"In their professional role orientations, Sierra Leonean journalists found it most important to educate the audience, let people express their views, report things as they are, support national development and advocate for social change. The respondents believe it is not their job to convey a positi
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ve image of political leadership, support government policy, and neither do they want to be an adversary of the government as shown in Table 1. Even though the journalists do not believe so much that they should be responsible to set the political agenda, they supported the role of providing the information people need to make political decisions. For many of the journalists in Sierra Leone it is important to promote tolerance and cultural diversity, provide orientation for daily life, tell stories of the world, provide the kind of news that attracts the largest audience and monitor and scrutinize political leaders." (Journalistic roles, page 2)
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"With regards to professional role orientations, Chinese journalists found it most important to report things as they are, to provide analysis of current affairs, to support national development, to provide advice, orientation and direction for daily life, and to be a detached observer. The relevanc
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e of these “classic” roles such as “to report things as they are” and “to provide analysis of current affairs” was fairly undisputed among the interviewed journalists as the relatively low standard deviations indicate. Likewise, there was a strong consensus among the respondents over the importance of supporting national development. Still, a majority of journalists in China found it important to provide the kind of news that attracts the largest audience, to let people express their views, to influence public opinion, and to support government policy. The most disputative role is to be an adversary of the government (s=1.32), which is also the least supportive role. Another highly disputative role is to convey a positive image of political leadership (s=1.16). Except for the roles of supporting national development and supporting government policy, other politically more assertive roles were not widely supported, such as setting the political agenda, motivating people to participate in political activity, and monitoring and scrutinizing political leaders." (Journalistic roles, pages 1-2)
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"With regards to professional role orientations, Ethiopian journalists found it most important to support national development, promote tolerance and cultural diversity, provide analysis of current affairs, and educate the audience. The relevance of these roles was fairly undisputed among the interv
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iewed journalists as the relatively low standard deviations indicate. The least valued role among the interviewed journalists was to be an adversary of the government (20.2% saying “extremely” or “very important”). On the same note, around half of the respondents found it important to support government policy and convey a positive image of the political leadership. However, these and similar roles triggered relatively high standard deviations, indicating that the journalist population is split on politically inclined roles orientations." (Journalistic roles, page 2)
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"Romanian journalists said that objectivity is the most important attribute of their work. They strongly believe that their job is to report events exactly the way they happened, without any external or internal intervention. The low standard deviations in these cases indicate that there is a high l
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evel of agreement (at least declarative agreement) on the most important roles of the Romanian journalists. In addition, Romanian journalists think they have a duty to serve their public. As shown in Table 1, they believe their role is to educate the audience and provide an analysis of the current problems. However, the standard deviation shows that there is not a high level of agreement on the main roles of the journalists. For the majority of the Romanian journalists it is essential to assume a social role in the community. They consider it important to promote tolerance and cultural diversity, to let people express their views, to support national development and to advocate for social change. The percentage of those who assume the role of watch dogs for the politicians is smaller; only half of the Romanian journalists questioned in this particular study believe it is important to monitor and scrutinize political leaders." (Journalistic roles, page 2)
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"With regards to professional role orientations, Sudanese journalists found it most important to support national development, to be a detached observer, to advocate for social change, and to influence public opinion. The relevance of these roles was fairly undisputed among the interviewed journalis
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ts as the relatively low standard deviations indicate. At the same time, respondents turned out to be less keen on acting as an adversary of the government, supporting government policy, and conveying a positive image of political leadership. However, standard deviations point to a great deal of disagreement among journalists with regards to these aspects of journalistic roles. Still, a majority of journalists in Sudan found it important to let people express their views, to report things as they are, to provide analysis of current affairs, to provide the kind of news that attracts the largest audience, to provide advice, orientation and direction for daily life, to provide information people need to make political decisions, and to monitor and scrutinize political leaders and business. Overall, Sudanese journalists’ look fairly similar to their counterparts in other parts of the world, while at the same time, they also subscribe to some of the basic elements of development journalism." (Journalistic roles, page 1)
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"Respondents believed that their primary role was to monitor and scrutinize political leaders, followed closely by reporting facts as they are. Yet only half found either of these to be ‘extremely’ or ‘very important’. They were also keen that everyday people should be allowed to express the
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ir views through the national media, and that the media should broaden the readers’ horizons. To promote tolerance and cultural diversity was an important journalistic role as well, concomitant with Singapore’s conscious and consistent effort to foster harmony among the diverse races and religions that constitute the population. At the bottom end of the table, respondents did not see that providing advice for daily life, entertainment and relaxation was a significant journalistic role. These are, perhaps, values more associated with lifestyle magazines, and this may reflect a division of labor in the minds of the newsworkers." (Journalistic roles, page 1)
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"Hong Kong journalists treated as most important the roles of monitoring and scrutinizing political leaders, reporting things as they are, monitoring and scrutinizing businesses, providing analysis of current affairs, and letting people express their views. Given the emphasis on monitoring the power
