"This report provides an overview of trends and developments in information and communication technology (ICT) infrastructure, access and use in the CIS region, which includes 9 Member States and is home to a population of 240 million people. The report highlights changes in ICT adoption since the l
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ast World Telecommunication Development Conference in 2017 (WTDC-17) and during the COVID-19 pandemic, tracks the evolution of regulation, and reviews progress and challenges in implementing the ITU regional initiatives for the CIS region. Its objective is to serve as a reference for the ITU membership in reviewing progress and identifying ICT development priorities in the CIS region." (Abstract)
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"Featuring contributions from a diverse range of internationally-recognized experts and practitioners, this timely volume discusses recent developments in the field in the context of related scholarship, public policy, formal and non-formal teaching and learning, and DIY and community practice. Offe
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ring a truly global perspective, the Handbook focuses on empirical work from Media and Information Literacy (MIL) practitioners from around the world. The book’s five parts explore global youth cultures and the media, trans-media learning, media literacy and scientific controversies, varying national approaches to media research, media education policies, and much more." (Publisher description)
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"This volume explores the shifting tides of how political violence is memorialized in today's decentralized, digital era. The book enhances our understanding of how the digital turn is changing the ways that we remember, interpret, and memorialize the past. It also raises practical and ethical quest
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ions of how we should utilize these tools and study their impacts. Cases covered include memorialization efforts related to the genocides in Rwanda, Cambodia, Europe (the Holocaust), and Armenia; to non-genocidal violence in Haiti, and the Portuguese Colonial War on the African Continent; and of the September 11 attacks on the United States." (Publisher description)
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"Since 2016, Fojo Media Institute, together with local partners, has investigated media landscapes in Eastern Europe from a gender perspective, to find out how women and men in the industry perceive their work life: What are their options to have influence and a fulfilling career? What are the diffe
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rences in beats and job satisfaction between male and female journalists? Is sexual harassment a concern that inflicts on professional practise? First out in the series of gender studies was Russia (2016), followed by Belarus (2017) and Moldova and Georgia (2018). In this report (2020) two more countries are included, namely Armenia and Ukraine. More than one thousand media professionals have shared their views and experiences and contributed to the research [...] One profession that has changed its gender profile is journalism. What was once a male dominated arena has gradually become more gender equal in numbers. The findings of this study indicate that women now make up the majority of media professionals in all the countries covered by this study. According to the experts interviewed, this is not the result of a growing sector with more women coming in, but rather about an outflow of men. The journalistic profession has become less attractive (to men) due to economic restraints (lower wages) and political pressures that make it harder to exercise independent journalism. The study also confirms that women are taking on more decision-making roles, especially in regional and independent media. In Georgia and Moldova, women and men seem to be on equal footing. However, there is still a considerable gender gap in Armenia and Russia, especially when it comes to distribution of power in national media with high circulation/audience, likely related to the fact that the most influential media are still often managed by men. In addition, imbalance in job security and remuneration can be noted, where men have more stable terms of employment and are engaged in beats that pay more. Sexual harassment is another area of interest related to working conditions in the media industry (and elsewhere)." (Preface)
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"The rapid escalation in the long-running conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia which took place in late September 2020 has been shadowed by a battle across social media for control of the international narrative about the conflict. On Twitter, large numbers of accounts supporting both sides have
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been wading in on politicised hashtags linked to the conflict. Our findings indicate large-scale coordinated activity. While much of this behaviour is likely to be authentic, our analysis has also found a significant amount of suspicious and potentially inauthentic behaviour. The goal of this research piece is to observe and document some of the early dynamics of the information battle playing out in parallel to the conflict on the ground and create a basis for further, more comprehensive research. This report is in no way intended to undermine the legitimacy of authentic social media conversations and debate taking place on all sides of the conflict." (Aspi.org.au)
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"The 2019 Europe and Eurasia Media Sustainability Index (MSI) saw another improvement in the combined average score for the 21 countries studied: In 2018, the combined average score was 1.84, and in 2019 this increased to 1.86. In comparison with the previous year’s study, there were modest gains
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at the regional level in Objectives 1 (Freedom of Speech), 2 (Professional Journalism), and 3 (Plurality); the largest increase happened in Objective 5 (Supporting Institutions), which moved from 1.99 in 2018 to 2.04 in 2019. Objective 4 (Business Management) saw a slight decline, reflecting the financial and economic challenges media across Europe and Eurasia continue to experience. At the country level, Armenia moved into the highest ranking position (by overall score) of all countries studied by the MSI with an overall score of 2.60 – powered by, in the words of the chapter’s author, “[a] momentous revolution, dubbed “velvet” by its leader, Nikol Pashinyan, [that] changed the Armenian political landscape, turned the media world upside down, and made 2018 a truly unprecedented year in Armenia’s modern history.” Following Armenia, the top five highest ranked countries included Kosovo (2.53), Albania (2.49), and Montenegro and Romania (tied at 2.45)." (Executive summary, page ix)
