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Perpetrators in Documentaries on Genocide

Julian Koch

Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press (2026), 268 pp.

"Perpetrators in Documentaries on Genocide is a wide-ranging comparative study that analyses how numerous genocides and their perpetrators have been presented in documentary film. Spanning seven 20th-century genocides across three continents and combining interviews with filmmakers, distant reading, ... more

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Google Scholar (231)

WorldCat (209)

Macro-Economic Inequality and National Stereotypes in 45 Non-Western Countries

Vukašin Gligoric, John T. Jost, Jessica V. Schaaf et al.

Social Psychological and Personality Science, volume 17, issue 4 (2026), pp. 492-509

"The assumption that people favor ingroups and disfavor outgroups is based largely on theory and research from Western countries. However, groups subjected to economic exploitation and inequality might come to favor more advantaged outgroups. The present large-scale study (N = 12,339) involving 45 n ... more

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Panorama of Exiled Independent Media: Amid Global Geopolitical Turbulence in 2026
Deep Insights

Berlin: JX Fund (2026), 29 pp.

"Exiled Independent Media (EXIM) are no longer a marginal or transitional phenomenon. They have become a permanent and structurally significant part of the global media landscape – and the forces that lead EXIM to appear are, if anything, growing stronger. The sustained rise of authoritarian regim ... more

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World Happiness Report 2026: Happiness and Social Media

John F. Helliwell, Richard Layard, Jeffrey D. Sachs, Jan-Emmanuel De Neve, Lara B. Aknin, Shun Wang (eds.)

Oxford: University of Oxford, Wellbeing Research Centre (2026), 268 pp.

"TRENDS IN GLOBAL HAPPINESS • Nordic countries lead the happiness rankings once again. Finland is still in a group of one at the top, followed by a group of three: Iceland, Denmark, and Costa Rica. Sweden and Norway complete the top six, followed by the Netherlands, Israel, Luxembourg, and Switze ... rland to round out the top ten. Costa Rica’s rise to 4th marks the highest ever ranking for a Latin American country. • Looking at changes in happiness from the 2006–2010 base period to 2023–2025, nearly twice as many countries have had significant gains (79) than significant losses (41), among the 136 countries ranked. • Within that period, most of the 21 countries that have gained a point or more on the 0–10 life evaluation scale are in Central and Eastern Europe, reflecting the convergence in European happiness levels that has been clear for more than a decade. Most of the eight countries with drops of more than one point are in or near zones of major conflict. • In general, most Western industrial countries are now less happy than they were between 2005 and 2010. Fifteen of them have had significant drops, compared to four with significant increases. • In a ranking of happiness changes for under-25s, the United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand (the NANZ region) rank between 122 and 133 in the list of 136 countries. • In eight of the ten global regions shown in Figure 2.2 (covering roughly 90% of the world’s population), those in the youngest age group have higher life evaluations now than in 2006–2010, either in absolute terms or relative to those over 25. Youth wellbeing has only fallen in the NANZ countries and Western Europe, both absolutely and relative to adults. • Negative emotions are becoming more common in all global regions. They are less frequent for the young, except for NANZ, where the increases, relative to other regions, were in sadness. Worry rose more broadly for the young, while the frequency of anger fell everywhere, for young and old alike. • Positive emotions continue to be twice as frequent as negative emotions. In all regions, they are higher for those born recently than for their elders, except for NANZ, where that gap has closed in recent years. HAPPINESS AND SOCIAL MEDIA • Life satisfaction is highest at low rates of social media use and lower at higher rates of use, according to data from the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) covering seven internet activities for 15-year-old students in 47 countries (but not the NANZ countries, unfortunately). • Internet activities fall into two groups. Communications, news, learning, and content creation are associated with higher life satisfaction. Social media, gaming, and browsing for fun are associated with lower life evaluations. • All internet activities are associated with lower life satisfaction at very high rates of use, especially for girls and for those in the UK and Ireland, the two English-speaking countries in PISA. • Data from Latin America reveal that the type of platform is crucial. Platforms designed to facilitate social connections show a clear positive association with happiness, whereas those driven by algorithmically curated content tend to demonstrate a negative association at high rates of use. • When combined, the PISA and Gallup data show significantly higher youth wellbeing in countries that spend more time using the internet for communication, and insignificantly lower youth wellbeing in countries with higher average hours of social media use. Latin American countries combine high levels 6 World Happiness Report 2026 of social media use with high youth wellbeing, while English-speaking countries show lower youth wellbeing than their fairly typical patterns of internet use can explain. • The prevalence and use patterns for social media are similar in all countries, but their links to life evaluations are stronger in English- speaking countries and Western Europe. These differences do not account for the large drops in youth wellbeing in these countries, however. Much, no doubt, depends on how social media is used and the broader social and economic context. • When school belonging goes from low (10th percentile) to high (90th percentile), the life satisfaction gains for girls in the UK and Ireland are four times greater than social media use going from high (90th percentile) to low (10th percentile). In PISA’s 47-country global sample, the belonging effect is six times larger. This should be relevant when policy options are being considered. SOCIAL MEDIA IS HARMING ADOLESCENTS AT A SCALE LARGE ENOUGH TO CAUSE CHANGES AT THE POPULATION LEVEL • Is social media use reasonably safe for children and adolescents? We call this the “product safety question”, and we present seven lines of evidence showing that the answer is no. • The evidence of harm is found in: 1) surveys of young people; 2) surveys of parents, teachers, and clinicians; 3) contents from corporate documents; 4) findings from cross-sectional studies; 5) findings from longitudinal studies; 6) findings from social media reduction experiments; and 7) findings from natural experiments. • We show there is now overwhelming evidence of severe and widespread direct harms (such as cyberbullying and sextortion), and compelling evidence of troubling indirect harms (such as depression). Furthermore, we show that the harms and risks to individual users are so diverse and vast in scope that they justify the view that social media is causing harm at a population level. • We further argue that when these lines of evidence are considered alongside the timing, scope, and cross-national trends in adolescent wellbeing and mental health, they can help answer a second question: was the rapid adoption of always-available social media by adolescents in the early 2010s a substantial contributor to the population-level increases in mental illness that emerged by the mid 2010s in many Western nations? We call this the “historical trends question”. We draw on our findings about the vast scale of harm uncovered while answering the product safety question to argue that the answer to the historical trends question is “yes”. (Executive summary, pages 6-7) more

