"The purpose of this article is to shed light on a Christian Reformed version of media ethics, more particularly one that was applied for just more than half a century (1960–2014) during the apartheid era and thereafter at the Potchefstroom University for Christian Higher Education (PUCHE), now No
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rth-West University (NWU) in South Africa. The contribution of the two main exponents of Christian Reformed media ethics as applied at PUCHE/NWU (and consequently in South Africa), page G. (Calvyn) Snyman and J.D. (Johannes) Froneman, is discussed. It is argued that their approach to Calvinist media ethics, based on a particular Calvinist interpretation of the Bible, was largely that of pillarisation (verzuiling). It is further argued that since the early 1960s, Snyman’s Reformed media ethics approach at PUCHE was fundamentally divorced from the external sociopolitical reality of South Africa. Later (shortly before the end of apartheid in 1994), Froneman was well aware of the South African sociopolitical environment, but his version of media ethics mainly remained embedded within a pillarised Christian Reformed research publishing context. The way in which media ethics was taught at the biggest Afrikaans journalism school over a period of five decades, with generations of students entering mainly the Afrikaans media world, is interrogated." (Abstract)
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"Journalists in Croatia primarily see their roles in the classical (western) "watchdog" function of providing analysis of current affairs, monitoring and scrutinizing political leaders, and business. These values are followed by public-forum roles
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of the media through letting people express their views and provide information people need for making political decision. Several of the values that reach high means (4.0 and higher) might be related to the (relatively) recent democratization and the view that the media should assist in this change. This particularly relates to the belief that journalists should advocate social change, motivate people to participate in political activity, and support national development. A large number of respondents (between close to 50% to almost 70%) think that it is somewhat important that journalists influence public opinion, set the political agenda, and provide orientation and direction in daily life to their audiences. As we go down the list with the least supported statements and shares of supporters, the homogeneity of the answers also decreases, while the most highly placed values having smaller standard deviations. The minority of journalists thinks that their work entails a support of government policy or to convey a positive image of political leadership (12 and 13.2 %, respectively), and a similarly small number thinks they should take an adversarial role to the government." (Journalistic roles, pages 1-2)
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"In the recent years, we have witnessed several protests, initiatives and social uprisings in the SEE region, through which the citizens demanded for government accountability, suggested better policy solutions and promoted better citizen participa
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tion. Regional research “Communicating citizens' protests, requiring public accountability: Case study from Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Macedonia” examines the communication practices during these social movements/ initiatives that took place in period 2011–2015, ranging in focus from environmental issues, through education reforms, to wide socio-economic issues. The aim of the research is to understand how the government officials responded to the calls to accountability, what were the practices of citizens/activist in terms of promotion of the movement and its goals, and which role did the mainstream media took when reporting on the protests and social mobilization. Study volume contains an overview of the major results of the research in three countries, and three separate country reports. The study finds that response to protests by both media and the government was rather systemic, with both failing to act in the public interest and to promote government accountability. Protests that included less criticism of the government structures received fairer media treatment, while the more anti-government ones attracted more controversial media converge (ranging from pro-government, more balanced, to supportive of protests) and framing that involved strategies of delegitimization of protests (mainly in BiH and Macedonia). But importantly, even when particular media provided fair representation of protesters (mainly case of dismantling chemical weapons in Albania), the media reports were superficial, lacking in-depth insights and analyses and substantial demands for government accountability." (Publisher description)
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"In this comparative regional overview of the governing and funding models of public service media in the countries of South East Europe, we see a variety of solutions. The information we have gathered and presented here demonstrates once again tha
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t these media organisations use large amounts of public money – either through the licence fee collected from households, or through state budgets, but the supervision mechanisms for their programming and finances are predominantly politically driven. Almost all governing bodies are entirely or partly appointed by parliament, and despite formal requirements for qualifications, their members are commonly appointed on the basis of political affiliation and compatibility with the political parties in power. It is not only the apparent political interests that make public service media in the region into their playground that have made these media rather devastated giants, but also the particular, private interests of the representatives of civil society, their organisations or the fields they represent. Their representation in the governing structures of the public service media in the region has often been misused and trust in the genuine representation of the public in the governing structure of public service media has been compromised. There are deep differences in the funding and governing models among the countries in the region. Particularly Hungary, with its giant PSM governing structure and solutions such as nomination of members of the Board of Governors by the political majority and opposition, or the indefinite term of office for a Director General appointed by that Board of Governors, seem to constitute an environment far from supportive of independent, open and inclusive public service media operations. The size of the governing bodies also differs significantly, but that provides no particular guarantee of quality and efficiency in their work." (Conclusions)
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"Media Assistance is the attempt to influence the media governance of a country or region in order to support the development of the proper functioning of liberal democracies in conditions of peace and respect of human rights. The process of media assistance takes various forms/instruments (
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see B) and involves several actors (see C) that are described hereunder. Those actors mobilise these instruments in order to create interventions in the media governance of a country/region (i.e. media state policies, media markets and media related civil society) measured against the effort to develop societies that respect the rational choice of the majority during free and fair elections, whereby different groups of the local societies are represented, and their rights as well as the rights of neighbouring counties/regions are respected."