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"Three key cross-cutting priority areas for the civil society and media sectors emerge from this analysis: Civic Education: Without wide public understanding of and support for democracy, it is possible for public opinion to be manipulated, or frustrations exploited, and for public support for Armen
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ia’s nascent democracy to be diminished or reversed. Enabling Environment: In the context of the fragile political environment, it is critical that laws, regulations, and processes that provide protections to the civil society and media sectors, and that define relationships between government and sector actors, are developed and established. Advocacy: Support for sector advocacy initiatives and for follow up monitoring of implementation constitutes a priority focus for donor efforts." (Executive summary, page 2)
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"This research is aimed at assessing national vulnerabilities and preparedness to counteract foreign-led disinformation in 14 countries of Eastern and Central Europe. The Visegrad states (Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia), Eastern Partnership countries (Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Georgia
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, Moldova, Ukraine), the Baltic countries (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania) and Romania are covered. An integral part of the research is the Disinformation Resilience Index, which is quantitative assessment of exposure to Kremlin-led disinformation and the level of national resilience to disinformation campaigns." (Page 1)
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"Macedonia and Montenegro saw the largest overall score increases this year, in comparison to 2017. The improvement across all objectives this year for Macedonia’s media sector can be attributed to political changes that prioritize media in democratic reforms. Although Montenegro’s score improve
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ment shows promising progress and puts it in the Near Sustainability category, weaknesses in the country’s media sector include low revenue generation, declining professional development opportunities, political biases, and low adherence to professional standards. Kyrgyzstan and Serbia saw the largest overall decreases in their scores. While Kyrgyzstan’s MSI score for the business management objective increased slightly, all other objective scores experienced a decline, moving Kyrgyzstan from Near Sustainability in 2017 to Unsustainable Mixed System in 2018. Serbia’s scores in all MSI objectives are indicative of a downward trend in the country’s media space. Among the factors feeding this spiral are: media content is more polarized now than at any time in almost 20 years; an increase in fake news; editorial pressure on media; and a poor overall economic operating environment." (Executive summary)
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"Governments around the world have dramatically increased their efforts to manipulate information on social media over the past year. The Chinese and Russian regimes pioneered the use of surreptitious methods to distort online discussions and suppress dissent more than a decade ago, but the practice
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has since gone global. Such state-led interventions present a major threat to the notion of the internet as a liberating technology. Online content manipulation contributed to a seventh consecutive year of overall decline in internet freedom, along with a rise in disruptions to mobile internet service and increases in physical and technical attacks on human rights defenders and independent media. Nearly half of the 65 countries assessed in Freedom on the Net 2017 experienced declines during the coverage period, while just 13 made gains, most of them minor. Less than one-quarter of users reside in countries where the internet is designated Free, meaning there are no major obstacles to access, onerous restrictions on content, or serious violations of user rights in the form of unchecked surveillance or unjust repercussions for legitimate speech." (Page 1)
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"This study examines the existence of criminal defamation and insult laws in the territory of the 57 participating States of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). In doing so, it offers a broad, comparative overview of the compliance of OSCE participating States’ legislat
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ion with international standards and best practices in the field of defamation law and freedom of expression. The primary purpose of the study is to identify relevant provisions in law. Although the study does include examples of the usage of these provisions, it is not an analysis of legal practice [...] The study is divided into two sections. The first section offers conclusions according to each of the principal categories researched and in reference to international standards on freedom of expression. The second section provides the detailed research findings for each country, including relevant examples. As the study’s title suggests, the primary research category is general criminal laws on defamation and insult. However, this study also covers special laws protecting the reputation or honour of particular persons or groups of people (e.g., presidents, public officials, deceased persons); special laws protecting the ‘honour’ of the state and state symbols; and blasphemy and religious insult laws." (About this study, page 2)
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"While a few much-needed improvements can be reported for the 2017 Europe & Eurasia Media Sustainability Index (MSI), overall there are signs of continued and worsening challenges facing those who wish to create and support a vibrant information system in the 21 countries studied in this volume [...