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Podcasts for ecosocial change: A study of environmental narratives in the English and Spanish contexts

Sara López-Gómez

Radio Journal: International Studies in Broadcast & Audio Media, volume 24, issue 1 (2026), pp. 71-97

"In the context of the current ecological crisis, ecosocial podcasts connect environmental degradation, social injustice, and global inequalities, inviting reflection on the need for socio-environmental transformations. This article offers an overview and comparative mapping of ecosocial podcasting ... more

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Governance of Social Media Platforms and Regulation of Online Media in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia and Türkiye

Andia Sokol, Lamija Kovačević, Sinem Aydınlı, Amer Džihana, Marina Grnja Klaić, Mihajlo Lahtov, Ilda Londo, Vesna Rajković

South East European Network for Professionalization of Media (SEENPM) (2026), 81 pp.

"The purpose of this study is to identify the current state of regulatory frameworks governing social media platforms and online media, as well as the main challenges related to the moderation and curation of verified public interest information on these media platforms. The target countries that ar ... more

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The Role of Trust and Attitudes toward Democracy in the Dissemination of Disinformation: A Comparative Analysis of Six Democracies

Edda Humprecht

Digital Journalism, volume 13, issue 5 (2025), pp. 931-948

"Trust lies at the heart of the disinformation crisis, as citizens must decide which narratives to follow and whether to accept “alternative truths.” Therefore, trust in institutions that publish reliable information can act as a shield against disinformation. This comparative study investigates ... more

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State of digital development and trends in the Americas region: Challenges and opportunities

Geneva: ITU (2025), v, 51 pp.

"This publication provides an in-depth look at digital development across the region, revealing both substantial progress and areas where challenges persist. Internet use is widespread, with nearly nine in ten people online. In a milestone achievement, the Americas is the only region to have fully b ... more

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State of digital development and trends in the CIS region: Challenges and opportunities

Geneva: ITU (2025), iv, 47 pp.

"This publication offers a comprehensive overview of digital development in the CIS region. The data reveal a region where nine in ten people are online—well above the global average—and where mobile broadband networks now cover virtually the entire population. These are important milestones. At ... more

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State of digital development and trends in the Arab States region: Challenges and opportunities

Geneva: ITU (2025), iv, 53 pp.

"This report offers a comprehensive snapshot of the region’s digital landscape, highlighting both remarkable progress and persisting challenges. Ninety-five per cent of the population in this region is covered by mobile broadband networks, and more than half of the countries have already achieved ... more

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Who Makes the News? Progress on a Plateau. Global Media Monitoring Project (GMMP) Special Edition: 30-year Findings on Change in Gender Equality In and Through the World News Media
Deep Insights

Sarah Macharia, Maximiliano Dueñas Guzmán, Rodrigo Molina et al.

