"Homeless media refers to news outlets that initially distributed information solely through social media, with the majority of them now based on Instagram. Nowadays, as our findings suggest, homeless media outlets have emerged as an important source of local news, referred to for their quick update
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and locally relevant content. Using content analysis of their news, interviews with homeless media founders and personnel, and discussions with media audiences, this study attempts to understand their emergence and dynamics, how they are positioned among other actors in the contemporary Indonesian media landscape, and their prospects and issues. [...] The following are the main findings of this study:
• Homeless media outlets are mostly run informally, with only a few employees. Only one from nine we interviewed is registered as a media entity, and that was only after years of operation. There are two homeless media outlets that are only managed by one person. Others are mostly managed by two to five people. They may hire more on occasion if they need to create higher-quality content, such as endorsements.
• Four homeless media outlets we interviewed began as something entirely different, such as hobby, community, or paid Instagram promotion pages. They changed course after noticing increased engagement by providing local news, as well as citizens voluntarily sending them newsworthy incidents to be published.
• As the majority of homeless media outlets are not legally registered as a media entity, this raises concerns about governance among government officials and journalists. However, our homeless media interlocutors stated that they have implemented an internal code of conduct, particularly in terms of filtering misinformation.
• The informality of homeless media outlets provides them with advantageous flexibility, allowing them to respond to audience submissions or circulating internet content while making quick decisions about what content to publish.
• The most engaging content on homeless media is related to crime, followed by city facts, eccentric citizen behavior, city romantization, commotion among citizens, and accidents; however, they most frequently post about shopping/service recommendations, government policies, crime, culinary recommendations, and city facts.
• Homeless media outlets provide impressively specific and local news to their audiences immediately after it occurs, thanks to audience submissions and the circulating local social media content. They function as an effective local information hub.
• Nonetheless, because homeless media outlets rely on social media as a publishing platform and distribution channel, losing their accounts, whether due to a social media ban or hacking, can pose a significant risk to their operations. Our interlocutors have no plans to mitigate the risk. This happened to another account managed by @merapi_uncover personnel, and they were unable to do anything about it.
• Many of our audience interlocutors admit to being first exposed to local news through homeless media, and they actively use homeless media outlets to learn about recent events in their community, such as incidents they witnessed or traffic jams.
• Homeless media’s most engaging content—city facts and romantization—evokes a sense of connection between the audience and their city.
• Although not all, homeless media outlets may become participatory spaces, with citizens using them to draw attention to incidents or public issues, or to respond to other posts. [...]" (Executive summary, pages 3-5)
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"First of all, following a reform in 2020 that reorganised Ukraine’s districts, merging many of them to form larger ones, the situation on the map is not critical. There are indeed "unhealthy districts", but the overall situation is better than it could be. With the exception of the temporarily oc
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cupied territories, most districts are "healthy" or "partially healthy". One of the limitations of this study is that there was no immersion at the amalgamated hromada level. We believe that the situation would be worse on closer examination. Secondly, it is clear that districts with oblast centres are always "healthy". Each oblast centre has at least one independent editorial team – a regional branch of the public broadcasting company Suspilne and Ukrainian Radio. These meet the criteria of our methodology, being independent and covering most of the critical information needs. And that is the nature of centres of public life, due to the number of people living there and the logic of journalistic activity. In general, the names of settlements that are far from the centres (district towns, villages) receive fewer mentions in the media (and media research). In the 11 oblasts covered by this study, we found 879 editorial teams that are definitely functioning at present. The average number of operating editorial teams per oblast is 60-70, with 10 or fewer of them being what we consider independent. The majority of independent editorial teams were found in Kharkiv and Donetsk oblasts (14 and 13 respectively). The Kharkiv district (the area around and including the city of Kharkiv) is the "healthiest" of all the districts we studied, with 7 independent editorial teamsLuhansk and Dnipro oblasts have the least number of independent media outlets (3 and 7 respectively). In the case of Luhansk Oblast, many media outlets have simply ceased to exist due to the temporary occupation. Therefore, all the media outlets that actually serve the critical information needs of Luhansk Oblast residents are currently operating as internally displaced outlets outside their home oblast." (Overview of the oblasts)
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"Between September 2022 and January 2023, the Public Interest News Foundation (PINF) worked with local communities in Bangor, Bristol, Folkestone, Glasgow, Manchester and Newry, to create ‘Local News Plans’ for their areas. We facilitated discussions between local stakeholders, including news pr
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oviders, businesses, community groups, councillors and others, to find out what they think about the state of local news, what impact this is having on their communities, and what they believe is needed to build a more sustainable local news economy. We found that:
• People believe that local news should be truly local. They don’t want ‘cookiecutter’ local news, but original local news that truly reflects their area.
