"A Media Minefield details how Ugandan authorities have brought charges against over 30 journalists, revoked or suspended the broadcasting licenses of several radio stations, and practiced other forms of partisan repression of the media over the last several years. When violent riots erupted in Kamp
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ala in September 2009, the government closed four radio stations, arrested and abused a prominent talk show moderator, beat and detained journalists attempting to record the unfolding events, and banned the broadcast of open-air public debates indefinitely. The national regulatory body that carried out the radio closures and the broadcast bans is, contrary to international standards, not independent of government interference and takes punitive action against stations without any regard for due process. Authorities in rural districts subsequently echoed the government’s actions in the capital, harassing and threatening journalists with violence, arrest, or closure of their stations for reporting on politics, the opposition, and other sensitive local issues. Self-censorship due to fears of overt or covert state sanction has had a “chilling effect” on political reporting, particularly on stations broadcasting in local languages outside of Kampala." (Back cover)
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"The Media Development Assessment 2010 is an evaluation of the rapidly changing media climate in Bhutan. The study, based on the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) media development indicators (MDIs), is the first of its kind to be conducted in the country. Thi
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s assessment of MDIs provides analysis of the media and communications environment in Bhutan against internationally accepted standards and principles. The indicators delineate critical areas of media development, ranging from freedom of expression and diversity of media to professional and infrastructural capacities of the media industry." (Executive summary, page xi)
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"[...] this book provides a concise and thorough overview of the field, looking back at newspapers’ history, and forward to their future – and insisting there will be one. The authors, former journalists who now teach the subject, review the practices of the profession – from defining news to
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examining who owns newspapers, from newspaper readership to the new media environment. Written in an accessible style, this comprehensive text is well suited for a range of courses on newspapers." (Publisher description)
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"The organizations that conduct country rankings should continue to increase technical sophistication, cultural neutrality, and transparency. In particular, continued attention must be paid to digital media, notably the Internet and mobile phones, which now number approximately 4.6 billion worldwide
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. Donors and implementers of media assistance, meanwhile, should keep up efforts to find better ways to monitor and evaluate specific programs and to share the resulting information with other aid organizations. At a time of financial shortfalls, foundations and other funding bodies should assure that assessment of media quality at both the national and the program level receives the attention (and the money) that it deserves." (Executive summary, page 5)
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"Als in diesem Jahr der OSZE vorstehendes Land sollten für Kasachstan ganz besondere Anforderungen auch in Hinblick auf seine Pressefreiheit gelten. Die internationalen Rankings kommen allerdings zu einem äußert kritischen Urteil. Die Realität scheint komplizierter. Aus ihrer langjährigen Erfah
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rung als Journalistin in Almaty gibt die Autorin einen Überblick über die kasachstanische Medienlandschaft und die Arbeitsbedingungen von Journalisten und kann westlichen Lesern damit helfen, Nachrichten in der dortigen Presse besser einzuordnen." (Zusammenfassung)
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"Media in Balochistan - the largest of Pakistan's four province in land mass - in general and provincial capital Quetta in particular has visibly expanded since 2000 in a trend that largely reflects the shifting media landscape in the rest of Pakistan. With the doors thrown open to private ownership
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of the airwaves, independent TV channels and FM radio stations have come to be a part of daily life for many. And with competition has come the rush for news, to be the first to break news. Even though one still has to see a critical mass of private, independent TV channels and radio stations, locally owned and voicing local concerns in languages of Balochistan - something needed and often stridently demanded - media has crept into the consciousness of the people, if not through independent news and analysis then through the sheer volume of its presence. In a province long engaged in a monologue with itself - cut off as it is from the rest of the country through huge distances, lack of infrastructure and the Pakistani state's Orwellian contr over news and information from Balochistan - the proliferation of media in recent years has fueled a hunger for information, a desire to have a say and be heard." (Page 7)