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"Journalists in Malaysia view educating the audience, reports things as they are, promote tolerance, tell stories about the world, and cultural diversity and be a detached observer as their main roles (see Table 1). On the other hand, they did not
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indicate highly as their roles such as setting of political agenda, conveying a positive image of political leadership and motivate people to participate in political activity. In between those two “group” of roles, they would provide analysis of current affairs, provide the kind of news that attracts the largest audience. They also support national development and provide information people need to make political decisions." (Journalistic roles, page 2)
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"Albanian journalists believe their most important professional role is reporting things as they are, being detached observers and providing the kind of news that attracts the largest audience. These functions contrast with the dominant perceived role of journalists in the early 1990s as missionarie
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s and educators of the audience (see Table 1). Journalists in Albania tend to be audience-oriented, report uninvolved according to the audience’s taste and demand and attempt to educate them remotely through entertainment and recreation. Journalists’ other attributes as “advocates for social change”, “educators of the audience” and “promoters of tolerance and cultural diversity” find broad support as well. As for critical journalism, only a few journalists think it is important to set the political agenda, to monitor and scrutinize business and political leaders." (Journalistic roles, page 2)
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"With regards to professional role orientations, Argentinian journalists found it most important to report things as they were, to promote tolerance and cultural diversity, to provide analysis of current affairs, and to let people express their views (see
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Table 1). A majority of journalists in Argentina found it important to monitor and scrutinize political leaders and business. Considering the political polarization context as it was seen in Argentina during the years when the survey was conducted, options of conveying a positive image of political leadership or being an adversary of the government were surprisingly supported by only a minority of respondents. They showed some consensus towards more politically assertive roles such as supporting government policy or setting political agenda, both roles related to partisan journalism. Regarding this popular model, half of the respondents considered important, in increasing order, setting the political agenda, motivating people to participate in political activity, influencing public opinion, supporting national development, providing information people need to make political decisions and advocating for social change." (Journalistic roles, page 2)
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"With regard to professional role orientations, Ecuadorian journalists found it most important to provide analysis of current affairs, to report things as they are, to let people express their views, to educate the audience, to promote tolerance and cultural diversity, and to support national develo
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pment (see Table 1). These results point to a hybridization of “classic” and “neutral” standard roles from Western journalism and other types of journalism more “engaged” with and “didactic” towards the citizen and government. Likewise, journalists attribute little importance to being a detached observer, to supporting government policy, to providing entertainment and relaxation, to conveying a positive image of political leadership, and to being an adversary of the government. However, there was not a particularly strong consensus among the respondents, as the high standard deviations indicate. These results highlight that although we could speak of a passive role of journalists in Ecuador, the civic role exercised by them and the neglect of roles associated with market orientation and power distance are clearly present." (Journalistic roles, page 2)
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"On 13 April 2016, the Council of Europe’s Committee of Ministers adopted its Recommendation CM/Rec(2016)4 on the protection of journalism and safety of journalists and other media actors. This is a continuation of the Committee of Ministers’ engagement with the topic, following its adoption of
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an identicallytitled Declaration in 2014 (see IRIS 2014-7/4)." (Abstract)
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"Many individuals were involved in the Belgian Congo's attainment of independence. Born in 1931, Mwissa Camus, the dean of Congolese journalists, is one of them. Even though he was opposed to this idea and struggled to maintain his status as member of a certain ‘elite’, his career sheds light on
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the advancement of his country towards independence in June 1960. By following his professional career in the years preceding independence, we can see how his development illuminates the emergence of journalism in the Congo, the social position of Congolese journalists, and the ambivalence of their position towards the emancipation process. The road taken by Mwissa Camus – as an actor, witness, extra, and somehow instrument of the events that shook his country – helps understand the Congo's move towards independence from a particular perspective. History – that of a hurried independence, blatantly unprepared, on which a small elite failed to agree – is revealed through his words and the unveiling of his ‘world.’ This article is essentially based on interviews with Mwissa Camus and on Congolese newspaper articles from 1959, 1960 and 1961." (Abstract)
