"The guide below serves as a Glossary of Definitions of the basic principles of ethics to be monitored. It is designed to assist and guide the Monitor in understanding properly and identifying accurately, any violations of particular Ethical principles by the media. The list here is not exhaustive.
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It does not include all the possible Ethical principles applicable to the profession. This is because many of the principles are not easily or immediately verifiable from the output of the media. These include those principles that apply to the processes and methods of production of media content which can only be tracked and dealt with in the newsrooms, in the field and during the process of production. In other words, the list does not cover monitoring of the behavior or conduct of media professionals as they go about their work of gathering and processing news, information and other materials for publication or broadcast – activities which are generally outside the purview of the public. This exercise, therefore, is limited to monitoring the content of media as published/broadcast to the public." (Page 2)
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"The regulatory gap between online and offline political communication and elections is staggering. Even as monitors track broadcast media and advertising, elections are manipulated online. Initial responses by recent international electoral observation missions in Kenya, Georgia and Nigeria – as
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described in this report – have aimed to highlight false information or hate speech disseminated during election periods. This approach follows a similar focus by regulators and platforms on uncovering and removing false or harmful content online. Germany’s NetzDG and the UK’s white paper on Online Harms are examples, as are content oversight boards such as the one established by Facebook. These types of measures can harm free expression and offer only partial solutions [...] This scoping report explains why social media is one of the elements of a democratic, rule-of-law based state that observer groups should monitor. It aggregates experience from diverse civil society and non-governmental initiatives that are innovating in this field, and sets out questions to guide the development of new mandates for election observers." (Foreword)
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"IREX partnered with Lore.Ai to test whether machine learning software can automatically detect news articles that contains journalists’ own opinions. This matters because impartial, fact-based news is a powerful indicator for the quality of media and the vibrancy of an information ecosystem. A te
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am of professional media evaluators trained machine learning software to find examples of news articles that contain opinions from a body of over 1,200 online Mozambican news articles. The software identified articles that contained opinions with 95% accuracy. This accuracy was achieved after only 16 rounds of training the software, and anecdotes from the team suggest that the software’s accuracy noticeably improved after only about 20 minutes of “training”. The results have promising implications to improve efficiency, scale, and consistency of traditionally manual and time-consuming media monitoring efforts, such as helping projects target resources more effectively to support journalists whose articles are flagged by the software. The process also surfaced valuable lessons about limitations of applying machine learning to monitoring, evaluation, and learning (MEL) in global development contexts, such as reinforcing human bias or the need to invest in indigenous machine learning talent to apply these tools sustainably. The experiment was implemented in Mozambique, where IREX’s Media Strengthening Program (MSP, funded by the United States Agency for International Development) supports Mozambican professional and community journalists and their media platforms to provide high quality information to citizens." (Key findings, page 1)
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"Ce manuel a pour but d’accompagner les missions d’observation électorale dans leur mission de surveillance des contenus médiatiques et des discours politiques, la qualité du discours des acteurs politiques et le comportement des médias dans une période clé de la vie démocratique. Il donn
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e également les outils nécessaires pour la surveillance d’accès équitable aux médias pour l’ensemble des candidats tant au niveau quantitatif qu’au niveau qualitatif. Au-delà du manuel et de l’observation électorale, l’objectif est de permettre aux médias de pouvoir mieux jouer leur rôle d’éducation civique et de servir d’espace public d’expression démocratique en République Démocratique du Congo." (Site web Internews.org)
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"Esse Guia é decorrente de forte demanda do movimento social brasileiro, provocada pela proliferação de narrativas midiáticas que violam direitos elementares, previstos em lei. Capitaneada pela TV, a tendência espraia-se por outros meios e dilui as fronteiras entre jornalismo e entretenimento,
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afetando a credibilidade da imprensa e colocando em xeque as regras da democracia [...] No Volume I, o leitor encontra um guia prático para identificar violações de direitos no campo da comunicação de massa, com exemplos extraídos de programas de rádio e TV de todas as regiões do País, e um apanhado inédito dos dispositivos legais que buscam harmonizar o direito à liberdade de expressão com outros direitos dos cidadãos, como o de terem a imagem e a privacidade respeitadas." (Contracapa)
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"This guide is designed to be a key reference tool for electoral practitioners including electoral management bodies (EMBs), independent broadcasting authorities and international assistance providers. It aims at improving an understanding of some of the key issues related to media and elections. Th
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e guide is comprised of ten chapters that deal with the issues of media and communications during the electoral process. Each chapter can be read independently so that electoral practitioners only concerned with one facet of media and elections can turn directly to that section as a resource." (Page vi)
