"The seemingly buzzing Lebanese media market is, in fact, controlled by only a few highly politicized owners that are either directly affiliated with political parties or belong to Lebanese dynasties. Additional threats to media pluralism arise from clear editorial lines defined by politics, close t
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ies among the dynasties, and a number of regulatory shortcomings." (http://www.mom-rsf.org/en/countries/Lebanon)
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"This report, which follows the Council of Europe’s list of “Indicators for Media in a Democracy”, intends to provide an analysis of the current media situation based on the standards upheld by this list. The aim of this report is to raise awareness on the status of affairs in the media scene
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for an array of actors, such as policymakers, government representatives, media professionals, professional associations, media experts, and civil society. The report is based on methodology that uses varied instruments and feedback from different relevant actors that affect legal, political, economic, and professional environment for media operation. Apart from collecting and classifying statistical data from publicly available sources, existing research, and surveys, the primary research consisted also in legal analysis conducted for the purpose of comparing Council of Europe standards to domestic legislation, carrying out of surveys with stakeholders, and in-depth interviews with key players in the media fi eld, judges, government representatives, parliament, and public institutions. Using a specially designed questionnaire, a survey was conducted on a sample of 110 editors-in-chief, media owners, and journalists of different media outlets across the country, including representatives from minorities. In-depth interviews were conducted with media owners, media managers, and editors of mainstream media outlets, as well as with other actors with direct input and knowledge on media scene, such as the Audiovisual Media Authority, public broadcaster RTSH, journalist trade union, professional associations, the Media Council, journalists from various media, etc." (Introduction, page 7-8)
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"This book examines the challenges and pressures liberal journalists face in Putin's Russia. It presents the findings of an in-depth qualitative study, which included ethnographic observations of editorial meetings during the conflict in Ukraine. It also provides a theoretical framework for evaluati
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ng the Russian media system and a historical overview of the development of liberal media in the country. The book focuses on some of Russia’s most influential liberal national news outlets: "the deadliest" newspaper Novaya Gazeta, "Russia’s last independent radio station" Radio Echo of Moscow (Ekho Moskvy) and US Congress-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. The fieldwork included ethnographic observations of editorial meetings, long interviews with editors and journalists as well as documentary analysis. The monograph makes theoretical contributions to three main areas: 1. Media systems and terms of reference. 2. Journalism: cultures, role conceptions, and relationship with power, culture and society. 3. Mediatisation of conflict and nationhood." (Abstract)
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"L’objectif de cette étude est de présenter et de décrire les axes et les éléments les plus importants en matière de politiques publiques médiatiques, à partir d’ expériences comparées et des standards consacrés par le droit et les organisations et instances internationales compétent
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es dans le domaine de la liberté d’expression et de la liberté d’information de façon particulière et pour ce qui est de la communication en général. La reconnaissance juridique par le droit international des droits à la liberté d’expression et à la liberté d’information constitue un point de départ fondamental pour bien comprendre le rôle de l’État, des politiques publiques et de la régulation dans le domaine de la communication. Le service public de l’audiovisuel est une activité de communication exercée sous la responsabilité des pouvoirs publics et ayant pour finalité de fournir aux citoyens des contenus audiovisuels qui répondent pleinement à leurs besoins en matière d’information, de culture, de formation et de divertissement. En principe, ces besoins ne sauraient être satisfaits par le simple fonctionnement du marché privé de la communication audiovisuelle. Les aides publiques constituent aussi un mécanisme important de support de la part de l’État aux médias et de configuration de politiques médiatiques à travers des actions positives. L’existence, dans une société, d’experts en matière de politiques publiques médiatiques constitue, sans doute, un élément de support très important à l’action de l’État, ainsi qu’une garantie de la qualité de ces politiques. Les experts peuvent jouer un rôle important en interne (en travaillant ou en fournissant des services aux instances publiques) ou en externe (dans l’exercice d’une fonction plutôt analytique ou même critique)." (Résumé, page 3)
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"This volume explores how societies are addressing challenging questions about the relationship between expression, traditional and societal values, and the transformations introduced by new information communications technologies. It seeks to identify alternative approaches to the role of speech an
