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Economics, Markets & Viability of Media

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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

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Media and COVID-19 in West Africa: Sierra Leone

Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) (2020), 8 pp.

"Sierra Leone continues to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic through the dissemination of information across various platforms. The media have generally been supportive in providing the public with information and education about COVID-19. However, media owners and managers continue to raise concerns ... more

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Sustainability of Professional Journalism in the Media Business Environment of the Western Balkans

Sanela Hodžic, Brankica Petkovic

European Union; TACSO 3 project; GDSI (2020), 54 pp.

"Independent media outlets in the Western Balkans are facing major challenges to their financial sustainability. With the exception of some of the largest broadcasters with national coverage and the most visited online media, the majority of media outlets across the region are not sustainable busine ... more

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Les transformations postsoviétiques des médias et du journalisme russes

Elena Vartanova

Paris: L'Harmattan (2020), 232 pp.

"Existe-t-il un chemin particulier d’ouverture d’un système médiatique à l’économie, aussi épineux soit-il ? C’est justement le fil rouge de cette monographie, qui examine, sur la base de données empiriques et théoriques, les processus de transformation du journalisme et des médias d ... more

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Media and COVID-19 in West Africa: Nigeria

Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) (2020), 8 pp.

"Generally, the relevant authorities in Nigeria have, to a large extent, been proactive with press briefings and national addresses since the outbreak of the pandemic. However, reporters have realised that they are often unable to access information beyond what is said in the briefings. Officials so ... more

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Media and COVID-19 in West Africa: Liberia

Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) (2020), 7 pp.

"With the exception of the introduction of new press passes for the journalists by the Deputy Minister of Information and the harassment that followed its implementation, the media landscape in Liberia in May and June has been open and free. Even though the Ministry of Information reduced the freque ... more

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Accepting the Digital Challenge: Business Models and Audience Participation in Online Native Media

Sara Pérez-Seijo, Ángel Vizoso, Xosé López-García

Journal: Media, volume 1, issue 1 (2020), pp. 78-91

"The aim of this proposal is to present the evolution of the digital native media in Spain in order to compare their current situation with European success stories. For that purpose, we have conducted a comparative case study between three highlighted Spanish digital native news outlets and three f ... more

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Perspectives from the Global Entertainment & Media Outlook 2020–2024. Pulling the future forward: The entertainment and media industry reconfigures amid recovery

Werner Ballhaus, Wilson Chow et al.

PwC (2020), 24 pp.

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Myanmar Media's Response to COVID-19: A Media Development Investment Fund (MDIF) Survey

Media Development Investment Fund (MDIF) (2020), 39 pp.

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Medios de comunicación: ¿al servicio de quién?

Jesus González Pazos

Buenos Aires: CLACSO (2020), 143 pp.

"Tenemos que afirmar que, en estos días, está en su casi totalidad, por lo menos cuando nos referimos a los medios de comunicación masivos; permeado y bajo el control de las élites económicas que, además, hay que recordarlo, son en su inmensa mayoría élites masculinas. Esta situación de dom ... more

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Media Freedom in South Africa Today: Unravelling Multifarious Threats toward a Research and Advocacy Response

Julie Reid, Glenda. Daniels, Kate Skinner

Communicatio: South African Journal for Communication Theory and Research, volume 46, issue 3 (2020), pp. 1-19

"This article assesses the multiple factors which are barriers to media freedom in South Africa. These include crises of financial sustainability of the media sector which have recently been compounded by the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic; widespread job losses in journalism; and harassment and phy ... more

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Local Radio Stations in Africa: Sustainability or Pragmatic Viability?
Deep Insights

Mary Myers, Nicola Harford

Washington, DC: Center for International Media Assistance (CIMA) (2020), 28 pp.

"Radio stations across Africa are facing unprecedented threats to their sustainability due to weak media markets, limited advertising revenue and intense competition. A more pragmatic understanding of viability and more flexible donor strategies can help these outlets stay on air and maintain their ... more

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Propaganda by Proxy: Ukrainian Oligarchs, TV and Russia's Influence

Jakob Hedenskog, Mattias Hjelm

Stockholm: FOI, Swedish Defence Research Agency (2020), 4 pp.