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holders, “to be a detached observer” was treated as important only by slightly more than half of the respondents. Twelve of the 18 roles included in the questionnaire were treated as important by fewer than half of the respondents. About one-third saw the advocacy role of the press as important, and about three in ten saw setting the political agenda and motivating people to participate in politics as important. The Hong Kong journalists were least likely to see conveying a positive image of political leadership, supporting government policy, providing entertainment and relaxation, and supporting national development as important roles. However, the percentage of journalists seeing the press as an adversary of the government is also low (14.4%). It indicates that the Hong Kong journalists saw themselves as an independent watchdog without being an adversary to the power holders." (Journalistic roles, page 2)
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"With regards to professional role orientations, Argentinian journalists found it most important to report things as they were, to promote tolerance and cultural diversity, to provide analysis of current affairs, and to let people express their views (see Table 1). A majority of journalists in Argen
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tina found it important to monitor and scrutinize political leaders and business. Considering the political polarization context as it was seen in Argentina during the years when the survey was conducted, options of conveying a positive image of political leadership or being an adversary of the government were surprisingly supported by only a minority of respondents. They showed some consensus towards more politically assertive roles such as supporting government policy or setting political agenda, both roles related to partisan journalism. Regarding this popular model, half of the respondents considered important, in increasing order, setting the political agenda, motivating people to participate in political activity, influencing public opinion, supporting national development, providing information people need to make political decisions and advocating for social change." (Journalistic roles, page 2)
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"Journalists in Serbia seriously believe in their role to inform, interpret, educate and advocate for social change. Nearly all of them, with very little divergence, say the main role of journalism is to report things as they are, followed by providing analysis, promoting tolerance and diversity, ed
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ucating the audience, letting people express their views, advocating for social change, influencing public opinion, supporting national development and telling stories about the world. Around two thirds point to aspects of the watchdog-role as important in their work: monitoring and scrutinizing political leaders and businesses and providing information people need to make political decisions, as well as being a detached observer. Slightly more than half of the interviewed journalists believe it is their job to provide advice for daily life, and there is a relative agreement among them about this. Less popular journalistic roles of setting the political agenda and motivating people to take part in political activity enjoy support of 43.1 and 37.5 percent respectively, with a higher divergence of opinions. Similarly, the disagreement is relatively high over prioritizing entertainment and relaxation, or being an adversary of the government, each upheld by one third of respondents. Supporting government’s policy and conveying a positive image of political leadership are the two least popular journalistic roles (8.9 and 12.6 percent respectively), and journalists tend to agree about this." (Journalistic roles, pages 1-2)
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"With regards to professional roles, Indonesian journalists found it most important to report things as they are, educate their audience, promote tolerance and cultural diversity, let people express their opinions and advocate for social change. Interviewed journalists also found it very important t
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o provide the kind of news that attracts large audiences and support national development; the latter role seems to be similar among journalists based on the low standard deviation. Indonesian journalists reported that the role of supporting national development is still very important. In addition, Indonesian journalists found it important to provide analysis of current affairs, provide news that helps people to make political decisions, be a detached observer, motivate people to participate in political activity and monitor and scrutinize political leaders. Nevertheless, only 10.5 percent found that it is acceptable to be an adversary to the government or to set a political agenda." (Journalistic roles, page 2)
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"Journalists in Malaysia view educating the audience, reports things as they are, promote tolerance, tell stories about the world, and cultural diversity and be a detached observer as their main roles (see Table 1). On the other hand, they did not indicate highly as their roles such as setting of po
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litical agenda, conveying a positive image of political leadership and motivate people to participate in political activity. In between those two “group” of roles, they would provide analysis of current affairs, provide the kind of news that attracts the largest audience. They also support national development and provide information people need to make political decisions." (Journalistic roles, page 2)
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"The purpose of this publication, which has been taken care of by our partner institution IViR of the University of Amsterdam, is to provide an overview of the often disparate information concerning regional audiovisual media in Europe and to serve as a first reference point for those interested in
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exploring their legal and operational dynamics. The introductory part sets the scene for the scope of the report and presents the most recent regulatory achievements at European level. The first part of the report opens with a survey of the current national developments, highlighting those countries where governments have been particularly active in implementing reforms in recent years, touching upon funding systems, advertising and information windows, must-carry mechanisms and frequency allocation. The different national experiences have recently been assessed under the Media Pluralism Monitor promoted by the EU. The results show that none of the countries have fulfilled all of the safeguards considered by the tool. In addition, it points out that despite the availability of legislation on regional media in most countries, only a small number of them seems to have implemented it effectively. A snapshot is provided of regional and local television in Europe from a market perspective, with country by country data on public and private broadcasters from the MAVISE database of the European Audiovisual Observatory, including specific information on language channels, regional windows and studios. The second part of the report explores a selection of national case-studies. The total variety of solutions does not allow for a sensible comparative analysis, so the purpose of this selection is rather to collect the countries that show distinctive or interesting features in their regulatory approaches. The selected countries – Germany, Italy, The Netherlands, France, Spain, Switzerland and United Kingdom – present a canvas of possible solutions to the challenges that regional media are facing in the current times of economic crisis and digital convergence. While findability and visibility of regional media within the wide media offer that exists in all European countries is still one of the major obstacles for regional broadcasters to be known and consequently to be consumed, several examples of good practices can be traced while looking at the various national experiences." (Foreword, page 1-2)
