"From August 2020 until August this summer, we recorded almost 800 cases of digital rights violations in eight countries of south-eastern Europe: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Hungary, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Romania and Serbia. Violations took place not just on TikTok, but also on F
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acebook, Twitter and Instagram and were also spread via Viber and WhatsApp. Our report shows that vulnerable groups, including women, minority groups, LGBT +, Roma and Jewish communities, minors and migrants, are particularly exposed to online attacks. Similarly, political and religious tensions, which still continue to mark the cultural and political life of our societies, also surged, further polarising society. All of this suggests that what happens in the virtual space is not much different from the “physical world”. Ongoing tensions and cultural controversies are simply migrating from one place to another and prevention or protection mechanisms are far from successful. It comes as no surprise that the two most common violations this year were “pressure because of expression and activities on the internet” and “manipulation and propaganda in the digital environment”. Journalists were most frequently the target of online threats in two countries – Serbia and Hungary. In both countries, pro-government social media accounts were involved in smear campaigns against independent journalists." (Foreword, page 4)
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"At least 91 cases of attacks and violations against media and its practitioners, including journalists, took place in Pakistan over the course of one year — between May 2019 and April 2020 — signifying a worryingly escalating climate of intimidation and harassment that is adversely affecting th
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e freedom of expression and access to information environment in the country, according to this research and analysis report by Freedom Network, an award-winning Pakistan-based media rights watchdog that tracks violations against journalists on an ongoing basis." (Executive summary)
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"Entre enero y diciembre de 2018, se registraron 387 casos/situaciones en los que se vulneró el derecho a la libertad de expresión, lo que representa un total de 608 denuncias de violaciones al derecho. Esto representa una reducción del 45% de los casos y de 41% en las violaciones respecto al 201
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7. Sin embargo, el 2018 se ubica como el segundo periodo con mayor cantidad de casos, al desplazar al 2014 que registró 350 situaciones en un tiempo de alta conflictividad social y política. El impedimento de cobertura en la calle a través del desalojo, las detenciones arbitrarias, y el enfrentamiento que algunas veces escala en agresiones, se sostiene como patrón regular, con especial incidencia en periodos de alta tensión social o política. En el mes de mayo se llevó a cabo un acto electoral convocado por la ilegítima asamblea nacional constituyente, evento que no cumplió con las condiciones básicas para un proceso libre, universal, auténtico y democrático; esto recrudeció el panorama de la crisis política, empeoró la situación social y económica, ante la ausencia de condiciones y voluntad política para la ejecución de medidas correctivas eficientes. En agosto se aplicaron las medidas económicas por parte del Ejecutivo Nacional que implicó un aumento salarial del 5900%, lo que se tradujo en el cierre de empresas por la incapacidad de pagar los sueldos, entre ellos al menos 12 medios de comunicación." (Comienzo del documento)
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"The period between 2014 through the end of 2018 has seen 495 journalists killed, according to UNESCO data, which represents an 18% increase in the number of killings as compared to the preceding 5-year period (2009-2013). Based on the number of killings, the most dangerous regions for journalists a
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re the Arab States region, the Latin America and Caribbean region and the Asia and the Pacific region. Across all regions the vast majority of killings were of local journalists, rather than foreign reporters. The five-year period saw an inversion in the proportion of journalists being killed outside of conflict zones. While in 2014 a majority of journalist killings occurred in conflict regions, in 2017 and 2018 more killings (55% in both years) occurred outside conflict regions. This trend reflects the changing nature of violence against journalists, who were increasingly silenced for reporting on issues of corruption, crime and politics. Although the vast majority of journalists killed are men, killings of women journalists almost doubled relative to the previous 5-year period (24 female journalists were killed in 2009-2013, compared to 46 in 2014-2018). The issue of impunity remains widespread, with only 131 cases of journalists’ killings reported by Member States as being resolved since 2006, representing an overall impunity rate of 88%." (Executive summary, page 8)
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"The year 2019 did not witness anything concrete and positive at the level of respecting media freedoms in Palestine and putting an end to violations against journalists/media outlets, as the Israeli occupation forces and authorities continued, at great frequency, to commit various types of violatio
