and economic elites are
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colluding to undermine the independence of privately-owned media, and efforts to stop this collusion by activists, regulators, and the international community have proven to be ineffective." (Publisher description)
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"La nature de l’enseignement et l’évaluation de la pertinence du choix des formateurs sont également sujettes à caution. En effet, 54,3 % des participants estiment que les contenus dispensés ne sont pas adaptés au contexte national. D’une certaine manière, ceci est confirmé par les form
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ateurs eux-mêmes puisque 82,3 % d’entre eux estiment ne pas connaître, ou très peu, les réalités du journalisme en Tunisie. D’une certaine manière, ceci est confirmé par les formateurs eux-mêmes puisque 82,3 % d’entre eux estiment ne pas connaître, ou très peu, les réalités du journalisme en Tunisie. De nombreux élèves ont été amenés à mettre en cause, ouvertement (pendant les sessions) ou dans le cadre des entretiens, le caractère décontextualisé ou inadapté des formations. Au-delà, il existe une corrélation entre les évaluations négatives des formations et le nombre de formations suivies par les participants. Ceux qui ont suivi plus de cinq formations (18,9 % de l’ensemble des participants) estiment à 86,3 % qu’elles ne sont pas adaptées pour plusieurs raisons : elles ne sont pas coordonnées ou harmonisées; ce qui est enseigné d’une formation à l’autre présente des aspects contradictoires; les méthodes ne sont pas praticables dans leur rédaction. Enfin, l’évaluation des formations ne semble pas pouvoir contribuer à adapter plus finement les formules pédagogiques puisque la prise en compte de la mise en pratique des contenus dispensés, sur la courte ou la moyenne durée, ne fait pas partie du protocole des opérateurs. La viabilité et l’assimilation des contenus in situ ne sont donc pas prises en considération." (Paragraphe 25)
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"This book argues that Internet diffusion and use in the Middle East enables meaningful micro-changes in citizens’ lives, even in states where no Arab Spring revolution occurred. Using ethnographic evidence and taking a comparative perspective, it presents a grass roots look at how new media use f
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its into the practice of everyday life. It explores why citizens use social media to digitally route around state and other forms of power at work in their lives. This increase in citizen civic engagement, supported by new media use, offers the possibility of a new order of things, from redefining patriarchal power relations at home, to reconfigurations of citizens’ relationships with the state, broadly defined. The author argues that new media channels offer pathways to empowerment widely and cheaply in the Middle East." (Publisher description)
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"Morocco’s 2015 Press Code eliminates prison as a punishment for speech offenses. This, on its face, represents progress for freedom of expression in a country where journalists and ordinary citizens have been locked up for “insulting” the king, questioning Morocco’s claim over Western Sahar
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a, or rapping about police corruption. The Red Lines Stay Red: Morocco’s Reform of its Speech Laws analyzes the laws governing speech offenses in Morocco and finds that the recent overhaul falls well short of securing freedom of speech as guaranteed by international conventions and Morocco’s own 2011 constitution. Imprisonment as punishment for crossing Morocco’s famous “red lines” – causing harm to Islam, “territorial integrity,” the institution of the monarchy, or the person of the king – is alive and well. While the new press code punishes “red line” offenses only with the suspension of publications, judges can, thanks to new provisions of the penal code, still hand down prison sentences for these offenses. In addition, the penal code continues to mandate prison sentences for other speech offenses such as “insulting” state institutions or state agents, and broadly defined notions of “praising terrorism,” “casting discredit on judicial decisions,” and “inciting hatred or discrimination." (Back cover)
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"This book examines under what scope conditions foreign policy actors adopt media logic. The authors analyze media logic under three specific scope conditions: uncertainty, identity, resonance. First, they lay out the general adaptation of media logic in the general debate of the UN General Assembly
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1992-2010. They then explore the adaptation of media logic in Finland, Sweden and the United Kingdom concerning the cases of humanitarian intervention in Côte d’Ivoire and Libya, both in 2011. The results indicate the need to move beyond the assumption of a general process of mediatization affecting politics in total. Instead, they point in the direction of a nuanced process of mediatization more likely under certain scope conditions and in certain political contexts." (Publisher description)
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"Media freedom is still a fragile compromise in Tunisia and institutions and their rules are not as sustainable as one might wish for. The success of the transition process ultimately depends on the commitment of all elites to devote themselves to holding on to democracy. As could be observed in sev
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eral stages of the transition process, it was often the willingness of the political elites to make democratization work, even at the expense of their own power shares, which was essential for mastering the ride on the bumpy road of transition. However, in comparison to all other countries in the region Tunisia has found a way to negotiate its future without militant means, and, as Roxane Farmanfarmaian (2014, page 662) concludes, "a stage of no return is widely felt to have been achieved". Thus I can conclude optimistically that Tunisia's media transition might indeed become a success story." (Conclusion)
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"Journalists’ unions are key media supporting organisations and this report covers the pivotal role they play in countries of the Southern Mediterranean region. This report aspires to be a light reading, not only for union activists and media professionals, but also for journalists and citizens, a