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d expression in the organization of societies as well as efforts to shape the broader global information society. How have different societies or communities drawn on the ideas of philosophers, religious leaders or politicians, both historical and contemporary, that addressed questions of speech, government, order or freedoms and applied them, with particular attention to applications in the digital age? The essays include a wide variety of cultural and geographic contexts to identify different modes of thinking. The goal is to both unpack the 'normative' internet and free expression debate and to deepen understanding about why certain internet policies and models are being pursued in very different local or national contexts as well as on a global level." (Publisher description)
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"On 16 October 2017, the editors of two popular Ugandan newspapers—the Daily Monitor and Red Pepper—were summoned to the Criminal Investigations Directorate in Kampala following the publication of stories revealing the allocation of a Ugandan Shillings 715 m (almost £150,000) budget for a plann
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ed 10-day cross-country consultation, to be undertaken by the Parliamentary Affairs Committee." (Abstract)
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"The ability of the media and especially journalism to operate freely is crucial in order on the one hand to hold governments and other institutions accountable for their actions and on the other to allow citizens to make informed decisions. To discuss the current state of affairs for media and jour
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nalistic freedom in Europe, the authors draw on the findings of two of independent projects awarded a grant by the European Commission —the Safety Net for European Journalists and the European Centre for Press and Media Freedom (ecpmf). First, the article offers insights as to current threats and other impediments experienced by journalists, and highlights their structural basis. In the second section it shows how, despite the European commitment to media freedom, developments in 2015-16 suggest that both the «war of attrition» and the ‘toxic environment’ identified by Safety Net are expanding and apply to more countries in Europe." (Abstract)
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"The four countries concerned in this publication – Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia and Libya - each have a complex set of challenges - and opportunities - in relation to the advancement of free and independent media. Yet, they share several trends and certainly the tensions between laws pertaining to f
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reedom of expression, political actors and the judiciary practice. Four legal experts have taken up the challenge to briefly introduce in this study both the legal frameworks and the tension points, and to formulate key recommendations to address the deficiencies in law or practice. These recommendations are a means by which non-governmental organisations and rights defenders can pursue their critical advocacy work." (Preface)
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"Macedonia and Montenegro saw the largest overall score increases this year, in comparison to 2017. The improvement across all objectives this year for Macedonia’s media sector can be attributed to political changes that prioritize media in democratic reforms. Although Montenegro’s score improve
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ment shows promising progress and puts it in the Near Sustainability category, weaknesses in the country’s media sector include low revenue generation, declining professional development opportunities, political biases, and low adherence to professional standards. Kyrgyzstan and Serbia saw the largest overall decreases in their scores. While Kyrgyzstan’s MSI score for the business management objective increased slightly, all other objective scores experienced a decline, moving Kyrgyzstan from Near Sustainability in 2017 to Unsustainable Mixed System in 2018. Serbia’s scores in all MSI objectives are indicative of a downward trend in the country’s media space. Among the factors feeding this spiral are: media content is more polarized now than at any time in almost 20 years; an increase in fake news; editorial pressure on media; and a poor overall economic operating environment." (Executive summary)
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"This book examines the media reform processes and re-democratization projects of Ghana and Nigeria’s emerging democracies. It evaluates and critiques these reform processes, arguing that because of dependency approaches resulting from the transplanting of policy framework from the West into these
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emerging democracies, the policy goals and objectives of the reforms have not been achieved. Consequently, the inherent socio-cultural, economic and political factors, coupled with the historical antecedents of these countries, have also affected the reform process. Drawing from policy documents, analyses and interviews, Ufuoma Akpojivi argues that the lack of citizens’ active participation in policy processes has led to neo-liberalization and the continued universalization of Western ideologies such as democracy, media freedom and independence. Akpojivi posits that the recognition of socio-cultural, political and economic factors inherent to these emerging democracies, coupled with the communal participation of citizens, will facilitate true media reform processes and development of these countries." (Publisher description)
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"The so-called Right to be Forgotten (RTBF) refers to the removal of content from either search engine indexes or even the entire internet so that it is not readily accessible to end users. While the concept emerged out of a European legal tradition that favors the privacy of non-public individuals,
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in practice it has led to the censorship of information relevant to the public interest. It has endangered press freedom by leading to the removal of news articles, and it has hindered media development by erasing content from the digital public record." (Key findings)
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