"Uzbekistan faces severe ecological problems including the rapidly shrinking Aral Sea, desertification, residues of biochemical weapons, and environmentally related respiratory disease. Even so, the country’s print and broadcast media do little in-depth or analytical reporting on environmental iss
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ues, nor are journalists trained to cover such topics. In Spring 2002, a U.S. Fulbright lecturer at the Uzbek State World Languages University and his Uzbek colleague developed the first envirojournalism course at any university in Uzbekistan. The pilot course faced administrative and operational obstacles. It was also hindered by students’ inadequate scientific backgrounds and their limited access to information and resources." (Abstract)
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"In these two volumes, readers will find comparative, in-depth essays on the press systems of 232 countries and/or territories. World Press Encyclopedia (WPE) is unique and valuable to users because, in addition to essays on each country’s press system, WPE also contains custommade graphs and stat
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istical tables, as well as regional maps, useful appendices, and an extensive index. This comprehensive, authoritative source of information allows for easy comparison between essays with a standard format or set of “rubrics” used whenever possible (see section titled “Essay Components”). Each essay also features basic data information—such as official country name, literacy rate, language(s), and number of daily newspapers—clearly marked with headings at the beginning of each entry. Additionally, WPE’s contributors include scholars, professionals, and educators from across the United States and around the world; each essay has a byline. Although this is the second edition, WPE has been completely reconceptualized and 100 percent revised from the first edition, which was published in 1982." (Introduction)
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"Uzbekistan is the most populous and economically significant of the five Central Asian republics of the former USSR. Although authoritarian, its government appears to recognize the need to train journalists in Western journalistic theory and practice. The observations and experiences of the authors
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, as recent Fulbright-sponsored journalism scholars in Central Asia, are combined with limited sources on mass media in the region, to discuss the most effective journalism education under current conditions in Central Asia." (Abstract)
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"These five country reports: on Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, provide a general overview of the current state of media affairs in the country concerned, focus on media legislation and cases of harassment of journalists and provide country-specific recommendations t
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o the governments on what can be done to improve the situation. Many of the remarks and opinions expressed are highly critical of the authorities, often concentrating on government-orchestrated campaigns against independent and opposition media. In some of these countries over the past decade journalists have fallen victim to the ultimate form of censorship: what I refer to as “censorship by killing.” Cases of “structural censorship,” which include numerous forms of indirect pressure on media through state-controlled monopolies on printing facilities and distribution, misuse of tax inspections, and other mostly economic and financial forms of pressure, are abundant in the Central Asian countries." (Preface, page 5)
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"Since the end of the Cold War, a virtual army of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) from the United States, Britain, Germany, and elsewhere in Europe have flocked to Central and Eastern Europe and Eurasia. These NGOs are working on such diverse tasks as helping to establish competitive political
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parties, elections, and independent media, as well as trying to reduce ethnic conflict. This important book is among the few efforts to assess the impact of these international efforts to build democratic institutions. The case studies presented here provide a portrait of the mechanisms by which ideas commonly associated with democratic states have evolved in formerly communist states, revealing conditions that help as well as hurt the process." (Publisher description)
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"This paper provides an analysis of the state and development of Uzbekistan's media 10 years after national independence. It summarizes the crackdown on Uzbek independent media, outlines the relevant legislation and reviews the structure and hierarchy of the national media system. Subsequently, the
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paper comments on journalists' and local and international organizations' activities. The author argues that, in the years since independence, Uzbek media has degenerated to an appalling extent." (Digital Library, ETh Zürich Center for Security Studies)
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"The Companion Encyclopedia of Middle Eastern and North African Film is a unique, one volume work which illuminates a fascinating variety of cinema which is little known outside its own area. The Encyclopedia is divided into nine chapters, each written by a leading scholar in the field. Each chapter
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covers the history and major issues of film within that area, as well as providing bibliographies of the leading films, directors and actors. The areas covered are: Central Asia, Egypt, Iran, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, The Magreb, Palestine, Turkey. It contains more than 60 black and white photographs of featured films, includes references and suggestions for further reading at the end of each chapter, and the volume concludes with comprehensive name, film and general indexes." (Publisher description)
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"The ethnic factor has a very strong influence on the attitude of the respondents to the mass media and, in particular, to television. As is evident from the data in tables 2 and 3, the Central TV chanel (Ostankino TV) is far ahead of the television centres of Russia and Kazakhstan as regards the de
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gree of confidence in the objectivity of its information and as regards popularity. It is clear that the professionalism and technical facilities of the competing TV centres are weighty factors here. Nevertheless, the Kazakhs among the respondents are in no doubt as to the superiority of the Republican TV service. Kazakhstan TV is 3-4 times less popular among the population of Russian nationality and other nationalities." (Page 5)
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