• Despite their passion and commitment, local news providers are struggling to meet this need. Commercial providers are chasing page views, whilst independent providers are burning themselves out with long hours and low pay.
• Local stakeholders are keen to support new funding models for local news. They recognise that old revenue models have been disrupted, but they believe that, in many places, new sources of local funding can be found for local news.
• The Local News Planning process unlocks collaboration. It brings people together in a powerful spirit of creativity, agency and optimism.
These findings confirm the scale of the challenge facing local news, but they also contain the seeds of a new approach that we call ‘media wealth building’." (Summary, page 6)
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"The Afghan media landscape stands at a crossroads, navigating a landscape rife with challenges and uncertainties in the wake of the Taliban's resurgence. The post-Taliban era, marked by a thriving media sector with 160 television channels, 311 radio stations, 90 print newspapers, and 26 news agenci
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es, has witnessed a drastic transformation. The current media landscape, with 70 television channels, 211 radio stations, 11 print newspapers, and 9 news agencies, reflects a significant decline in numbers and diversity. Under the de facto rule of the Taliban, the media sector has encountered substantial constraints. Censorship and self-censorship have become rampant, with journalists and media outlets navigating the perilous territory of permissible content. Threats, intimidation, and violence against media professionals have created an atmosphere of fear, leading to an exodus of skilled journalists. Investigative journalism, once a cornerstone of accountability, has been stifled, and access to unbiased information has dwindled, leaving citizens ill-informed.
The closure of media outlets has far-reaching implications, including restricted information flow, suppressed free speech, and diminished content diversity. The narrative has further fragmented between Kabul and the provinces, where media freedom varies significantly. Female journalists remain conspicuously absent in many regions, underscoring the entrenched gender disparity in the field. International media outlets, under surveillance and restraints, grapple with maintaining their operations and integrity in an increasingly controlled environment. Social media, once a platform for open dialogue, faces censorship and restrictions, hampering the exchange of ideas. As Afghanistan's media landscape evolves, the absence of comprehensive legal frameworks has exacerbated challenges. The suspension of the Mass Media Law and the Access to Information Law during the transitional phase has left media professionals in a legal gray area. The need for inclusive consultations with media stakeholders to shape these laws cannot be overstated. In this complex milieu, it is evident that safeguarding the media's role as a communication bridge between the government and the people is paramount. Collaborative efforts between the Islamic Emirate, the international community, and media support organizations are essential to prevent the collapse of Afghanistan's media landscape." (Conclusion, pages 16-17)
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"Der Beitrag analysiert die Berichterstattung über den Angriffskrieg gegen die Ukraine in den russischen Teilrepubliken Tatarstan und Baschkortostan, welche sich beide durch die starke Präsenz von turksprachigen Bevölkerungsgruppen auszeichnen. Die Medienanalyse ergab, dass die Berichterstattung
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Propagandafunktionen erfüllt. Die militärischen Freiwilligenverbände nehmen dabei eine zentrale Rolle ein." (Zusammenfassung, Seite 13)
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"Local media that cater to their local communities are still rare in Arab countries due to government control and centralization of media production. In some transitional states, however, we observe a mushrooming of new local small media initiatives after regulation modes have changed. Yet, these me
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dia operate in often fragile states in which a sustainable development of autonomous media is difficult to achieve. In this study, we investigate how local media in Iraq and Libya unfolded and developed over the past decade(s) after regime change. We map the status quo and compare the proliferation of small local media in both countries against the backdrop of media capture and flawed media regulation – patterns that are typical for transitional states." (Abstract)
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"Social media misinformation is widely recognized as a significant and growing global problem. Yet, little is known about how misinformation spreads across broader media ecosystems, particularly in areas with varying internet access and connectivity. Drawing on research in northern Ghana, we seek to
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address this gap. We argue that ‘pavement media’—the everyday communication of current affairs through discussions in marketplaces, places of worship, bars, and the like and through a range of non-conversational and visual practices such as songs, sermons, and graffiti—is a key link in a broader media ecosystem. Vibrant pavement and traditional media allow for information from social media to quickly cross into offline spaces, creating a distinction not of the connected and disconnected but of first-hand and indirect social media users. This paper sets out how social, traditional, and pavement media form a complex and deeply gendered and socio-economically stratified media ecosystem and investigates its implications for how citizens differentially encounter, process, and respond to misinformation. Based on the findings, we argue that efforts intended to combat the spread of misinformation need to move beyond the Western-centred conception of what constitutes media and take different local modalities of media access and fact-checking into account." (Abstract)
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"Among principles that should underpin policy choices are: a focus on systemic impact; particular attention on the areas where information poverty is greatest; platform-neutrality, while preferring platforms used most commonly; ongoing monitoring of developments in and around media at local levels t
