"What are the particular characteristics of the media in small nations? What challenges do broadcasters and other media institutions in these countries face, how can these be overcome, and are there advantages to operating in a small national context? How are small nations represented on screen, and
...
how do audiences in small nations engage with the media? Bringing together perspectives from across Europe, including case-studies on Catalonia, the Basque Country, Wales, Scotland, Iceland, Portugal, Slovenia and Macedonia, this collection answers these questions. At the same time, it provides readers with insights into broader issues of media policy, representation, national identity, transnationalism, audience reception and media research methods." (Publisher description)
more
"A disadvantage that is present in all countries is the insufficient cooperation between the universities and media outlets. There are not enough internships available. Besides that, it should be mentioned that many students continue to work at a media outlet where they did their internship and ther
...
efore risk to not graduate college. In the current educational system and curricula, there is a lack of practical work, in comparison to theoretical elements. The main cause for this situation is that the faculties cannot provide sufficient technical equipment and specialised teaching staff. Greater emphasis should be put in the future on the subjects of ethics, languages, law, investigative journalism etc. Digital media should also play a bigger role in journalistic education. The authors believe that it is important to work on the monitoring of career paths of journalists and on the systematic analysis of the labour market. Media companies should provide a greater number of additional workshops for their employees who are willing to upgrade their knowledge, skills and competences." (Summary)
more
"Bearing in mind the political and economic circumstances in the early stages of development of a democratic Macedonia, international donors played an important role in providing a vibrant media landscape including legal framework and relevant institutions. Donors in Macedonia engaged in a number of
...
media assistance projects producing varying results, but mostly providing short-term improvements. The reasons behind the donors’ limited success can be explained through Berkowicz’s ‘transplant effect’. In particular, the reforms in the Macedonian media sector were conducted according to the model of the liberal media system, underestimating the potential dangers of the local context. In that light, the local context of high state politicization, strong business and political parallelism and ethnic segregation were to a great extent overlooked. In addition to the lack of understanding of the local context, there was an absence of a coherent donor assistance strategy. This has contributed towards the overall limited success of the assistance efforts. With several notable exceptions, most of the media assistance in Macedonia was of short and mid-term orientation, which finally resulted in short-term results." (Conclusion)
more
"Through the methodological framework of the Networked Readiness Index (NRI), the report measures the extent to which 144 economies, from both the developed and developing worlds, take advantage of ICTs and other new technologies to increase their growth and well-being. The NRI identifies the most r
...
elevant factors driving ICT readiness and impacts, providing policymakers, business leaders, and civil society at large with a useful tool for designing national strategies for increased networked readiness and for benchmarking their country’s performance against other relevant comparators. The Global Information Technology Report 2013 features the latest computation and rankings of the NRI, and in referring to this year’s theme, dives deeper into the connection between ICTs and economic growth and job creation. As in previous years, it also showcases a number of ICT development stories of particular interest. In addition, the report includes detailed profiles for the 144 economies covered this year together with data tables for each of the 54 indicators used in the computation of the NRI." (Back cover)
more
"The current UIS Questionnaire on Media Statistics provides information for three UNESCO frameworks, namely the Media and Information Literacy Framework, the Media Development Indicators Framework and the Framework for Cultural Statistics. The questionnaire collects data for reporting global progres
...
s on Action Lines C2, C3, C8 and C9 of the World Summit on Information Society (WSIS) in UNESCO’s fields of competencies. In particular, Action Line C9 recommends appropriate policies to foster and sustain media and information development. This document provides country profiles for each of the countries that participated in the two pilot surveys conducted in 2011 and 2012." (Background, page 3)
more
"The goal of this book is to present in a systematic way the results of analysis of content of media in minority languages in four countries (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia), relying on past practice, expertise and research results related to analysis of minority media and
...
treatment of minorities in media. The analysis conducted in 2012 by the research team gathered around this project focused, in addition to minority media content, on analysis of the legislative context and socio-economic status of minority communities in these countries." (Introduction, page 14-15)
more
"The quantitative content analysis identified the amount and the patterns of media reporting on delicate interethnic and interfaith issues, focusing on respect of different aspects of professional and ethical standards. The method of Critical Discourse Analysis is applied for the qualitative analysi
...
s of the media coverage of three events that shacked the fragile interethnic relations in the first half of 2012: the European Championship in handball in 2012, the Carnival of Vevchani, and the Smilkovsko Lake Murders. The synthesized findings clearly “detect” the extent to which basic standards of impartial, accurate and balanced reporting are being observed and the practice of using violent and emotional language through the prism of 'one’s own' ethnic group." (http://mediaobservatory.net)
more
"The first component of this report focuses on the improvement of the performance of public sector broadcasters. Based on evidence that the team gathered during field research, and the preparatory survey of the existing body of knowledge, 23 main problems were identified in this component [...] The
...
second component deals with media self-regulation. Although the push to strengthen selfregulation is high on the agenda of the media communities in the region, such institutions have either not been established or the existing ones need to be overhauled and strengthened [...] Component three concentrates on judicial practices in freedom of expression cases and capacity building of the judiciary in this regard [...] Component four assesses the options for the introduction of an EU award for investigative journalism in the Southeast Europe IPA region." (Executive summary, page 9)
more
"The Report is composed of four thematic parts. Part 1 describes the conceptual framework and relates the findings of the Networked Readiness Index (NRI) 2012. In addition, Part 1 features selected expert contributions on the general theme of hyperconnectivity. Part 2 includes two case studies showi
...