Toronto: World Association of Christian Communication (WACC); Global Media Monitoring Project (GMMP) (2025), 123 pp.

"This report presents the findings of the seventh iteration of the Global Media Monitoring Project (GMMP) global snapshot, based on 30,049 news articles containing 58,563 people and 26,708 news personnel in 94 countries on the 7th global monitoring day, May 6, 2025. Key Findings: 1. Thirty years a ... go, the report of the first GMMP called for a shift in coverage beyond the male-dominated realms of political and economic power. Not only has the hierarchy of “hard news” in legacy media persisted across time, it has also crossed over into digital outlets. 2. Digitalization did not bring a radical break from the patriarchal norms of traditional journalism. Instead, it continues to reinforce and amplify a news hierarchy that privileges spheres and issues centred on power, namely, those dominated by men. The challenge is threefold. First, to dismantle the “hard news” bias, second, to integrate more intentionally spaces and issues of greater concern to women, and third, to enable visibility and voice to women present in traditionally male-dominated spaces. 3. After a period of slow but steady improvement, progress toward gender parity in the news has flatlined since around 2010, failing to reach 50% in any media type. Thirty years after Beijing, women are 26% of those seen, heard, or spoken about in legacy news (29% on news websites). The needle has shifted 9 points in legacy media since 1995, and 4 points in online news during the past 10 years. Minority groups are five points more likely to be present in digital news than in legacy media. The probability of minority women being featured in the news as the main protagonists or as interviewees is two in a hundred in traditional media (3% for men) and 4% on news websites (5% for men). 4. Women’s visibility in political and economic news beats has increased significantly – by 15 points each – over the past three decades. The severe underrepresentation noted in 1995 (7% in political news, 10% in economic news) has improved. Women’s presence in sports news is abysmal, at only 15% of news subjects and sources. 5. The proportion of women providing expert testimony has grown remarkably over the decades, showing the highest increase (+7 points) in digital news since 2015. In legacy media, the gender gap in authoritative roles as experts and spokespersons has closed at a slower pace than for persons providing testimony based on popular opinion and personal experience – ordinary roles that require no specialized knowledge. 6. Patterns of gender-biased portrayal endure despite decades of change in women’s roles in the real world. Women have remained about twice as likely as men to be portrayed as victims since 2010. Historically, women were most often portrayed as victims of accidents or poverty. This pattern was overturned in 2025, with “other crime” and “domestic violence” (by intimate partners and family members) becoming the top victim categories. Women depicted as survivors in legacy media were most likely to have survived “accidents, natural disasters, poverty, and disease” in previous GMMP studies. In 2025, they are most frequently portrayed as domestic violence survivors in equal proportion to accident/disaster survivors. The over-representation of women as homemakers/parents decreased from 81% in 2000 to 73% in 2025, indicating some progress, albeit a persistent journalistic bias toward defining women by domestic roles, despite women’s current unprecedented engagement in work outside the home. Underrepresentation in occupations and in positions of power has remained consistent. The tendency to describe women by their age and physical attributes has also persisted. They have been photographed more often than men (a 7–9-point difference) over the past two decades, with qualitative analysis continuing to show patterns of sexualised portrayal [...]" (Key findings, pages 2-3) more

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Entfernte Nachbarn / distant neighbours / vizinhos distantes: Transnationale Öffentlichkeit in afrikanisch-europäischer Nachrichtenberichterstattung

Marcus Kreutler

Wiesbaden: Springer VS (2025), xxii, 351 pp.

"In diesem Buch wird untersucht, ob gleichsprachige Berichterstattung in europäischen und afrikanischen Zeitungen Kennzeichen transnationaler Öffentlichkeit aufweist. Dabei überträgt der Autor ein vor allem mit Blick auf EU-Staaten etabliertes Konzept auf afrikanisch-europäische Länderpaare, d ... more

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World Trends in Freedom of Expression and Media Development: Global Report 2022/2025. Journalism: Shaping a World at Peace
Deep Insights

Randy Covington et al.

Paris: UNESCO (2025), 216 pp.

"Free, independent, pluralistic, and professional journalism is key for defending human dignity, advancing justice, and sustaining peace. Yet today, freedom of expression is under assault as seldom before. The 2022/2025 World Trends Report, Journalism: Shaping a World at Peace, underscores the profo ... more

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Our Media, Our Democracy, Our Future. The Future of the Media in the Western Balkans and Turkey – Facts and Trends. Regional Overview
Deep Insights

Sanela Hodžic, Sandra B. Hrvatin

Sarajevo; Ljubljana: Mediacentar; Peace Institute; South East European Network for Professionalization of Media (SEENPM) (2025), 57 pp.