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s it covers issues of public interest in relation to media, in Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, Jordan, Palestine, Lebanon, and Syria." (www.med-media.eu)
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"The prospect of a new Libyan constitution offers an opportunity for consolidated, clear and robust legal protections for freedom of expression. However, the current Constitutional Draft contains significant legal loopholes and establishes institutions of uncertain power. The failure of the Constitu
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tional Draft to adhere to international minimum standards, let alone seek to ensure best practices, means that it may ultimately further weaken human rights, including freedom of expression." (Executive summary)
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"This book looks into the role played by mediated communication, particularly new and social media, in shaping various forms of struggles around power, identity and religion at a time when the Arab world is going through an unprecedented period of turmoil and upheaval. The book provides unique and m
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ultifocal perspectives on how new forms of communication remain at the centre of historical transformations in the region. The key focus of this book is not to ascertain the extent to which new communication technologies have generated the Arab spring or led to its aftermaths, but instead question how we can better understand many types of articulations between communication technologies, on the one hand, and forms of resistance, collective action, and modes of expression that have contributed to the recent uprisings and continue to shape the social and political upheavals in the region on the other. The book presents original perspectives and rigorous analysis by specialists and academics from around the world that will certainly enrich the debate around major issues raised by recent historical events." (Publisher description)
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"Offers up-to-date insights into the state of library and information science (LIS) in the Middle East and North Africa. Covered topics include information literacy, intellectual property, LIS education and research, publishing and more. This timely contribution thus presents vital areas of research
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on a region that receives relatively little coverage and is currently experiencing rapid and significant changes." (Publisher description)
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"International trade in creative industries showed sustained growth in the last decade. The global market for traded creative goods and services totaled a record $547billion in 2012, as compared to $302 billion in 2003. Exports from developing countries, led by Asian countries, were growing faster t
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han exports from developed countries. Among developed country regions, Europe is the largest exporter of creative goods. In 2012, the top 5 creative goods exporters included Germany, France, Switzerland, the Netherlands and Belgium. Exports of creative goods from developed economies grew during the period 2003 to 2012, with export earnings rising from $134 billion to $197 billion. Among developing countries, China is the largest exporter of creative goods. In 2012, the top 5 exporters were China, Hong Kong, China, India, Turkey and South Korea. Exports of creative goods from developing economies grew during the period 2003 to 2012, with export earnings rising from $87 billion to $272 billion. Developing countries are playing an increasingly important role in international trade in creative industries." (Executive summary)
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"The imprisonment of Al Jazeera English (AJE) journalists (Australian Peter Greste, Egyptian-Canadian national Mohamed Fahmy, and Egyptian Baher Mohamed) in Egypt between 2013 and 2015 reflected the recent ten agenda items of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNES
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CO) about the safety of journalists (Pöyhtäri & Berger, 2015). Building on the relevance of press theories (Siebert, Peterson, & Schramm, 1956; Curran, 2002) as well as developmental and peace journalism (Carpentier, 2007 cited in Cammaerts & Carpentier, 2007) as a theoretical basis, this paper examines the twenty-one month reportage of the AJE case by public broadcasters such as AJE, the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). It assesses whether the UNESCO’s Safety of Journalist agenda was covered. A “mixed method” (Kolmer, 2008), quantitative and qualitative content analysis research design, was used. Four hundred and ninety-five articles from the three broadcasters’ coverage were analyzed in two stages which overall began from the day (December 29, 2013) of arrest of the AJE trio until a week after Fahmy’s and Mohamed’s final release (September 30, 2015). The analysis found that items noted in the UNESCO’s Safety of Journalists’ agenda were not overtly spelt out in the coverage by the broadcasters but cloaked under a wider press freedom framework that hung over the case. Findings also reflected the critical need to address the safety of journalists in Egypt and other parts of Africa, despite the democratic awaking of the 2011 Arab Spring." (Abstract)
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"This study identified three local or subregional incidents that led to heated debates on Twitter: a video shared on Twitter of the sexual assault of a woman on Cairo’s Tahrir Square in June 2014, anti-fracking protests in southern Algeria in early 2015, and Saudi Arabia’s military intervention
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in Yemen in March 2015 [...] By closely tracing how Twitter debates on these three issues unfolded and conducting interviews with agenda setters for these debates, this study sheds light on Twitter’s role in important social and political discussions as well as on the scope and patterns of Twitter networks. In other words, it highlights the various ways Twitter is being utilized by ordinary people, activists, media outlets, and officials, and it provides an idea of the political impact they can have via Twitter." (Page 5)
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