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ns, especially physical assaults, as part of their endeavors to keep the field confined to their narration about their practices and policies towards the Palestinian people in Gaza Strip and West Bank, including the occupied city of Jerusalem. In addition to the violations of the Israeli occupation forces and authorities, the social media companies/networks started playing a major role in such violations. They represent a portal for the suppression of media freedoms and the fight against Palestinian content and narration, according to the vision and standards of the Israeli occupation state that reached understandings in this regard with Facebook Company. This resulted in closing about two hundred news sites, in this year, and a page belonging to Palestinian journalist claiming to «violate the standards of publishing». At the Palestinian level, particularly in the West Bank, the positive atmosphere and the satisfaction that accompanied the announcement of the new Palestinian government headed by Dr. Mohammad Ishtayya, since its inauguration in May 2019, and its commitment to protecting media freedoms, soon disappeared, after several months of tangible decline in the number of violations documented in the West Bank, reaching to almost zero. The decision of Ramallah Magistrate’s Court which ordered the closure of 49 websites according to the Cybercrime Law represents a severe setback to media freedoms. As to Gaza Strip, basically governed by Hamas, the situation there has witnessed an evident increase in the number of violations against media freedoms compared to the previous years, not to mention the lack of concern of the governing official authorities in the Strip in this regard." (Introduction)
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"In 2018, South Asia was declared by the IFJ as the most deadly region in the world for media workers, which most brutally demonstrates the reality faced by far too many in the industry. Nowhere was this more acutely felt than Afghanistan with eight journalists and four other media workers killed, a
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nother eight threatened with death and 61 recorded violations on journalists attempting to do their job. The horrific targeted assassination of revered journalist and editor Shujaat Bukhari in Kashmir, India, in June 2018 sent shockwaves through the troubled region and beyond. Scores of journalists and even ordinary citizens turned out to mourn and shine a light on an important voice extinguished, a key voice of reason and advocate of peace in the protracted conflict. In Bangladesh, mass political demonstrations by students over road safety saw another brave advocate of freedom of expression, photojournalist Shahidul Alam targeted. Accused of spreading false and provocative statements in an interview with Al Jazeera, he was jailed for more than 100 days drawing global condemnation on the Bangladeshi government. Alam was one of 21 jailed or detained media workers in the region, on charges such as violation of digital security laws, sedition and even vague criminal determinations. Right now, Pakistani journalist Cyril Almeida is also bravely fighting treason charges in the courts for his coverage of the Pakistani state’s patronage of militant groups, while being honoured internationally as a press freedom hero. Meanwhile Kashmiri journalist Aasif Sultan currently remains languishing in jail, charged under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act for a story on the second anniversary of the death of a young Kashmiri militant. Many other journalists in the year were detained without charge for periods ranging from a few hours to months. All in an attempt to silence their critical voices. The period from May 2018 to April 2019, saw the mass haemorrhaging of journalist jobs in the region, most acutely in Pakistan." (Overview, page 5)
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"La violencia sin protección ni sanciones; la pauta oficial que compra silencios; la estigmatización de la prensa como respuesta a las críticas; la violencia estatal y letal contra periodistas; las decisiones judiciales que abren la puerta a la censura y, sobretodo, aquellos extensos territorios
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carentes de información local nos llevan a la conclusión de que es necesario explicar este “Estado depredador” de la libertad de expresión en Colombia con el fin de que las instituciones públicas dejen de acudir a la censura y se sitúen en el lugar que les corresponde: la garantía de una deliberación pública libre. En 2017 la FLIP documentó 310 ataques a la libertad de prensa que afectaron a un total de 368 periodistas (un incremento del 43,5% con respecto al número de ataques del año anterior)." (Página web flip.org.co)
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"The fourth annual report looks at jobs in the newsroom, fake news and fact-checking journalism, and highlights the problem of threats to media freedom in South Africa. In a survey conducted across a range of newsrooms both big and small, it found that young, black women journalists are more likely
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to find work in South African newsrooms than any other demographic. The survey also confirmed that, with one or two exceptions, young, less experienced journalists are writing the news we read every day. While its overview of honours research into fake news suggests there might not be as much of it circulating in this country as we imagine, it also found that fact-checking journalism has yet to gain the traction in South African newsrooms as a marketable genre in the way that it has elsewhere in the world." (http://journalism.co.za/resources/state-of-the-newsroom)
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"This Yearbook is divided into three parts. The first is an introduction chapter, containing a comparative synthesis of fiction in the Obitel countries. This comparison is made from a quantitative and qualitative point of view, which makes possible to observe the development of fiction in each count