"The results of the research conducted in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, and Turkey suggest that the key determinants for the future of our media and democracies are the following: • The poor socio-economic status of journalists and their exposure to ... pressure and attacks, coupled with modest support mechanisms, cripple the ability of journalists to promote the public interest, report on key issues of public interest, and hold power to account. In the most extreme cases, the pressure involves imprisonment, interrogation, surveillance, and lawsuits aimed at silencing journalists. • The lack of consistent monitoring and registration of cases of Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (SLAPP) in the region, with dozens of lawsuits against journalists filed by political officials and their affiliates. • A growing number or media outlets, but a declining number of journalism students, highlighting concerns about the future shrinking of staff numbers in media newsrooms and about the growing automatization of journalism. The most drastic drop was in North Macedonia, with the number of journalism students in 2023 amounting to only 11% of the number from ten years ago and 50% of the number from 2000. • The number of media outlets is growing, mostly in the online sector, while print media outlets are becoming increasingly endemic. • A worrying trend of overt concentration of media ownership in the hands of a few media conglomerates, often tied to national or foreign governments, that takes a toll on media freedom and pluralism. • The dominant instrumentalization (through ownership and funding) of media (including private and public) for particular political and/or business interests limits the space for editorial independence and integrity. • Non-profit media are still a rarity in the region, with only a few non-profit radio broadcasters in some countries, and an unknown number of online platforms of civil society organizations with a community-focused mission. • Lack of transparency of the media sector, particularly a lack of accessible and reliable information concerning the media industry and the media market. • Advertising is the main source of revenues in the media sector, with the total revenues ranging between EUR 12 million in Montenegro and over EUR 4 billion in Turkey. • Although it is declining, the TV sector is still dominant in terms of its share of advertising revenues, while social media’s share is increasing, and in Turkey it amounts to as much as 45.7% of advertising revenues. • The tech giants such as Google and Meta are an increasingly dominant competitor for media outlets in the region, jeopardizing the future sustainability of national and local media outlets and potentially curbing political pluralism in public communication. • Public funding for the media, including funding of public broadcasters (declining in four out of seven countries), grants, and subsidies for media outlets and government advertising, amounts to several to dozens of millions of euros per country, taking up an important share of media revenues, but without proactive transparency, effective guarantees of editorial independence, well-defined purpose and evaluation, the opportunities to make public funding for the media an important instrument of media democratization remain under-used. • The representation of different age, gender, ethnic, religious, and other groups in media content and in the newsrooms’ staff is limited. In multiethnic communities some policies promote ethnic diversity of media content, while other identity axes are largely neglected and pluralism in public communication is very limited. Women are an important, and in many countries even dominant, workforce in the media, but remain underrepresented in managerial posts." (Executive summary) more

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Communication and democracy in Brazil and Germany: Media accountability, public service media, internet access and right to information

Danilo Rothberg, Susanne Fengler, Fernando Oliveira Paulino, Rogério Christofoletti (eds.)

São Paulo: Cultura Acadêmica (2025), 304 pp.

"The expertise brought by three important Brazilian public universities (Unesp, UnB, and UFSC), combined with the knowledge accumulated through research investment by the Technische Universität Dortmund, was taken here as a unique and rich source of knowledge capable of avoiding the pitfalls and ov ... more

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Journalism under Duress: Worlds of Journalism Study Report (Wave 3: 2021–2025)
Deep Insights

Thomas Hanitzsch, Folker Hanusch, Corinna Lauerer, Vera Slavtcheva-Petkova (eds.)

Munich: Ludwig-Maximilian Universität (LMU), WJS Center (2025), 371 pp.

"This report presents findings from the third wave of the Worlds of Journalism Study (WJS3), conducted between 2021 and 2025. In this iteration, we focused on journalists’ perceptions of risk and uncertainty in their profession and sought to identify key factors that shape how journalists navigate ... more

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Tributação das Big Techs e Jornalismo: Caminhos para o Brasil

Raphael Lavez, Isabella Panisson, Francisco Brito Cruz

Momentum Journalism & Tech Task Force (2025), 26 pp.

"A atuação e o modelo de negócio das grandes empresas de tecnologia remodelaram profundamente as dinâmicas econômicas de diversos setores, inclusive o do jornalismo. A concentração de receitas publicitárias em grandes plataformas aprofunda a crise estrutural da mídia, colocando em xeque a s ... more

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Measuring digital development: The affordability of ICT services 2024

Geneva: ITU (2025), iv, 27 pp.