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] Apart from Belarus, there is not much in the way of positive news in this year’s MSI. Taken together, only nine objective scores, scattered among six countries, showed any meaningful improvement: Romania, Serbia, and Ukraine experienced improvement in two objective scores while Bulgaria, Kosovo, and Uzbekistan each had one objective show improvement. Belarus was the only country whose overall score improved by a tenth of a point or more. Five other countries showed only marginal overall improvement." (Executive summary)
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"Internet freedom has declined for the sixth consecutive year, with more governments than ever before targeting social media and communication apps as a means of halting the rapid dissemination of information, particularly during antigovernment protests. Public-facing social media platforms like Fac
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ebook and Twitter have been subject to growing censorship for several years, but in a new trend, governments increasingly target messaging and voice communication apps such as WhatsApp and Telegram. These services are able to spread information and connect users quickly and securely, making it more difficult for authorities to control the information landscape or conduct surveillance. The increased controls show the importance of social media and online communication for advancing political freedom and social justice. It is no coincidence that the tools at the center of the current crackdown have been widely used to hold governments accountable and facilitate uncensored conversations." (Page 1)
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"The 45 country reports gathered here illustrate the link between the internet and economic, social and cultural rights (ESCRs). Some of the topics will be familiar to information and communications technology for development (ICT4D) activists: the right to health, education and culture; the socioec
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onomic empowerment of women using the internet; the inclusion of rural and indigenous communities in the information society; and the use of ICT to combat the marginalisation of local languages. Others deal with relatively new areas of exploration, such as using 3D printing technology to preserve cultural heritage, creating participatory community networks to capture an “inventory of things” that enables socioeconomic rights, crowdfunding rights, or the negative impact of algorithms on calculating social benefits. Workers’ rights receive some attention, as does the use of the internet during natural disasters. Ten thematic reports frame the country reports. These deal both with overarching concerns when it comes to ESCRs and the internet – such as institutional frameworks and policy considerations – as well as more specific issues that impact on our rights: the legal justification for online education resources, the plight of migrant domestic workers, the use of digital databases to protect traditional knowledge from biopiracy, digital archiving, and the impact of multilateral trade deals on the international human rights framework. The reports highlight the institutional and country-level possibilities and challenges that civil society faces in using the internet to enable ESCRs. They also suggest that in a number of instances, individuals, groups and communities are using the internet to enact their socioeconomic and cultural rights in the face of disinterest, inaction or censure by the state." (Back cover)
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"The three countries that this year experienced a decrease in overall score—Belarus, Azerbaijan, and Kazakhstan—were ones last year that had showed small but unexpected increases. Last year’s Executive Summary indicated that such increases were unlikely to be part of a larger upward trend; pan
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elists’ scores this year for all three ended up placing the three more or less where they stood in 2014. A similar phenomenon occurred this year with Tajikistan. Panelists there gave scores that increase the overall score in the country by 0.18 despite the fact that many serious threats to the media sector exist, including government pressure and harassment of critical voices, concentration of media control, poor quality reporting, and difficulty for independent media in raising revenue. Except for Objective 3, Plurality of News, all objectives received higher scores. Reading the chapter text, however, one does not get the impression that much positive is happening to improve the ability of Tajik media to serve as the Fourth Estate." (Executive summary)
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"Internet freedom around the world has declined for the fifth consecutive year, with more governments censoring information of public interest and placing greater demands on the private sector to take down offending content. State authorities have also jailed more users for their online writings, wh
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ile criminal and terrorist groups have made public examples of those who dared to expose their activities online. This was especially evident in the Middle East, where the public flogging of liberal bloggers, life sentences for online critics, and beheadings of internet-based journalists provided a powerful deterrent to the sort of digital organizing that contributed to the Arab Spring. In a new trend, many governments have sought to shift the burden of censorship to private companies and individuals by pressing them to remove content, often resorting to direct blocking only when those measures fail. Local companies are especially vulnerable to the whims of law enforcement agencies and a recent proliferation of repressive laws. But large, international companies like Google, Facebook, and Twitter have faced similar demands due to their significant popularity and reach." (Page 1)
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"Results of the 2015 MSI study for Europe & Eurasia (E&E) at first glance show encouraging results: the average of 21 overall country scores increased by 0.04 compared with last year, representing the highest average of overall scores so far this decade. Out of 21 countries studied, seven increased
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by more than one-tenth of a point. Eleven country scores remained about the same and only three decreased by more than a tenth. Indeed there are some encouraging developments, described in more detail below. However, in other cases what appear to be improvements in scores are likely to be only short-term blips on an otherwise downward or flat trend. Belarus (+0.16), Azerbaijan (+0.15), and Kazakhstan (+0.16) all showed small increases in overall score, but in all of these cases several factors indicate that this is not part of a new trend.." (Executive summary)
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"Die Medienlandschaften der südkaukasischen Staaten sind so unterschiedlich wie die Länder. In Georgien gibt es eine lebendige Medienszene, in Armenien ist der Markt von politischen und wirtschaftlichen Kartellen geprägt. In Aserbaidschan unterdrückt das autoritäre Regime die unabhängigen Medi
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en." (Abstract)
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