"Estonians have demonstrated a keen appetite for digital media uptake. More than three-quarters of the population accesses the internet regularly, and more than half of those are active on social networking platforms. Recent surveys suggest that nearly a quarter of internet users now connect via sma
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rtphones. As for traditional media, newspaper circulations have experienced a steady rather than dramatic decline over recent years, while television and radio audiences remain relatively stable. The press and news organizations remain in general relatively free of political influence, and although there is significant cross-media ownership and little opportunity for new entrants, digitization does not appear to have exacerbated this situation, and there remains a degree of competition and pluralism within all sectors. This report calls for the development of media policy that will incentivize television service providers to introduce the additional digital television services that were promoted during switch-over. They also call for long-term predictable funding mechanisms to ensure that public service media, Estonian Public Broadcasting (Eesti Rahvusringhääling, ERR) above all, provide quality output." (Open Society Foundations website)
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"Quel que soit le pays ou le continent considéré, une interdépendance étroite existe aujourd’hui entre démocratie, liberté des médias et régulation de la communication. Une place cruciale revient en effet aux organes de régulation dans la procédure d’allocation de fréquences d’émis
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sions, dans la promotion de la diversité culturelle des contenus médiatiques, dans l’équitable accès aux ondes des courants politiques et de pensée, ou encore dans l’émergence de véritables médias de service public. Les organes de régulation des médias se sont partout ou presque imposés comme partie intégrante de l’appareillage institutionnel démocratique. En Afrique subsaharienne, les premières instances de régulation des médias ont été créées dans le sillage de la démocratisation, au tournant des années 1980/1990. Le rejet du système des partis uniques et la revendication des libertés civiles et politiques se traduisent notamment alors, dans le domaine de l’information et de la communication, par l’avènement de régulateurs dont la vocation est de couper le cordon ombilical entre pouvoir politique et médias. Le bouillonnement médiaticopolitique né de l’essor sans précédent de nouveaux supports écrits et audiovisuels privés, a, de par sa vigueur et, il faut bien le reconnaître aussi, ses excès, nécessité l’organisation de ces nouvelles libertés d’expression et de communication. Ce besoin d’arbitrage, justifié au nom de l’intérêt supérieur du public et de son droit à une information de qualité, a débouché sur la création d’instances de régulation des médias écrits et/ou audiovisuels. A l’heure où la légitimité de ces nouveaux acteurs indépendants semble globalement acquise, de nouveaux dangers les attendent pourtant : sauront-ils, par exemple, relever les défis que leur posent les nouvelles technologies de l’information et de la communication - notamment Internet – et parviendront-ils à gérer collectivement, en bonne intelligence et complémentarité, les images télévisuelles se déversant sur les Etats africains, en s’affranchissant de toute considération de frontières ?" (Description de la maison d'édition)
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"This report analyses current media legislation and regulation in Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar, Thailand and Viet Nam and examines the opportunities for the development of public service and community broadcasting. The report also includes useful references to Singapore." (Preface)
"The story of Kazakhstani media is of two contrasting dynamics: the increasingly controlled and innovation-shy offline space, and the vibrant, less-restricted digital environment. The rise of digital media has yielded benefits for citizens and democracy, albeit these are limited by the dominance of
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one political party and its leader. Nevertheless, media remain constrained and state interference remains prominent. As opportunities for working directly with policymakers in Kazakhstan are limited, the report calls for civil society organizations to step up their awareness-raising efforts and bring the threats stemming from restrictive legislation and the lack of regulatory independence to public and international attention. It also calls for a debate about the need to reform publicly funded broadcasters so that they serve the public interest." (Open Society Foundations website)
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"Dem Klappentext zufolge will diese juristische Dissertationsschrift eine interdisziplinäre "Pionierarbeit, die das brasilianische Medienrecht als solches darlegt und mit der Realität seiner Umsetzung konfrontiert", sein. Im ersten Teil (95 Seiten) stellt die Autorin die Medienlandschaft, ihre Ent
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stehung und ihre Hauptakteure vor und führt einige Beispiele zu ihrem Einfluss im politischen und gesellschaftlichen Leben Brasiliens auf. Im zweiten Teil (75 Seiten) behandelt sie die brasilianische Verfassung, die darin verankerten Grundrechte, und die verfassungsrechtlichen Rechtswege zum Schutz der Grundrechte. Der dritte Teil (180 Seiten) behandelt "das Recht der Sozialkommunikation und ihre übergreifenden Rechte". Dabei werden alle für die Medienregulierung relevanten Bestimmungen aufgeführt: Pressefreiheit, Urheberrecht, Persönlichkeits- und Jugendschutz, Regelung der Wahlberichterstattung, Lizenzvergabe und Organisation der Regulierungsbehörden, journalistische Selbstregulierung, Bestimmungen zu Internet- und Multimediakommunkationsdienstleistungen, die nationale Filmförderpolitik, Werbung und Verbraucherschutz, Anti-Monopol-Bestimmungen u.a. Leider geht diese Fleißarbeit (933 Fußnoten!) aber nicht über das Stadium einer Datensammlung hinaus. So werden zwar verschiedene Fallstudien vorgestellt wie etwa eine Klage gegen den Fernsehsender Record, der 2005 in reißerischer Aufmachung das Schicksal eines leukämiekranken Kindes zur Schau gestellt hatte. Die Klagebegründung wird ausführlich dargestellt, warum es aber zu einem faktischen Freispruch des beklagten Senders kommen konnte, analysiert Camargos Becker nicht. Hinzu kommt, dass die zusammengetragenen Daten etwa zur Medienlandschaft unvollständig und manchmal auch falsch sind, z.B. ist Radio nicht das meistgenutzte Medium in Brasilien. Immerhin: wer sich einen Überblick über die Gesetzeslage und Regulierungsbestimmungen verschaffen will, wird in dieser Arbeit fündig." (commbox)
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"This article investigates the operation of the contested reply and correction provisions of the 2008 Slovak Press Act and their influence on journalism. I argue that apart from the ‘law-on-the-books’, we need to examine the interactions between the media, policymakers and judges in order to exp
