"The history of Uganda from the days of Colonial Rule, when modern mass media was introduced was revisited. The thesis of this study was that the substance of the political governance model inherited from Uganda’s colonial past continues in the postindependence period to define the relationship be
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tween the media and government on the one hand, and within media industry itself. This governance model was grounded in power monopoly, power domination, and power preservation, with the ensuing characteristics of exclusiveness, privilege and intolerance of opposition, difference and diversity. State power was not informed by the discourse of good governance nor did it cater for a democratic environment. Legislative, administrative and strong-arm measures were all strategies of power and control that the colonial government deployed to manage a media deemed non-compliant, and thereby maintain and protect the supremacy of its rule. By the same token, the anti-media freedom measures were also an implicit recognition of the power of the press, understood as a subversive threat." (Conclusion, page 90-91)
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"Seit 2001 wird der »Preis für die Freiheit und Zukunft der Medien « an Journalisten, Verleger, Publizisten und Institutionen vergeben, die sich mit Risikobereitschaft, Engagement und demokratischer Überzeugung für die Pressefreiheit einsetzen. Diese Zwischenbilanz stellt die bisherigen Preistr
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äger in Porträts vor und versammelt Interviews zur Zukunft des Journalismus, u. a. mit US-Enthüllungsreporter Seymour Hersh, Kriegsfotograf James Nachtwey, stern-Autor Hans-Martin Tillack sowie dem Schriftsteller Erich Loest." (Klappentext)
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"The improvements in the Arab world were the most significant findings of Freedom of the Press 2012: A Global Survey of Media Independence, the latest edition of an annual index published by Freedom House since 1980. The gains came on the heels of eight consecutive years of decline in the global ave
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rage press freedom score, a phenomenon that has affected practically every region in the world. Furthermore, they were accompanied by positive changes in several key countries outside the Middle East and North Africa: Burma, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand, and Zambia. Other countries that registered progress include Georgia, Nepal, Niger, Sierra Leone, and Togo. Three of the countries with major gains—Burma, Libya, and Tunisia—had for many years endured media environments that were among the world’s most oppressive. Both Libya and Tunisia made single-year leaps of a size practically unheard of in the 32-year history of the report. At the same time, press freedom continued to face obstacles and reversals in many parts of the world. China, which boasts the world’s most sophisticated system of media repression, stepped up its drive to control both old and new sources of news and information through arrests and censorship. Other authoritarian powers—such as Russia, Iran, and Venezuela—resorted to a variety of techniques to maintain a tight grip on the media, detaining some press critics, closing down media outlets and blogs, and bringing libel or defamation suits against journalists." (Page 1)
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"Hungarian lawmakers have established a set of comprehensive new media laws that critics say are inconsistent with democratic free-press principles and European practices and norms. Hungarian officials say the legislation conforms to EU standards and its elements are drawn from existing regulations
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in other European and EU-member states. In December 2010 and January 2011, the Hungarian Government released two statements summarising the main criticisms of its new laws and providing examples of regulations from 20 European and EU-member states as precedents for Hungary’s media legislation. For this study, the Center for Media and Communication Studies (CMCS) commissioned media policy experts in each of these 20 countries to examine every example cited by Hungary’s Government. The findings of this report are based on these expert assessments. The purpose of this study is to examine the accuracy of the precedents cited by the Hungarian Government in order to shed light on the more critical question of how consistent Hungary’s media laws are with other media systems in Europe. As such, the focus of the study is narrow by design: the analyses are based on a set of specific examples of similar legislation as cited by the Hungarian Government." (Executive summary, page viii)
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"TThe 2012 MSI study for Europe & Eurasia revealed a mix of positive developments, regression, and stagnation (or resilience, depending on one’s point of view). Nearly half of the 21 countries included in this study showed little change either way, their overall score moving by 0.10 or less. Six c
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ountries showed improvement and five slid backward. The former Yugoslavia accounted for all but one of the countries with lower scores this year. Montenegro improved, Croatia remained roughly unchanged, but the rest of the former Yugoslavia—Serbia, Bosnia, Kosovo, and Macedonia—suffered losses (note that Slovenia is the only country of the former Yugoslavia not studied by the MSI) [...] Moldova continued to improve and achieved the highest score among the four countries in “Russia and Western Eurasia.” All objectives except Objective 4, Business Management, received a score in the “near sustainability” range. Armenia maintained its leadership amongst the three countries in the Caucasus. Its overall score remained mostly unchanged, although the score did slip slightly. Georgia continued to slowly regain ground lost in 2008. Russia’s score improved; despite serious lingering challenges, panelists expressed a cautious optimism that the situation will continue to improve in the coming years. Kyrgyzstan returned to the top spot in Central Asia as the political situation there stabilized. However, two objectives, those covering professional journalism and business management, remain well below the “near sustainability” range." (Executive summary, page ix)
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"Through a series of qualitative interviews with a range of media stakeholders, the ultimate conclusion of this thesis is that the media landscape in Cambodia is diverse –with some (mostly foreign-owned and run) able to operate freely and independently, while others (most local Khmer media, partic
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ularly broadcast media) are not. While media development activities over the course of the last 20 years have been clearly beneficial to improving the quality of the media, many factors are preventing all media in Cambodia from becoming free, independent and sustainable. A lack of political will, improper legal intimidation, politicisation of the media, a lack of journalistic ethic and professionalism (among some), unsupportive institutional frameworks, media illiteracy among the broader population and little coordination of media development efforts are just some of the barriers that hinder real improvement in this critical sector." (Abstract, page 4)
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"The present text explains how the Media Sustanability Index has refined its instrument and procedures to better capture the impact of social media." (Abstract)
"The present article discusses how the new categoryof “citizen journalist” fits into the overall media environment and how the Freedom House Freedom of the Press methodology has been changed to incorporate this category." (Abstract)
"This paper presents the results of the UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS) pilot survey on media statistics conducted in 28 countries in 2011. The survey instruments were designed to provide an initial set of quantitative indicators identified by UNESCO’s Media Development Indicators project. G
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iven the limitations of this sample survey, this report is intended to highlight the scope of the questionnaire items while describing initial results. Further analysis of the indicators and trends will be made in the future as the data collection is expanded to include a greater number of countries. Chapter 1 focuses on indicators related to the regulatory environment in which media operate across countries. Chapter 2 presents data on the supply of different types of media (radio, television, newspapers) before discussing distribution by ownership and geographic coverage, as well as the availability of radio and television equipment and related issues on the penetration of broadcast media channels within each country." (Introduction)
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"The report analyzes 27 aspects of the media system of Serbia, basing on principles established by the Council of Europe as desirable standards in media legislation and practice. Each of 27 parts of the study describes the legal regulation of the subject matter and then provides available facts abou
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t the actual situation. The report concludes that only 4 principles are consistently and fully implemented (such as freedom to enter journalistic profession, freedom of access to the Internet and foreign media, etc), while drastic deviations from the European standards are found in media market operations, independence of media from political influences, labour-related and social rights of journalists and their safety. The report points out that the blind spot of the Serbian media system are informal alliances of ruling political forces and big industrial and commercial businesses which are allowed to infiltrate the media in a non-transparent way and fulfill through them the common interests of the state and the businesses. The report is based on surveys with editors of 240 news media, 69 media owners, 40 senior officials of political parties, 50 representatives of national minority communities, 26 interviews with representatives of state organs and with 12 journalists from the media experiencing particular pressure on editorial independence." (http://mediaobservatory.net, January 27, 2015)
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