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"Media consumption today takes on first order meanings that we can challenge, understand and clarify. This is where the audience learns to believe in watchdogging and vice versa. Citizen watchdog groups (Veedurias) attempt to critically understand public narratives beyond first order meanings that a
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re not necessarily oppositional. These readings provide a new opportunity to understand the medium, and the audience that obtains some satisfaction by listening to radio, listening to local or international music, and by watching and interacting with TV programming. Citizen watchdog groups and observatories confront the challenge of watching, debating and proposing in order to achieve a better understanding of the public world from their own private worlds. These groups and observatories are located in that interaction between public and private issues in the mass media, tracing the footprints left by public/private/intimate actors. Citizen watchdog groups and observatories analyze the mediations and intermediations that are regularly built." (Summary)
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"Kenya’s 2010 Constitution guarantees press freedom in a way the country has never previously seen. However, the concentration of media ownership and pending consensus on new media legislation are tarnishing the triumphs of Kenya’s media liberalization and development. Regulation of news content
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, including hate speech and political bias, as well as journalistic standards are also issues provoking discussion and sullying the image of Kenya as a role model for other East African countries. On May 21, 2014, international scholars gathered in Bonn to discuss their research under the heading “Kenya’s Media Landscape: A Success Story with Serious Structural Challenges”. This publication provides a supplement to the presentations and discussions held at the fifth annual DW Media Dialogue." (Publisher description)
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"The Iraqi media sector is polarized, with news content often representing political positions. In a postconflict environment such as Iraq, this polarized content can become inflammatory, potentially inciting violence and diminishing the chances for Iraq to move forward in its transition to a peacef
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ul democratic society. The U.S. Institute of Peace (USIP) and the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania engaged three key parts of the media sector—Iraqi civil society media monitors, regulatory bodies, and news media—to jointly discuss and decide how best to minimize inflammatory language, while still respecting press and expression freedoms. The collaborative effort included a media content analysis that identified, defined, and measured the prevalence of inflammatory terms appearing on the newscasts of the top five Iraqi satellite stations before Iraq’s national elections in 2010. The research findings were shared with Iraqi media, civil society media monitors, and regulatory bodies to assist them in preventing inflammatory reporting. Using a set of guidelines developed by Iraqi media stakeholders and USIP, a pilot group of influential news directors, media regulators, and civil society media monitors created a style guide for conflict reporting, which provides both a reference for media to minimize the use of inflammatory terms and a starting place for Iraqis to address the issues noted in the content analysis and improve media regulation and monitoring. Building on the self-regulatory tools developed, USIP is seeking to create a network of civic organizations across Iraq that can monitor media content on a range of potential conflict issues, from elections to oil to ethnic relations." (Summary)
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"According to the Danida website "The Danish Arab Partnership Programme (DAPP) is a long-term programme with the dual objectives of 1) supporting local reform processes in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA region) and 2) Establishing a basis for improved dialogue, understanding and cooperation
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between Arab countries and Denmark. Media support has been the biggest programme under the DAPP with a total of 178 million DKK (approx. Euro 24 Mio) being allocated to these activities during the period 2005-2012. The evaluation applies OECD/DAC’s five criteria: relevance, efficiency, effectiveness, (emerging) impacts, and sustainability to answer the overall evaluation questions, including whether and how the media cooperation activities have contributed to media reform in the Arab countries and to enhanced dialogue between professional media partners in Arab countries and in Denmark. Other key questions include the extent to which DAPP and MCP programmes and projects have been able to adjust and respond to the dynamic changes in the region and which lessons can be learned for future media cooperation and professionalization of the media in the MENA region". The overall study frame included 20 different regional and country programmes. Five countries were assessed: Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Yemen and Tunisia. The intervention areas sampled for assessments were: investigative journalism, media monitoring, legal reform, online media, public service broadcasting (PSB), documentary filmmaking and twinnings." (commbox)
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"To what extent do the structures and conduct of leading news media correspond with their specific democratic role? Authors from 10 countries provide empirical evidence based on the 26 indicators included in the Media for Democracy Monitor." (Back cover)
"Media Accountability in Syria is more a question of re-defining the role of media in society than working on transparency practices or establishing self-regulation. This is due to strong state control and the mobilisation role mass media has been playing in Syria for decades. Before opening its med
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ia market for private publications in 2001 Syrian media was controlled either by the state or the ruling Baath party. Media accountability institutions like press councils or ombudspersons were simply not necessary in this concept of media and therefore do not exist. The only professional organisation, the Syrian Journalists Syndicate, did not act as a representative of independent journalists but as a representative of the regime. Additionally, as all journalists and media outlets had to work for more or less the same purpose, norms for guiding individual or organisational decisions – such as a code of ethics – were superfluous.