"This edition’s findings highlight important progress: in 2024, mobile broadband services have become more affordable in most regions and for most income groups, and a growing number of countries are meeting the Broadband Commission’s target of entry-level broadband services costing less than 2 ... more

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Privacy Scorecard Review 2024: Rwanda, Tanzania, Mauritius, Zimbabwe, Kenya, Uganda
Deep Insights

Kampala: Unwanted Witness (2025), 117 pp.

"The evolving digital landscape across East Africa and beyond underscores the critical need for robust data protection and privacy frameworks. While countries like Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, Mauritius, and Zimbabwe have made significant progress in establishing legal and institutional mechanisms to sa ... feguard personal data, challenges remain in enforcement, compliance, and public awareness. Kenya, despite being a leader in the region’s digital economy, continues to grapple with regulatory gaps, non-compliance, and weak enforcement of its Data Protection Act. The rise of emerging technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), blockchain, and the Internet of Things (IoT) necessitates stronger regulatory oversight, aligning with international best practices, including the GDPR and the African Union Convention on Cyber Security and Personal Data Protection. For Rwanda, ethical data governance is paramount in its rapidly digitalizing economy. Ensuring that privacy, dignity, and autonomy are upheld requires the active participation of government, the private sector, civil society, and citizens. This report has evaluated Rwanda’s Data Privacy and Protection Law, identifying both strengths and areas for improvement, particularly in compliance and enforcement across different sectors. Tanzania has demonstrated a commitment to data privacy through its Personal Data Protection and Privacy Act, but challenges in its legal and institutional frameworks hinder full implementation. Strengthening these frameworks by incorporating international legal obligations, particularly through the Malabo Convention, would enhance Tanzania’s data protection regime. Mauritius has taken commendable steps in aligning its Data Protection Act (DPA) 2017 with international standards, but translating this framework into effective protections remains a challenge. Inconsistencies in data collection, lack of transparency, and insufficient public awareness have impeded progress. To address these gaps, Mauritius must focus on legislative refinements, institutional strengthening, enforcement mechanisms, and public education. A comprehensive data breach response framework and active engagement in global data protection forums would further solidify its position as a regional leader in data protection. Zimbabwe’s Data Protection Act, though relatively new, has introduced significant measures to protect data subjects. There is an increasing recognition of data privacy rights across various sectors, with businesses and government agencies adopting privacy policies. However, challenges persist, including the lack of transparency reports and weak internal data breach resolution mechanisms. Strengthening compliance frameworks and promoting greater accountability are essential to fostering a more secure digital ecosystem. As digital economies continue to expand, cross-stakeholder collaboration is essential to ensuring that data protection is not just a legal requirement but a practical reality. Governments must strengthen regulatory oversight, businesses must prioritize compliance and transparency, and civil society must demand accountability and advocate for user rights. The protection of personal data is not just a legal obligation but a fundamental human right. Countries in the region have the opportunity to enhance digital trust, drive innovation, and foster economic growth by continuously refining their data protection laws and enforcement mechanisms. Moving forward, sustained efforts in policy development, international cooperation, and public engagement will be crucial in shaping a secure and privacy-conscious digital future." (Conclusion) more

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State of digital development and trends in Asia and the Pacific: Challenges and opportunities

Geneva: ITU (2025), iv, 53 pp.

"[...] While mobile broadband covers over 95 per cent of the population, disparities persist. High-income economies lead in 5G deployment and innovation, while lower-income countries face infrastructure, affordability, and digital literacy gaps. The urban-rural divide remains, and women and marginal ... more

Panorama of Exiled Independent Media: Amid Global Geopolitical Turbulence in 2026 Deep Insights

Who Makes the News? Progress on a Plateau. Global Media Monitoring Project (GMMP) Special Edition: 30-year Findings on Change in Gender Equality In and Through the World News Media Deep Insights

World Trends in Freedom of Expression and Media Development: Global Report 2022/2025. Journalism: Shaping a World at Peace Deep Insights

Our Media, Our Democracy, Our Future. The Future of the Media in the Western Balkans and Turkey – Facts and Trends. Regional Overview Deep Insights

Journalism under Duress: Worlds of Journalism Study Report (Wave 3: 2021–2025) Deep Insights

Privacy Scorecard Review 2024: Rwanda, Tanzania, Mauritius, Zimbabwe, Kenya, Uganda Deep Insights