"The purpose of this political economy analysis (PEA) is to understand how political and economic factors have affected, or hindered, the media sector in Sierra Leone as well as the potential for private sector investment in the media [...] The report presents a contextual analysis of the media sect
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or in Sierra Leone: the stakeholders; the financial motivation and incentives for their engagement; and the political and economic factors that influence media independence and viability. It also examines the business climate in Sierra Leone, and the current scope of private investment in the media sector. Additionally, it provides a brief analysis of the legal and structural constraints to the development of a sustainable market as well as the opportunities unlocked by the legal reform processes enacted by the state. This is followed by an examination of the existing skill gaps within the sector, and the interaction between the media sector, civil society and/or local communities. This report has five sections. The second section elaborates on the methodology used for the report; the third section presents the main findings; the fourth section draws the conclusions of the study; and the fifth section provides the recommendations." (Introduction)
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"Los medios investigados en este estudio llegan más que todo a una población de mayor poder adquisitivo y niveles académicos que buscan un periodismo serio, investigativo, de calidad. Es una audiencia bastante involucrada con el medio. Le gusta a esa audiencia sentirse parte del medio de comunica
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ción, colaborarle y tener contacto directo con sus periodistas. En específico, les gusta participar en diálogos y debates mediante eventos presenciales y webinars, sugerir temas de investigación, recibir información mediante boletínes informativos personalizados, y tener acceso a podcasts, videos, EBooks. El acceso a este tipo de servicios y productos puede ser incluso una razón de que se empiece a apoyar económicamente a un medio. El reto está en llegar a más y nuevas audiencias, más diversas, de segmentos distintos a las que actualmente no apelan por sus investigaciones con textos eruditos largos, porque más bien buscan noticias más populares o formatos más entretenidos (como los videos que son preferidos por la población joven)." (Relación con las audiencias, página 37)
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"The halting progress of the Tunisian media reform reflects the uncertainty and vulnerability of the political reform. As Professor of Communication and Democracy Katrin Voltmer contends, emerging media systems are unique types that are a blend of inherited structures, the constraints of the transit
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ions, and the reform movement’s choices. The new Tunisian media system retains features of the old regime while embedding the contradictions and struggles that paint the emerging political system. Eleven years after the Jasmine Revolution, the media reform is still governed by ambiguity, having turned into a field of political struggle between progressive and conservative forces and their allies. The president’s recent move to suspend the parliament and his highly controversial referendum on a new constitution granting him extraordinary powers, which passed following an unprecedented level of low turnout, have plunged the democratic consolidation process into turmoil. Sharp divisions have emerged between Saeid’s supporters and opponents, exacerbating uncertainty and ambiguity." (Conclusion)
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"Although some planned reforms announced since 2017 concerning the rights to freedom of expression and others are yet to be finalized, the report finds that the media environment has improved considerably since the new government came into power. In the context of a rising internet penetration rate,
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reportedly from 17% in 2015 to 51% in 2022, direct censorship of the internet has ceased and online information is better accessible. Journalists generally rate their current situation as relatively safe. Public trust in the media has generally improved since the new democratic dispensation. Although there is a slow pace of legal reform, there is however cautious optimism about government’s commitment to repeal laws inherited from the previous regime." (Short summary)
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"This edition comes at a time when the Caribbean is in the throes of the COVID-19 pandemic which has severely tested the viability and resilience of a wide variety of national and regional institutions. The media industry has not been spared. We have therefore attempted to capture some main elements
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of this challenge even as we present to readers some principal features of Caribbean media and their contribution to public life. This is however not meant to be an exhaustive exposition. It has been researched and written by media practitioners in communion with regional colleagues who have presented their views and impressions on a wide variety of issues." (Foreword)
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"Esta publicación presenta información sobre el mercado de los medios de comunicación en Nicaragua, sobre cómo la población los percibe y cuáles son los hábitos de la audiencia en el consumo de la información. Además, ofrece recomendaciones para mejorar la viabilidad de los medios [...] Los
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resultados presentados abajo se refieren a las respuestas obtenidas de las 841 personas que participaron en la encuesta. Los periódicos digitales son los medios más preferidos para informarse, seguidos por la televisión y las redes sociales. La información que más se consume son las noticias nacionales, específicamente políticas. Un 87 por ciento manifiesta leer noticias por lo menos una vez al día y un 65 por ciento incluso varias veces al día. La gran mayoría no prefiere un día en específico para leer, pero sí prefiere leer temprano en el día o por la noche. El celular es el dispositivo preferido para leer noticias. Los medios más consumidos son los considerados más confiables: la versión digital de Confidencial y La Prensa, seguidos por Canal 10. Los medios oficialistas están entre los que menos se consideran confiables. Las principales razones por confiar en un medio son: noticias objetivas e información veraz, la independencia del medio, el profesionalismo de sus periodistas y la verificación de fuentes." (Resumen ejecutivo, página 4-6)