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ry, highlighting their main productions, as well as the theme of the year. The second part consists in 11 chapters, one for each country, with an internal structure of fixed topics, but with new additions every year. The sections that compound each chapter are the following: 1) Country’s audiovisual context: this section presents general information about the audiovisual sector regarding the production of television fiction, such as history, trends and relevant events. 2) Analysis of premiere fictions: it is made through quantitative tables that show specific data about national and Ibero-American TV fictions released in each country. In this section the ten most watched titles of the year are highlighted. Since 2017, the Yearbook also brings the five most watched national productions of the year in an effort to enhance and deepen the issue of national identities in each country. 3) Transmedia reception: this section presents and exemplifies what channels offer to the audience fiction on the internet, as well the description of the audience’s behavior when watching, consuming and interacting with their fictions through websites, social networks and other platforms. 4) Highlights of the year: the most important productions not only in terms of audience (rating), but also for their sociocultural impact and for generating innovation in television fiction production or reception. 5) Theme of the year, which this year is Ibero-American TV fiction on video on demand platforms. This theme converges with the interests of Obitel, which for years has been following the trajectory of Ibero-American television fiction by rapidly changing scenarios. Multiple screens, transmissions, new formats, pay TV, UGC, among other topics, have been monitored and analyzed theoretically by each Obitel country research group. In this Yearbook, the proposal is to discuss production on video on demand platforms (VoD), addressing new forms of distribution and consumption. The objective was to verify the panorama of VoD production and consumption in the Obitel countries and the presence of national fiction on these platforms. In order to do so, we attempted to identify the reconfigurations that are occurring in the television scenario of each country in the face of new platforms of production, distribution and audiovisual consumption. Such reconfigurations take place from production to reception, from narrative forms to business models, to debates on legislation and regulation." (Pages 21-22)
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"South Asia is a region of enormous contrasts, but from the vastness of India to tiny and placid Bhutan, journalism faces several problems in common. The safety situation has improved in some of the countries that were racked by internal strife, but journalists remain at acute risk in India and Paki
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stan. Nepal and Sri Lanka have perhaps improved their records since they came out of decades of internal conflict, the former through a negotiated truce and the latter by a military victory. But the legacy of years of conflict remains to be reckoned with, without which a full reconciliation seems unlikely. Public opinion within Bangladesh remains polarised by rival perceptions of history and disagreements over identifying friend and foe in the contemporary geopolitical landscape." (Overview, page 6)
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"This report is the fifth in a series of annual reports designed to capture key developments and data related to usage of social media in the Middle East. The past year has seen the continued growth of visual-led social networks, especially in the more affluent Gulf region. Meanwhile, the discernibl
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e growth in mobile social users(+66% notes the creative agency We Are Social) emphasizes the increasing primacy of the mobile social experience. For many users, mobile is the only way that they interact with social networks. Mobile platforms, for millions in the region, will also offer their first online experience. Recognizing this, companies like Facebook have launched Facebook Lite, an Android app targeting users on slow networks (and with small dataplans). Their Free Basics program allows customers on the Zain network in Jordan and Asia Cell, Korek and Zain in Iraq avoid data charges when using Facebook on their mobile devices. Will other providers follow suit? Yet, for all the positives, the social experience in some parts of the region remains beset with challenges. Networks and services can be blocked – both temporarily and permanently – and issues around freedom of expression persist." (Introduction)
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"This annual report presents a global and regional overview of the latest developments regarding information and communication technologies (ICTs), based on internationally comparable data and agreed methodologies. It aims to stimulate the ICT policy debate in ITU Member States by providing an objec
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tive assessment of how countries have performed in the field of ICT and by highlighting areas that need further improvement. One of the core features of the Report is the ICT Development Index (IDI). This year’s results show that nearly all of the 175 countries covered by the index improved their IDI values between 2015 and 2016. During the same period, stronger improvements have been made on ICT use than access, mainly as a result of strong growth in mobile-broadband uptake globally. This has allowed an increasing number of people, in particular from the developing world, to join the information society and benefit from the many services and applications provided through the Internet. This year, for the first time, the Report also shows countries’ rankings according to their improvement in IDI value. The results show strong improvements in performance throughout the world; a number of middleincome developing countries in particular are reaping the benefits of more liberalized and competitive ICT markets that encourage innovation and ICT uptake across all sectors. Despite these encouraging developments, we need to focus on the countries that are among the least connected in the world. Urgent action is required to address this persistent digital divide if we want to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) enshrined in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. For example, the Report shows that in some low-income countries, between 20 and 40 per cent of people still do not own a mobile phone and that the gender gap in mobile phone ownership is substantially higher." (Foreword)
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