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o deal with problems that may arise. Taking these principles into account, areas of possible support for local and community media include: 1. The development of an enabling environment, including legal and regulatory measures and the provision of back-end support in areas such as research, training and others. 2. Strengthening funding mechanisms, including a. indirect subsidy such as tax relief and the zero-rating of news websites; b. direct public funding, as exists for media in several countries; c. the fair use of government advertising, often a major factor in media economies in the Global South; d. commercial income and ways to support the access of local and community media to advertising markets; e. responding to the power of digital platforms, who need to make a fair contribution to local information ecosystems; f. improved co-ordination among international donor agencies in order to deliver greater impact, including support for the new International Fund for Public Interest Media; and g. the development of new business models that draw on diverse sources of income, with particular focus on direct audience support." (Summary)
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"Die Schlüsselfragen für den Erfolg lokaler Nachrichtenmedien sind die folgenden: Lösen Sie ein Problem für ihre Zielgruppe? Identifizieren und füllen sie eine Nachrichten- oder Informationslücke für ihre Gemeinschaft bzw. Gemeinschaften? In diesem Bericht beschäftigen wir uns damit, wie Jou
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rnalisten Innovationen schaffen, um diese Fragen zu beantworten und ein neues lokales Medienumfeld in drei Rahmensystemen aufzubauen: im Journalismus, der die Nachrichteninhalte erstellt, in den Produkten und Erfahrungen, die diese Inhalte aggregieren, und in den Geschäftsmodellen, die den Prozess unterstützen. Diese Innovationen liefern einen tiefgehenden Journalismus, der in der Lage ist, die Aufmerksamkeit seines Publikums zu gewinnen und zu halten, und dessen Beitrag in dem Wert (oder dem Nutzen) der geteilten Informationen sowie in seiner Rolle bei der Gemeinschaftsbildung und im sozialen Kapital liegt." (Seite 5)
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"The overarching themes identified from the national information ecosystem analysis findings: Lack of basic infrastructure such as electricity cuts and poor/non-existent internet coverage, is a major barrier to accessing information; Pusat Internet 1Malaysia is highly in demand in rural communities;
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TV is the most trusted source of information across all locations and age groups despite digital media growth; Locally relevant news on health and community/land rights issues are the most needed information; High distrust in political news/information and politicians; Fake news is a major problem across all media and communication platforms; Influencers such as politicians, religious leaders and village chiefs affect the effectiveness in providing information to the public; Self-determination and empowerment of communities can be achieved by using hyper-local news outlets/mediums." (Executive summary, page 5)
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"The growth of hyperlocal media has rekindled the ecosystem of local media in recent years. An international phenomenon, it has already been the subject of much study in the academy, despite it being a recent occurrence. This article deals with the literature review of scientific articles published
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during the first decade of hyperlocal media research. The results show the keen interest that researchers had early on in this new media model, especially in the United States, United Kingdom, Sweden and Australia where it was studied more intensely. The works published from 2010 to 2020 exhibit an interest in the study of the transformation of the media ecosystem, the mapping and analysis of the characteristics of the media, their organizational and business models, as well as their informative production and the relationship with the audience." (Abstract)
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"This report is meant to share the experiences and lessons of local media practitioners globally, and to build a community for networking and support. It’s about telling their story in their own voice – and helping all involved learn from one another. By talking to both new digital start-ups and
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traditional media in transition, this report identifies how media builders in different circumstances understand and meet the challenges they face. Comparing and contrasting experiences from different parts of the world provides both lessons that can be copied as well as warnings about the need to understand how different regional and national conditions impact success. From there, the report draws practical recommendations for news media leaders, for media support organizations, and for the IPI global network." (Introduction, page 4)
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"O presente artigo visa investigar os usos políticos das concessões de rádio para titulares de mandatos eletivos após a redemocratização, tendo como eixo analítico o conceito de coronelismo e sua potencial renovação para o chamado “coronelismo eletrônico". Inicia-se a pesquisa analisando
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o conceito do “coronelismo” e as características do coronel desde a Primeira República brasileira. Em seguida, busca-se a compreensão do termo “coronelismo eletrônico” como um sistema de “barganha” política para manutenção dos poderes locais. Pretende-se discutir os possíveis efeitos dos meios de produção da comunicação sobre os processos eleitorais do Brasil. A presente pesquisa será apresentada com base em estudo descritivo-analítico, utilizando-se o método dedutivo, com investigação documental e bibliográfica em livros e artigos dos autores de referência, relatórios e decisões judiciais. Conclui-se que a distribuição de concessões de rádio reproduz, em grande medida, as práticas reconhecidas como parte de um modelo político coronelista." (Resumo)
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