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"Since gaining independence after the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, Ukraine has lurched along an unsteady path toward accountable democratic governance. Yet despite the country's volatile politics and the escalating conflict with Russia leading up to the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in
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February 2022, Ukrainian reformers and their allies have made significant progress in reshaping the country's media climate." (Page 1)
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"The 2022 Europe and Eurasia Vibrant Information Barometer (VIBE) sees the addition of the five countries of Central Asia (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan) to the study, bringing the total number of countries examined to 18. With VIBE, IREX strives to capture a moder
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n and evolving media space where people are simultaneously producers, transmitters, consumers, and actors in the information that influences their lives and environments [...] For countries in Europe and Eurasia (E&E) included in this year’s publication, country-level scores were, again, mainly split into two VIBE classifications: Somewhat Vibrant (North Macedonia, Montenegro, Kosovo, Albania, Armenia, Moldova, and Ukraine) and Slightly Vibrant (Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, and Serbia). Azerbaijan held the lowest score in E&E, putting it in the Not Vibrant classification. In Central Asia, this year’s study put Kyrgyzstan the Somewhat Vibrant category, while Kazakhstan, and Tajikistan were Slightly Vibrant. While Uzbekistan’s score characterized it as Slightly Vibrant, Turkmenistan joined Azerbaijan in the Not Vibrant classification." (Executive summary)
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"To illustrate the dynamics of the digital information ecosystem and how disinformation is seeded within this environment, Rappler explored cascades around the following themes: war on drugs, attacks against the press, and messaging around Martial Law and authoritarian rule. The themes were selected
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based on prevailing issues that have confronted the Philippines and the Duterte administration over the past 6 years. These are findings of the study specific to the Philippine context: Already addicted to social media, Filipinos became more deeply immersed in the internet due to the pandemic; [...] At least 1 in every 3 Filipino internet users is new to digital, is potentially unfamiliar with how it works, and vulnerable to disinformation and online manipulation techniques [...] News organizations are still among the most followed information sources online. But they are increasingly drowned in social media noise [...] Trustworthiness is the primary consideration in following groups, pages, and channels on social media. But entertainment value and agreeableness are also major considerations, making audiences vulnerable to sources that deceptively use celebrity content to build online following [...] Majority (78%) of survey respondents say they can distinguish between real news and “fake news,” but focus group discussions (FGDs) reveal that some believed previously debunked claims [...] There are similarities between disinformation in the Philippines and the “Firehose of Falsehood” Russian propaganda model ..." (Executive summary, pages 7-12)
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"The media situation in Belarus has never been easy. With Aliaksandr Lukashenka being elected president of the country for the first time in 1994, the necessary reforms to provide media freedom have never materialised. Instead, over the years various laws have lessened the rights of independent jour
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nalists and imposed limits on both traditional and electronic media. Following the August 2020 presidential election, which ignited a brutal crackdown against the democratic opposition, the situation has worsened. Harassment, a hijacking, and politically motivated jail terms, both short and long, intimidate Belarusians who want to exchange ideas, report wrongdoing or fight for freedom of expression and freedom for the country. In January 2022, the Belarusian Association of Journalists confirmed the presence of at least 32 journalists in Belarusian jails. On the positive side, new electronic media cannot be banned effectively and absolutely. While the regime slowly expands its presence on the internet, Belarusians trust independent media more and use it more eagerly. However, society’s distancing of itself from traditional state-controlled media is increasingly met with an angry reaction from the state apparatus, which in turn further tightens related laws. The European Union, and the European Parliament in particular, actively support independent media and civil society in Belarus, and the Council of the EU and the Parliament both address the challenges to media freedom in the country. Financial help is also provided to Belarus and was even increased at the end of 2021, with priority areas of support including ‘systematically repressed’ independent media." (Summary)
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"The reach of the media outlets researched in this study extends above all to a population with greater purchasing power and educational attainment, who are looking for serious, investigative, quality journalism. This audience likes to feel part of the media outlet, collaborate with it, and have dir
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ect contact with its journalists. They specifically like to participate in dialogue and debates through in-person events and webinars, suggest topics for investigation, receive information by means of personalised newsletters, and have access to podcasts, videos and e-books. Access to this type of service and product may even be a reason to begin lending economic support to a media outlet. The challenge is to reach more and new audiences, of greater diversity and different segments, to whom their current investigations with long, erudite texts do not currently appeal, because they are instead looking for more popular news items or more entertaining formats (such as the videos preferred by the younger population." (Lessons learned, página 18-19)