ng the efforts that two countries, Azerbaijan and Mauritius, are making to develop ICT and fully leverage their potential benefits. Part 3 comprises detailed profiles for the 142 economies covered in this year’s Report, providing a thorough picture of each economy’s current networked readiness landscape and allowing for international comparisons of specific variables or components of the NRI. Part 4 includes data tables for each of the 53 variables composing the NRI, with rankings for the economies covered as well as technical notes and sources for the quantitative variables used." (Executive summary, page xi)
more
"TThe 2012 MSI study for Europe & Eurasia revealed a mix of positive developments, regression, and stagnation (or resilience, depending on one’s point of view). Nearly half of the 21 countries included in this study showed little change either way, their overall score moving by 0.10 or less. Six c
...
ountries showed improvement and five slid backward. The former Yugoslavia accounted for all but one of the countries with lower scores this year. Montenegro improved, Croatia remained roughly unchanged, but the rest of the former Yugoslavia—Serbia, Bosnia, Kosovo, and Macedonia—suffered losses (note that Slovenia is the only country of the former Yugoslavia not studied by the MSI) [...] Moldova continued to improve and achieved the highest score among the four countries in “Russia and Western Eurasia.” All objectives except Objective 4, Business Management, received a score in the “near sustainability” range. Armenia maintained its leadership amongst the three countries in the Caucasus. Its overall score remained mostly unchanged, although the score did slip slightly. Georgia continued to slowly regain ground lost in 2008. Russia’s score improved; despite serious lingering challenges, panelists expressed a cautious optimism that the situation will continue to improve in the coming years. Kyrgyzstan returned to the top spot in Central Asia as the political situation there stabilized. However, two objectives, those covering professional journalism and business management, remain well below the “near sustainability” range." (Executive summary, page ix)
more
"The book presents the results of a comprehensive qualitative research study conducted in 2011 with journalists and editors in more than 20 newsrooms of different media outlets. Several authors analyzed different aspects of the reporting on diversity issues, on the basis of the views and opinions of
...
interviewed journalists. The reasons for the deep professional and ethical crisis of the journalism are analysed and its negative impact on the role of the media in promoting social cohesion and dialogue among different communities. The study looks deeply into the established organizational practices and principles of the news production process and sheds light on the context and factors that influence the daily work of journalists. Two case studies are also presented – how the media reported on delicate interethnic and interfaith events." (www.mediaobservatory.net, January 27, 2015)
more
"International donors came to see media development as a silver bullet for democratization efforts to foster freedom of speech, civil society, good governance, as well as an engaged citizenry. Donors and practitioners initially believed that institutions, once established, would function in a specif
...
ic way, and coupled with assistance to professionalize and commercialize the media sector, would create or at least jump start systems similar to those in the US and Europe. Over the years, policy makers have identified the vital parts of a democratic media system, but what they have failed to fully understand is the dynamic interaction among them. Now, more than fifteen years after the end of the Bosnian war and twelve after the end of the war in Kosovo, numerous assessments by government sponsors and independent evaluators have reported success in achieving fundamental media freedoms in these countries, yet these media sectors have not demonstrated their anticipated transformative power – leaving struggling or dysfunctional organizations in the wake of donor financial retreat. This study argues that media organizations and institutions are trapped between pressures to commercialize and professionalize, which have become conflicting rather than enabling forces when combined with weak economic environments. In each of the countries in this study, a lack of synchronization among reforms, political divisions, and poor economic growth have contributed to a web of interrelated challenges. Despite significant economic reforms, growth and stability have never reached a threshold for systemic change." (Abstract)
more
"The study has three general objectives: (1) A detailed legal description and analysis of the audiovisual media services regulatory bodies in the Member States, in candidate and potential candidate countries of the European Union and the EFTA countries, as well as four non-European countries; (2) an
...
analysis of the effective implementation of the legal framework in these countries; and (3) the identification of key characteristics constituting an independent regulatory body in light of the AVMS Directive. Various theoretical approaches on independent regulatory bodies and reasons for their establishment are unfolded in the study. It can be concluded that there have been and are a number of arguments for separating the regulatory task from traditional public authorities (e.g. governments) and market players. However, the independence and autonomy of these regulatory bodies is seen to be associated with risks, which are usually minimalised by number of counterbalancing measures, such as appropriate accountability mechanisms." (Executive summary, page 7)
more
"With three notable exceptions—Belarus, Russia, and Uzbekistan—the media sector in the countries included in the first edition of the MSI in 2001 have over time either improved overall or stayed more or less the same. But, a review of overall MSI scores is just one way to use the MSI to see how
...
the media situation has changed [...] Another is to compare the qualitative characterizations made by panelists in 2001 to those they are making today. In a similar vein, IREX includes a summary of how the Internet was viewed in 2001 and how it is described today as a way to look at the impact of new media on dissemination of information, public dialogue, and citizen access to timely news and information. IREX this year employed an updated methodology to prepare the reports [...] IREX added two new indicators. One assesses a media sector’s ability to report on local, regional, national, and international news in a way that meets the needs of citizens in all corners of a country." (Executive summary, page 9)
more