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"Fuelled by a distrust of big media and the development of mobile technologies, the resulting convergence of journalism praxis (professional to alternative), workflows (analogue to multipoint digital) and platforms (PC to mobile), result in a 24-hour always-on content cycle. The information revoluti
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on is a paradigm shift in the way we develop and consume information, in particular the type we call news. While many see this cultural shift as ruinous, Burum sees it as an opportunity to utilize the converging information flow to create a galvanizing and common digital language across spheres of communication: community, education and mainstream media." (Publisher description)
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"The top five roles, in order of importance both by mean scores and by percent who said “extremely” and “very” important, for Indian journalists, were: report things as they are (88.4%), educate the audience (85.5%), provide analysis of current affairs (84.7%), let people express their views
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(83.2%), and support national development (81.7%) (see Table 1). Interestingly, the last role in mean importance was “convey a positive image of the leadership.” “Be an adversary of the government” and “set the political agenda” tied for second last place in terms of means, followed by “support government policy.” These Indian journalists considered it only somewhat important to be directly oppositional to the government as well as to portray leaders positively. As the means decreased, in general, standard deviations increased. Thus journalists’ opinions were quite varied on the roles that were not of primary importance to them." (Journalistic roles, pages 1-2)
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"This article challenges the traditional role ascribed by liberal and developmental media theory that journalists should either be watchdogs or developmental journalists but not both at the same time. As part of the South African leg of the Worlds of Journalism (WJS) project this article argues that
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it is indeed possible that the media can fulfil both roles. Utilizing the WJS 2014 questionnaire and based on a provincial face-to-face (n=37) and a national electronic survey (n=371) the results from the WJS South African project show a potential new trend in the way South African journalists see their role. This article reports in the main on the background to the face-to-face survey, while utilizing data from the national survey reported on elsewhere. Data analysis showed when both roles were compared to one another it was apparent that the watchdog and developmental roles were statistically significantly related to one another." (Abstract)
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"Respondents believed that their primary role was to monitor and scrutinize political leaders, followed closely by reporting facts as they are. Yet only half found either of these to be ‘extremely’ or ‘very important’. They were also keen that everyday people should be allowed to express the
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ir views through the national media, and that the media should broaden the readers’ horizons. To promote tolerance and cultural diversity was an important journalistic role as well, concomitant with Singapore’s conscious and consistent effort to foster harmony among the diverse races and religions that constitute the population. At the bottom end of the table, respondents did not see that providing advice for daily life, entertainment and relaxation was a significant journalistic role. These are, perhaps, values more associated with lifestyle magazines, and this may reflect a division of labor in the minds of the newsworkers." (Journalistic roles, page 1)
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"The top six roles, all with means above 4.5 and standard deviations below 1, for Botswana journalists, were a mix of those aligned with a liberal press (e.g., report things as they are) and those relevant to development journalism (e.g., support national development). “Report things as they are
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(mean=4.80) and “Educate the audience” (mean=4.70) were the top two roles for these journalists (see Table 1) with 96.2 percent and 94.1 percent of the journalists respectively saying that they considered these roles “extremely” or “very” important. The least important roles, both with means below the midpoint of three, were “Be an adversary of government” (mean=2.62) and “Convey a positive image of political leadership” (mean=2.40); these journalists did not want to take a seriously adversarial stance with government but neither did they want to convey a positive image of political leaders." (Journalistic roles, page 1)
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"Foundation Maps for Media Funding is a data mapping platform that brings the diverse and expansive field of media and philanthropy to light, allowing users to research and explore media and technology funding around the world. The tool captures activities related to media content and platforms; tel