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"When questioning the relationship between media, development, and democracy, especially in the ill-defined “Global South,” it’s important to go beyond the commonly held meta-narratives that frame these concepts as common sense. In a quest to investigate alternative characterizations of these
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terms, this chapter uses Ghanaian political economist Lord Mawuko-Yevugah’s (2014) theoretical framework of “developmentality” to explain how development has been used as an ideological instrument to promote the Western liberal media model in the “Global South.” Using a case study of Malawi, which is heavily dependent on foreign aid from the same countries who have defined and promoted this liberal media model aboard, raises important questions about a media model that is characterized by high objectivity and political neutrality on one side, but subjects countries to high levels of competition and free market principles on the other. By outlining the temporal sequence of events that have unfolded since the arrival of missionary media in the 1800s, the presence of international donors and the rise in non-governmental organizations, this chapter reveals how certain ideologies and practices have been legitimized through development to preserve the unequal balance of power between the “Global South” and their former colonial powers." (Abstract)
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"The article provides an overview of the Croatian media landscape and its transformation that has been driven by the processes of democratization, commercialization and digitalization. The main media-related concerns from 1990 to 2000 were freedom of the press, autonomy of journalism and censorship.
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The liberalization of the media market that started in 2000, led to proliferation of media outlets and galloping commercialization of media ownership and content. The next big change came with digitalization that fundamentally altered media habits of Croatian audiences. Television was preceded by online media as the main source of news while the press registers constant decline in readership, trust and advertising revenues. Radio remains the most trusted medium, as opposed to social media that are the least trusted source of information. Nevertheless, the level of trust in social networks in Croatia is considerably higher than the EU average. The data on media freedom and journalistic autonomy indicate that Croatia has made significant progress in this respect in the past thirty years. Although problems related to freedom, autonomy and political pressure persist, the biggest threat to journalism nowadays seems to come from within the profession. Commercialization, coupled with digitalization and merciless struggle for survival, eventually led news media to succumb to tabloid-style journalism and to radically downplay their professional standards." (Abstract)
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"Written just prior to the Taliban's rapid takeover of Afghanistan, this new report from Shorenstein Center Fellow Samiullah Mahdi provides an overview of the media landscape in Afghanistan, and the threats to and opportunities for press freedom in the region." (Introduction)
"Les politiques de communication au Gabon se sont construites, depuis l’Indépendance, au travers de multiples tensions entre autocratie et démocratie. Elles ont connu diverses régressions et avancées, tant dans la volonté de promotion du développement que dans le respect des droits et libert
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és. L’ouvrage d’Arthur Félicien Sabi-Djaboudi vise à contribuer à la compréhension de cette lente évolution, parcourant les périodes de décolonisation, de parti unique, de libéralisation de la vie publique jusqu’à l’actuel basculement dans les mondes numériques. La critique menée par l’auteur offre des bases non seulement pour dessiner une nouvelle configuration médiatique, mais pour redéfinir l’économie de la communication au Gabon, et refonder ainsi la communauté politique." (Dos de couverture)
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"COVID-19 has taken a heavy toll on freedom of expression, access to information, and media freedom. Amidst an ongoing global decline in democratic freedoms, the pandemic has severely affected the work of media outlets and independent journalists. Functioning media are, however, a precondition for r
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eliable information, government accountability — and for an inclusive recovery from the repercussions of the global health crisis. What are the most pressing challenges the media have faced during the pandemic? And how can these challenges be addressed? What can governments, donors and civil society organizations do? This discussion paper highlights some of the most relevant problems and recommendations on how to tackle them." (Page 1)
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"This Information Ecosystem Assessment (IEA) aims to study the information environment in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) of the Philippines during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Its main objective is to explore the dynamics of information in the region. The first section
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of the report discusses the media landscape in BARMM and its implication on the supply of information in the region during the pandemic. The second section covers the information demands and experiences of communities, particularly those from vulnerable groups such as internally displaced persons (IDP) and remote populations. It also tackles the access to as well as the use and influence of information, along with identifying its trusted sources for the locals. The third section explains the dynamics between the information supply and demand from the community along with their effects on trust, influence, and behaviors. The fourth section outlines the humanitarian response to COVID-19 and the challenges faced by different organizations in their efforts to inform the public at large." (Executive summary)
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