"Political parties do not exist in Iran. In this situation the media, particularly the newspapers, have assumed a central role in the political life of the country." (Publisher description)
"In 2016, television broadcasts were watched by 80 percent of the population, Slovak citizens did watch more programmes in their non-mother tongue than in other EU countries." (https://medialandscapes.org)
"Despite political and economic progress, the media face increasing political influence and financial instability that threaten the future. This year panelists affirmed the current financial crisis that the media industry is facing. They noted its impact on media freedom and progress, as it relates
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to ownership and transparency. Panelists also highlighted the evolution of digital technology, a proliferation of online platforms, and a lack of accountability as the emerging issues affecting the industry." (Page 1)
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"Morocco’s 2015 Press Code eliminates prison as a punishment for speech offenses. This, on its face, represents progress for freedom of expression in a country where journalists and ordinary citizens have been locked up for “insulting” the king, questioning Morocco’s claim over Western Sahar
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a, or rapping about police corruption. The Red Lines Stay Red: Morocco’s Reform of its Speech Laws analyzes the laws governing speech offenses in Morocco and finds that the recent overhaul falls well short of securing freedom of speech as guaranteed by international conventions and Morocco’s own 2011 constitution. Imprisonment as punishment for crossing Morocco’s famous “red lines” – causing harm to Islam, “territorial integrity,” the institution of the monarchy, or the person of the king – is alive and well. While the new press code punishes “red line” offenses only with the suspension of publications, judges can, thanks to new provisions of the penal code, still hand down prison sentences for these offenses. In addition, the penal code continues to mandate prison sentences for other speech offenses such as “insulting” state institutions or state agents, and broadly defined notions of “praising terrorism,” “casting discredit on judicial decisions,” and “inciting hatred or discrimination." (Back cover)
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"Cette étude présente une évaluation du développement des médias à Madagascar dans un contexte de retour au fonctionnement démocratique des institutions suite à la crise politique des années 2009-2013 qui s’est traduite par une forte instabilité politique et un marasme économique. Elle
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est basée sur les Indicateurs de Développement des Médias (IDM) de l’UNESCO. Son intervention devrait constituer un outil pour la promotion du développement des médias." (Résumé exécutif)
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"The idea of rules limiting concentration of media ownership is often cast by media owners as a restriction on their right to freedom of expression. Unfortunately, the behaviour of States in Latin America has often lent support to this perspective, especially when States abuse for political ends the
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ir power to provide for regulation of the media. International law has a clear answer to both of these problems. By protecting the rights of both the speaker and the listener, international law provides an alternative view of the claim that limits on media ownership are simply restrictions on freedom of expression. Instead, by promoting a plurality of voices in the public sphere, such limits enhance the right of listeners to receive a diversity of information and ideas, which is essential to the exercise of full citizenship, political participation, robust cultural expression and many other important values in society. Thus what at first blush may appear as a restriction on the expressive rights of speakers is also a form of protection for the freedom of expression rights of listeners." (Conclusion)
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"In this volume of essays edited by Anya Schiffrin, media capture is shown to be a growing phenomenon linked both to the resurgence of authoritarian governments as well as to the structural weaknesses presently afflicting media markets. In this environment, political figures and economic elites are
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colluding to undermine the independence of privately-owned media, and efforts to stop this collusion by activists, regulators, and the international community have proven to be ineffective." (Publisher description)
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"In 2014, Cameroon enacted a broad anti-terror law as part of its effort to counter the extremist group Boko Haram, but authorities are using it to arrest and threaten local journalists who report on the militants or unrest in the country’s English-speaking regions. A presidential decree in August
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2017 ended legal proceedings against at least four journalists, but the laws that were used against them are still in place. RFI broadcaster Ahmed Abba remains in jail. With elections due to take place next year, many of Cameroon’s journalists say they are too scared to cover politics or sensitive issues." (Page 2)
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"What does it mean to support local media? How should we define local media in the first place? Christopher Ali delves into our ideas about localism and their far-reaching repercussions for the discourse of federal media policy and regulation. His critique focuses on the new interest in localism amo
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ng regulators in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Canada. As he shows, the many different and often contradictory meanings of localism complicate efforts to study local voices. At the same time, market factors and regulators' unwillingness to critically examine local media blunt challenges to the status quo. Ali argues that reconciling the places where we live with the spaces we inhabit will point regulators toward effective policies that strengthens local media." (Publisher description)