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lain how law shapes journalism in the public spheres of Central and Eastern European democracies. Such interactions are based on the interests and experiences of the actors and conditioned by their particular historical, structural, cultural and international contexts. Our analysis thus needs to take them all into account when assessing the role of legislation." (Abstract)
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"Egypt’s revolutionary uprising in 2011 raised important questions about the kind of journalism that would be viable in the country’s changing political dynamics. Suddenly the output of bloggers, online radio and social media news operations, which had all formed part of the groundswell of actio
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n against dictatorship and repression, posed an explicit challenge to journalists in state-run and commercial media companies who were more directly subject to government controls. As different interest groups struggle over the country’s future, Naomi Sakr considers emerging visions of journalism in Egypt. In this book she charts recent transformations in Egyptian journalism, exploring diverse approaches to converged media and the place of participatory cross-media networks in expanding and developing the country's body of professional journalists. She analyses journalist’ initiatives for restructuring publicly owned media and securing a safe and open environment in which to work." (Publisher description)
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"The Indian Media Business, Fourth Edition gives you detailed analysis, perspective and information on eight segments of the media business in India—print, TV, film, radio, music, digital, outdoor, and events. It presents the business history, current dynamics, regulation, economics, technology, v
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aluations, case studies, trends (Indian and global) and a clear sense of how the business operates. This book is a must-read for media professionals, students and for those planning to invest in the Indian media and entertainment business. The outstanding feature of the fourth edition is a new chapter on digital media—arguably, the first ever look at digital media from a comprehensive business perspective. This looks at everything from history to business dynamics and the major issues digital media faces in India. This edition tackles regulation with more detail than any of the previous ones. There is one large case study on the quality of regulation in India and several caselets such as the ones on copyright law, defamation law and how it works for social media." (Publisher description)
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"This article addresses concerns that an insidious culture of intolerance, hate and insults in Ghanaian politics and electoral contests could undermine the efficacy of the country’s neo-democracy. The article draws on pre-election interviews with the two main contenders in Ghana’s 2012 elections
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to sound out their positions on the propriety and prudence of expressing a negative campaign platform. The interview responses are analysed in the context of past ads run by their parties, which reveal that the candidates’ disclaimers and public professions to run issue-oriented campaigns contradicted the practice of their party’s resort to negative campaigns. The article concludes that candidates and their parties are unlikely to abide by ethical injunctions and accordingly proposes the passage of a legal code to regulate broadcasting (including political advertising) in Ghana." (Abstract)
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"Featuring specially commissioned chapters from experts in the field of media and communications law, this book provides an authoritative survey of media law from a comparative perspective. The handbook does not simply offer a synopsis of the state of affairs in media law jurisprudence, rather it pr
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ovides a better understanding of the forces that generate media rules, norms, and standards against the background of major transformations in the way information is mediated as a result of democratization, economic development, cultural change, globalization and technological innovation." (Publisher description)
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"There are over 250 radio stations in Mali, and two TV stations that serve a population of 16 million, of whom one of every five own a TV set. The author argues that Mali’s state broadcaster ORTM must use the opportunity of a new political dispensation and usher in urgent reforms if its rich histo
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ry of media proliferation, political pluralism and democracy are to be consolidated. He further makes the case for the urgent need by the new Malian government to revisit state policy on the digital switch over, an eminent process that Mali must undertake. Failing which, all the gains that the country has made could be lost." (www.afrimap.org)
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"Somalia is often described as ‘lawless’ or ‘the world’s most failed state’, a characterization that overlooks the way law and governance actually works in the absence of a capable central government. This article will explore the role of xeer law, or customary law, in regulating media, in
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cluding both older media, such as poetry, and newer media, such as mobile phones, in Somalia’s complex legal environment. While Somalia remains one of the most dangerous regions of the world for journalists, dozens of radio stations are broadcasting in South-Central Somalia and there is a competitive newspaper industry in Somaliland. In addition, the telecoms industry is booming with some of the best connections and lowest rates on the continent for the internet and mobile phones. Various authorities govern media and resolve conflicts across the Somali territories. To understand media ‘law’ in this region we must look beyond the formal state structures." (Abstract)
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This report analyzes the most important trends of two recent major laws aimed at regulating free speech and media issues in Tunisia: Decree 115 of 2011 (Decree 115/2011), on the Press, Printing and Publishing, and Decree 116 of 2011 (Decree 116/2011), on the Freedom of Audiovisual Communication and
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the Creation of a Supreme Independent Body of Audiovisual Communication, both dated 2 November 2011.
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"The objective of the press freedom mission conducted by the Vienna-based South East Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO), an affiliate of the International Press Institute (IPI), was to the assess the media situation in Montenegro following several developments: a) the introduction of new media-relate
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d laws, including decriminalisation of defamation and libel; b) follow-up of the activities related to attacks on journalists, including the 2004 assassination of Dusko Jovanovic, editor-in-chief of the daily Dan; c) fact-finding about pressures on media; and e) evaluation of the steps taken towards the establishment of self-regulatory bodies." (Commentary)
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