Although these conditions still persist in major parts of the media field, news websites have particularly contributed to a shift in society’s perception of the role of media by paving the way for media accountability practices in the field of responsiveness. Even though instruments for responsiveness might be part of an economic strategy of news websites to enter and survive the news media field, news websites have introduced an audience oriented journalism approach by providing collaborative story writing or possibilities for the audience to comment on news. This is a fundamental change in role perception as mobilising media was merely meant to serve the Baath elite and its ideas. Thus, the audience as a neglected actor of accountability seems to have entered the field.
In addition, news websites have added new topics to the traditional news agenda by taking the audience into account, and thus have contributed to holding the media accountable for aspects the old media does not cover. Thus, at least in some cases, media has played the role of being a watchdog over political decisions, which role media has never previously adopted. have particularly contributed to a shift in society’s perception of the role of media by paving the way for media accountability practices in the field of responsiveness. Even though instruments for responsiveness might be part of an economic strategy of news websites to enter and survive the news media field, news websites have introduced an audience oriented journalism approach by providing collaborative story writing or possibilities for the audience to comment on news. This is a fundamental change in role perception as mobilising media was merely meant to serve the Baath elite and its ideas. Thus, the audience as a neglected actor of accountability seems to have entered the field." (Summary)
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"Lebanon’s media has been envied for its press freedom and high quality by many Arabs from the region for decades. After 15 years of civil war the media had quickly started to flourish again. Yet, internal and external observers have been concerned about the close links between the media and polit
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ical and religious groups that have led to highly politicized journalism. There is no professional organisation that could unify journalists from the various fractions and set in force binding rules like a code of ethics. A media council does not exist, journalists unions are not involved in media accountability practices and a state’s ombudsman has never been instituted. Yet, internal accountability practices are relatively well developed. As political affiliation of media outlets is openly handled (e.g. staff is mainly recruited from each media’s particular political group, party emblems are published prominently, mission statements and ownership information are partly available), Lebanese normally know how to interpret the news. Accountability practices that were already in evidence in offline media have been adopted by the majority of websites, such as by-lines, precise references in stories and letters-to-the-editor." (Abstract)
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"Holding the news media accountable has traditionally been a task of the state in Jordan. Media laws and regulations are numerous and do not leave too much space for self-regulatory practices on a national basis. The Jordan Press Association (JPA) is the core of so-called established media accountab
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ility institutions. It conducted a law-like code of ethics in 2003 and runs ombuds committees (currently three) dealing with mishaps of the media to prevent journalists from legal liability. Though being a professional body, many journalists perceive the JPA as an extended arm of the government. Until 2010 the association was not prepared to deal with private broadcasting and online journalists in the same way as it does with press and state owned media journalists. Most media outlets in Jordan are characterised by a lack of accountability awareness and practices especially when it comes to actor and production transparency. Only recently have some news organisations (mainly net-native) become aware of their duty to be accountable towards their audiences. New comers to the field of online news, in particular, have experimented with citizens’ involvement and have established a high level of responsiveness in their newsrooms." (Summary)
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"[...] La mayoría de los asuntos que se a bordan en este libro han podido afectar a la gran mayoría de los probables lectores, sin embargo la mayoría de ellos no se detuvieron a analizarlos. Esta obra pretende obligarnos a parar un instante y pensar sobre diversas cuestiones relacionadas con los
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medios de comunicación pero que, casualmente, no suelen ser abordadas por esos mismos medios. Entre los asuntos que abordamos aquí encontraremos un análisis de la crisis económica que incluye el papel de los medios de comunicación, que no solo han sido meros notarios de los acontecimientos. También debemos descifrar de qué forma el periodismo condiciona la política y la transforma en función de sus intereses. Hace ocho años se presentaron los denominados Observatorios de medios con el objetivo de que la ciudadanía pudiese supervisar la calidad de la información que recibía. Es hora de hacer balance de esa situación. La llegada de Intemet no solo ha revolucionado la forma de operar del periodismo, sino también la de organizarnos y movilizarnos. Esta misma red ha permitido una eclosión del periodismo alternativo que debe convivir y crear sinergias con los movimientos sociales. De todo ello trata este libro. Existen antiguos debates que hay que retomar al hilo de la coyuntura actual. Nos referimos al referente a la objetividad y el compromiso del periodista; y al de medios públicos/medios privados. Se trata de dos cuestiones que, como decíamos al principio, han sido esculpidas en el imaginario actual por el modelo de pensamiento dominante que ha logrado estigmatizar el compromiso del profesional para ensalzar una objetividad que no existe. Al mismo tiempo, ha acuñado privado como independiente y público como partidista. Se trata de prejuicios que debemos revisar. Por último, una mirada a la región que en estos momentos levanta más esperanzas y lidera el mayor debate en torno a los medios de comunicación y el periodismo: América Latina ." (Introducción, página 7-8)
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