"The issues of media ownership and Russian propaganda messaging remain an ongoing concern in Ukraine. Of the top 20 most-viewed TV channels in the country, almost all belong to the same people who top the list of Ukraine’s wealthiest oligarchs – Rinat Akhmetov, Viktor Pinchuk, Dmytro Firtash, Se ... more

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Dependence of Editorial Independence, Influence of Economic Factors on News Channels in Pakistan

Ghulam Shabir, Atif Ashraf, Farasat Rasool, Qamar-uddin-Zia Ghaznavi

Journal of Business and Social Review in Emerging Economies, volume 6, issue 2 (2020), pp. 883-892

"Private news channel in Pakistan get sponsorships and commercials from state as well as from private companies to run their businesses. Selling ads may lead to sell content shaped in favor of the sponsor. This study has analyzed the influence of commercialization on editorial autonomy of broadcast ... more

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The Independence of the News Media: Francophone Research on Media, Economics and Politics

Loïc Ballarini (ed.)

Cham: Palgrave Macmillan (2020), xvii, 320 pp.

"This book explores the different ways Francophone research on news media has faced the challenges of dependence and independence from three complementary perspectives. The first is economics - how can sustainable business models be developed and to what extent can crowdfunding help to maintain the ... more

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Myanmar Media's Response to COVID-19

Thal Nyein Thu, Jane Madlyn McElhone, Tessa Piper (eds.)

New York: Media Development Investment Fund (MDIF) (2020), 41 pp.

"In June 2020, MDIF conducted a survey of 36 Myanmar media outlets to gather information about the impact of COVID-19 on their businesses between March and May. They represent a mix of national media, as well as local media from the ethnic states and regions. Their operations are of various sizes: t ... hree media have 70-150 staff, 7 have 20-69, and 26 have 1-19. All the media surveyed felt the impact of COVID-19 almost immediately. Not surprisingly, as this has generally been the experience of media worldwide, commercial revenue decline was often dramatic: half of the survey respondents reported more than a 75% drop in income. Thirty-two of the 36 respondents had advertising revenue prior to the start of the pandemic, and all of them reported that it was negatively affected. All 19 media with print products were obliged to either reduce or even halt production. In response to collapsing revenues, 31 of the 36 survey respondents instituted spending cuts between March and May including, in some cases, cutting salaries and staff. Even as they reeled from the economic impact, Myanmar media also had to adapt their working environments. All the media surveyed quickly instituted work from home practices or else established social distancing in their offices and provided protective equipment for their staff. At the same time, more than half of the media reported having to contend with safety and security challenges. These came in the form of restrictions on movement, websites being blocked, on and offline surveillance, staff harassment and arrests. In common with media in other countries, one bright spot in this bleak picture has been audience growth. MDIF’s survey found that almost all media saw both their digital audiences, and audience engagement, increase. This had a positive knock-on effect for the media, with 30 respondents reporting that during this period they were able to strengthen their digital skills and knowledge due to the increased focus on their online content. The good news that 21 of the 31 respondents that sought emergency funding during the survey period obtained it, is tempered by the reality that the impact of COVID-19 has been deep and will be long lasting. The future for media in Myanmar is precarious." (Introduction) more

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World Entertainment Media: Global, Regional and Local Perspectives

Paolo Sigismondi (ed.)

New York; London: Routledge (2020), xvi, 210 pp.

"There are still opposing and restraining forces to globalization processes taking place in media, and the global mediascape comprises international, regional and local markets, and global and local players, which in recent years have evolved at an uneven pace. By analyzing similarities and differen ... more

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Media Development and Sustainability in West Africa: A Study on Media Audience Mapping and Targeting Techniques, Capacity Building Models & Ownership Patterns in West Africa
Deep Insights

Accra: Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA); Open Society Initiative for West Africa (OSIWA) (2020), ii, 70 pp.

"Media Audience Mapping & Targeting Techniques in West Africa: 1. Audience measurement and ratings culture: The culture of audience measurement and ratings is still very rudimentary in much of West Africa. Within the current media milieu, where new technologies are yielding new forms of content and ... more

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Media Independence and Sustainability

Mira Milosevic

Global Conference for Media Freedom, November 16, 2020 (2020), 6 pp.

"Without new public funding, regulation of digital markets, and international support systems for non-profit media, independent professional journalism is in danger of becoming an expensive luxury rather than a universal public good. The press freedom and media development communities have joined jo ... more

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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

Local Radio Stations in Africa: Sustainability or Pragmatic Viability? Deep Insights

Media Development and Sustainability in West Africa: A Study on Media Audience Mapping and Targeting Techniques, Capacity Building Models & Ownership Patterns in West Africa Deep Insights

Local Radio Stations in Africa: Sustainability or Pragmatic Viability?
Deep Insights

Media Development and Sustainability in West Africa: A Study on Media Audience Mapping and Targeting Techniques, Capacity Building Models & Ownership Patterns in West Africa
Deep Insights