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ecommunications infrastructure; media applications and tools; media access and policy; and journalism, news, and information that foundations across the globe have supported from 2009 to present. Specifically designed for funders, nonprofits and journalists, Foundation Maps for Media Funding enables users to see, understand and dig deep into the numbers, networks and trends surrounding media and philanthropy." (Page 5)
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"Hong Kong journalists treated as most important the roles of monitoring and scrutinizing political leaders, reporting things as they are, monitoring and scrutinizing businesses, providing analysis of current affairs, and letting people express their views. Given the emphasis on monitoring the power
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holders, “to be a detached observer” was treated as important only by slightly more than half of the respondents. Twelve of the 18 roles included in the questionnaire were treated as important by fewer than half of the respondents. About one-third saw the advocacy role of the press as important, and about three in ten saw setting the political agenda and motivating people to participate in politics as important. The Hong Kong journalists were least likely to see conveying a positive image of political leadership, supporting government policy, providing entertainment and relaxation, and supporting national development as important roles. However, the percentage of journalists seeing the press as an adversary of the government is also low (14.4%). It indicates that the Hong Kong journalists saw themselves as an independent watchdog without being an adversary to the power holders." (Journalistic roles, page 2)
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"Commercial Nationalism intervenes in discussions of the fate of nationalism and national identity by exploring the relationship between state appropriation of marketing and branding strategies on the one hand, and, on the other, the commercial mobilization of nationalist discourses. The book's uniq
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ue contribution is to consider an emerging formation characterized by the following complementary (and related) developments: the ways in which states come increasingly to rely on commercial techniques for self-promotion, diplomacy, and internal national mobilization, and also the ways in which new and legacy forms of commercial media rely on the mobilization emerging configurations of nationalism for the purpose of selling, gaining ratings, and otherwise profiting. We see this formation as a unique reconfiguration of the formation of nationalism associated with the contemporary context. Often these processes are approached separately: what is the economic role of nationalism and how do media participate in the formation of national identity?" (Publisher description)
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"It is fairly informative how journalists view their roles in the Kenyan society. Kenyan journalists found it most important to report things the way they are, to educate the audience and to promote tolerance and diversity. The relevance of these roles was fairly undisputed among the interviewed jou
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rnalists as the relatively low standard deviations (s=.75, s=.77, and s=.88 respectively) indicate. It is particularly noteworthy the notion of reporting things as they are and promoting tolerance. About a decade ago, the Kenyan media was perceived to have contributed to the spate of political violence that engulfed the country. The media has strenuously struggled to shed off that perception. Further, journalists tend to see themselves as objective and therefore it is little surprising that straight reporting scored highly on the list. Other roles with a standard deviation score less than s=1.0 included letting people express their views (81.1%, s=.89) and telling stories about the world (78.9%, s=.98). Providing analysis of current affairs was considered an important role by 81.7 percent of the respondents. The other roles, in their order of percentage scores and possibly relative importance, are indicated in Table 1 below. It is instructive what Kenyan journalists considered less important roles: conveying a positive image of political leadership (31.8%) and being an adversary of the government (36.1%). Nearly all roles related to politics are at the bottom of the table. This is a unique finding, as Kenyan media is often accused of being overly political. The headlines and lead stories are often all about politics. It is noteworthy that journalism in Kenya can sometimes be fairly adversarial in relation to the government. Given the promulgation of a new constitution nearly seven years ago, with clauses protective of media freedom, there is often a boldness in Kenyan media which is unique compared to the experiences of neighboring countries.
Roles supportive of a development agenda scored somewhere in the middle of the table. This is an important and surprising perception as well. Kenya is a developing country and it would have been natural to expect that development was a default role for the media. But development-related responses scored 78.8 percent and 69.2 percent respectively. While this is still a high score, it is not among the top considerations of the media." (Journalistic roles, pages 3-4)
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