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"While answering questions about their professional roles, journalists in Bangladesh preferred being assertive with social issues. An overwhelming majority of the Bangladeshi journalists work to promote tolerance and cultural diversity (87.0%). They also put importance on advocacy for social change
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(79.6%), followed by letting people express their views (78.8%), providing analysis of current affairs (78.4%) and reporting things as they are (76.8%). They also prioritize political assertiveness by assigning importance and extreme importance to supporting national development (76.3%) and monitoring and scrutinizing political leaders (63.2%). Journalists, however, show the least interest in supporting government policies (28.7%). They ranked roles like being an adversary of the government (28.9%) or conveying a positive image of political leadership (37.3%) the lowest. The journalists in general aim to provide the kind of news that attracts the largest audience (75.9%)." (Journalistic roles, page 2)
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"The Tunisian revolution has left a significant mark on the country’s media landscape, which diversified and played an important role in the transition process. Media diversity, however, does not guarantee the independence of information per se, especially if it remains to be dominated by politica
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l or economic interests. The Tunisian Media Ownership Monitor, set up by RSF and Al Khatt from April to June 2016, shows that even if there is no strong media concentration in the hands of a few like in the days of Ben Ali, disturbing trends can nonetheless be observed: 6 out of the 10 TV stations analysed have a history of political affiliation. As the form of media with the highest audience rates in Tunisia, TV stations naturally attract interests from the political sphere; No reliable audience data exists, no matter for which type of media; Financial data difficult to obtain; Lack of transparency about funding means." (http://www.mom-rsf.org)
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"Media concentration has been an issue around the world. To some observers the power of large corporations has never been higher. To others, the Internet has brought openness and diversity. What perspective is correct? The answer has significant implications for politics, business, culture, regulati
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on, and innovation. It addresses a highly contentious subject of public debate in many countries around the world. In this discussion, one side fears the emergence of media empires that can sway public opinion and endanger democracy. The other side believes the Internet has opened media to unprecedented diversity and worries about excessive regulation by government. Strong opinions and policy advocates abound on each side, yet a lack of quantitative research across time, media industries, and countries undermines these positions. This book moves beyond the rhetoric of free media and free markets to provide a dispassionate and data-driven analysis of global media ownership trends and their drivers. The book covers thirteen media industries, including television, newspapers, book publishing, film, search engines, ISPs, wireless telecommunication, and others across a 10- to 25-year period in thirty countries. After examining these countries, this book offers comparisons and analysis across industries, regions, companies, and development levels. It calculates overall national concentration trends beyond specific media industries, the market share of individual companies in the overall national media sector, and the size and trends of transnational companies in overall global media." (Publisher description)
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"With regard to professional role orientations, South African journalists found it most important to report things as they are (92.5%), to educate the audience (86.8%), and to let people express their views (84.6%). The relevance of these roles was fairly undisputed among the interviewed journalists
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as the relatively low standard deviations indicate. A majority of journalists in South Africa found it important to provide analysis of current affairs, to promote tolerance and cultural diversity, to tell stories about the world and to be detached observers. In this process, the majority of the journalists supported the idea of watchdog-journalism, namely to monitor and scrutinize political leaders, as well as to monitor and scrutinize business. In a world awash in media entertainment, less than half of the journalists (43.6%) thought providing entertainment and relaxation were part of their work. On the whole, the impression was gained that the journalists took their work seriously, however they did not think that they should support government policy (9.6%) or convey a positive image of political leadership (9.0%). On the other hand, only less than a third (29.6%) thought they should motivate people to participate in political activity, and less than 20 percent thought that they should set the political agenda (17.4%) or be an adversary of government (13.3%)." (Journalistic roles, page 2)
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"This briefing explores some of the key challenges facing the Nepali media. It outlines growing concerns over politicisation and co-option, particularly of the mainstream Kathmandu-based media, as well as other economic and technological challenges facing the media. The briefing further outlines how
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Nepal’s historically diverse and decentralised media market is increasingly showing signs of fragmentation and discord. It also examines the role that the international development community has played in supporting the Nepali media. The briefing finds that for all the challenges outlined in this report, the media – both nationally and locally – continues to constitute one of the most important and effective mechanisms available to improve accountability. Despite rising threats to journalist safety and growing concerns over politicisation, the media remains most trusted institution in Nepal. The media provides both a growing problem for and a potentially vital solution to the challenges of social cohesion in the country. At present, there is not a sufficient advertising market to sustain a free and independent media that can both serve the public interest and withstand intense political pressures. Development actors are in a position to help to address this market failure if they invest in an independent, Nepali-rooted media that enables difficult and challenging debate to take place." (BBC Media Action website)
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