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"El cómic consta de 36 páginas ilustradas y tiene por objeto explicar conceptos complejos relacionados con la libertad de expresión en un lenguaje accesible y fácil de entender. Disponible en formato impreso y en línea, el libro está dirigido a jóvenes y adolescentes y se distribuye en escuel
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as de toda América Latina, con la ayuda de las comisiones nacionales, las escuelas asociadas a la UNESCO y redes de la sociedad civil. El cómic aborda los principios de la libertad de expresión y explica cómo se pueden promover mediante buenas prácticas, como la distribución equitativa de la frecuencia o el establecimiento de organismos reguladores independientes. También explica cómo las malas prácticas, como la censura, la autocensura, la violencia contra los periodistas, los delitos de opinión severamente castigados o los títulos obligatorios y la afiliación a asociaciones profesionales para los periodistas, pueden poner en peligro la libertad de expresión." (Página web de UNESCO, 12/05/2010)
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"This book highlights the importance of the news media as watchdogs, agenda setters and gatekeepers for the quality of democratic deliberation in the public sphere. At the same time, it theorizes that the capacity of journalists and media systems to fulfill these roles depends on the broader context
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determined by the profession, the market and the state. Media systems' performance often falls far short of the ideals, as succesive case studies from different world regions demonstrate. Finally, the book asks what policy interventions work effectively to close the gap between the democratic promise and perfomance of the news media as an institution. The final chapter, "Policy recommendations", concludes (page 406): "Interventions include reforms directed at strengthening the journalistic profession, notably institutional capacity building, through bodies such as press councils, press freedom advocacy NGOs, and organizations concerned with journalistic training and accreditation. Other important reforms seek to overcome market failures, including developing a regulatory framework for media systems to ensure pluralism of ownership and diversity of contents. Finally, policies also address the role of the state, including deregulation to shift state-run broadcasting to public service broadcasting, overseen by independent broadcasting regulatory bodies, and the protection of constitutional principles of freedom of the press, speech, and expression." (commbox)
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"Probably one of the most relevant pieces of military legislation affecting the media has been the establishment and formalisation of a media regulatory authority. The Regulatory Authority for Media Broadcast Organisations (RAMBO), the predecessor of the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authorit
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y (PEMRA), was established in 2000, and one of the four components of its mandate was to ‘facilitate the devolution of responsibility and power to grassroots by improving the access to mass media at the local and community level’. This was apparently in response to specific clauses in the country’s constitution about decentralising broadcasting, and it was probably also linked to the devolution process initiated by Musharraf in 2001. In spite of what was stated by the Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting, according to most of the people interviewed, ‘Pakistan’s mushrooming media’ is not yet manifestly ‘journeying towards maturity’. It actually suffers from an over-accelerated growth and its connected physiological pains. Rather than the perspective of within-reach maturity, what seems to emerge is a landscape filled with opportunistic and sensationalist journalism. Unrelenting growth, stimulated by commercial and political interests, seems to have marginalised the need to guarantee professional news reporting. Moreover, in this media wasteland, obscure powers have found a vast array of naive and for-sale journalists ready to produce or reproduce stories according to the dictates of their customers." (Executive summary, page 8)
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"This chapter reviews the situation of violence against the press in Mexico and what each of the different actors involved is doing, or not doing, to address a problem that in some Mexican states has reached alarming crisis levels. The essay examines the political willingness and steps taken by the
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federal and legislative branches of government to protect freedom of expression, through the exercise of journalism. It discusses measures taken by reporters, editors, media companies and civil society, to defend that right. Special attention is given to explain how the failure of federal and local authorities to effectively prosecute crimes against reporters has resulted in almost total impunity. Most crimes againts reporters remain unsolved, authorities rarely determine who perpetrated the crime and there are no prosecutions much less convictions. The report also examines the extent to which editors and journalists, working in states overwhelmed with violence, have engaged in widespread self-censorship out of fear for their lives. The report emphasizes freedom of expression and a free press as fundamental and universal rights protected by international law. These rights are also consider an effective way to measure the strength of a democracy." (Page 3)
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