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"El presente artículo analiza la participación de los medios comunitarios y su importancia para la democratización de la comunicación en Ecuador en el marco del Concurso Público de Frecuencias de Radio y Televisión de señal abierta, convocado en 2016. Este concurso cobró importancia en la ag
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enda pública por ser la primera vez que el Estado utiliza un mecanismo público para otorgar concesiones de frecuencias, abriendo a concurso 1 472 frecuencias de radio y televisión, lo que modificará el panorama mediático por 15 años –tiempo que dura cada concesión–. Este concurso, además, tomó relevancia por desarrollarse en medio de un proceso electoral ya de por sí agitado, por la permanencia o no del Gobierno de la Revolución Ciudadana liderado por Rafael Correa, después de 10 años en el poder. En este contexto, este análisis propone otra visión: desde la mirada del sector comunitario, un actor casi ausente en el debate público, a pesar de ser uno de los grupos que mayor implicación tiene en este proceso. Este documento plantea una comprensión del sector comunitario y de los “medios comunitarios” no como una totalidad cerrada, sino como una categorización que debe ser debatida, diferenciando aquellos medios comunitarios de grupos religiosos de aquellos nuevos medios comunitarios de organizaciones sociales, que como se verá, tienen características y demandas diferenciadas." (Página 1)
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"This study assesses the Cybercrime Act 2015 and its implications for online press freedom in the liberal authoritarian state of Nigeria. Specifically, the study examines how the character of political leadership in Nigeria leads to wrongful application of the act to undermine the independence of th
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e press. The study shows that Nigeria’s online press freedom index has consistently worsened since the introduction of the Cybercrime Act in 2015, and it recommends the promotion of a holistic democratic project that recognises economic and political freedom as being inextricably linked." (Abstract)
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"This article presents and makes a case for the audience-Centred approach to media policymaking and research, and situates this discussion within the South African revision of the regulatory mechanism for the press. In South Africa the press accountability mechanism, the Press Council of South Afric
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a, has been subject to a near constant process of review and restructuring since 2010. This article discusses and contextualises these various South African reviews, with particular emphasis on the Press Freedom Commission, and weighs them against the audience-Centred approach to media policymaking which adopts a ground-up public-focused method in keeping with the principles of a participatory democracy. The findings indicate that however well intentioned, the various different attempts to review and restructure the press accountability system for South Africa fell short of substantive and meaningful audience or public participation, and resultantly the value and richness of public input and participation, which may have infused the process of policymaking with audience ownership, was lost." (Abstract)
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"Este libro presenta y analiza el estado de los medios de comunicación y del ejercicio periodístico en la República Dominicana. Es el resultado de un proceso de investigación que abarcó dos encuestas nacionales: una en 1,200 hogares de todo el territorio nacional para medir el grado de credibil
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idad de los medios y la importancia que la población le atribuye a éstos; otra entre 330 periodistas de distintos medios sobre el rol de su profesión en la construcción de la democracia y sobre las condiciones socio-laborales en que se desenvuelven. El estudio también consultó a ejecutivos de medios, a investigadores y expertos del área, a funcionarios gubernamentales del sector comunicación, a representantes de la sociedad civil y dirigentes de los principales gremios periodísticos." (Reverso)
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"The overall conclusion is that there is an urgent need to address the specific legal framework and major technical and financial challenges identified in this study to ensure pluralism and media diversity in the Kingdom of Swaziland." (Page 10)
"Se presenta un análisis temático de tres debates parlamentarios claves para el tema de la libertad de expresión en el ámbito mediático en Chile desde la vuelta a la democracia: la discusión en torno a la Ley de Prensa 1993–2001, el Informe de la Comisión Especial sobre las Libertades de Pe
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nsamiento y Expresión 2007–2010 y el debate de la Ley de Televisión Digital 2008–2014. En todos ellos, la batalla principal se ha librado por el significado mismo de la libertad de expresión, por su contenido meramente negativo —como la libertad de “injerencia” estatal— o el positivo que supone un Estado activo. Los ganadores de los debates argumentaron en contra de la regulación viéndola como una intromisión estatal limitante para el mercado, y reduciendo así la noción de la libertad de expresión a la libertad de empresa." (Resumen)
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"Mit dem Media Services Act, 2016 ist in Tansania am 3. Februar 2017 ein neues Mediengesetz in Kraft getreten, das die Pressefreiheit drastisch einschränkt und in klarem Widerspruch zur Verfassung von 1977 steht. Die umstrittenste Bestimmung betrifft die Verpflichtung von JournalistInnen zur Akkred
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itierung. Weitere Regelungen – wie z. B. die Möglichkeit zur Einstellung von Printmedien – entstammen früheren Gesetzen, deren Wurzeln bis in die Kolonialzeit reichen. Der Beitrag analysiert die unterschiedlichen Verordnungen seit 1912 und dokumentiert die Auswirkungen auf die journalistische Produktion in der jeweiligen Periode. Dabei zeigt sich, dass einmal eingeführte Kontrollmechanismen in den nachfolgenden Gesetzen weitgehend beibehalten wurden. Der Media Services Act, 2016 kann daher als drakonisches Mediengesetz mit kolonialen Wurzeln beschrieben werden." (Abstract)
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