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Shaping Global Cultures Through Screenwriting: Women Who Write Our Worlds

Rose Ferrell, Rosanne Welch (eds.)

Bristol: Intellect (2025), 658 pp.

"This volume, Shaping Global Cultures through Screenwriting: Women Who Write Our Worlds, tells stories of women who have worked with and within communities to bring the communities’ stories to life through screenwriting. In gathering these examples, we asked for stories that achieved some level ... of impact for the communities. Impact was considered across a number of indices. We wanted to show that attitudes have shifted, policies have been rewritten and the life experiences and ranges of possibility for some have changed for the better as a result of women’s work. We hope to show through our stories that film can change lives; that sharing stories matters; and that women are everywhere, using their skills in screen production for the good of many. In her excellent book, Women in the International Film Industry: Policy Practice and Power, Susan Liddy (2020) offers ‘a wide-ranging, critical assessment of practice, policy and progress’ to establish the range and scale of gender inequality that currently exists in the world of screen production. She quotes O’Neill and Domingo (2015) to point out that social, economic and political conditions vary, and ‘combine in different ways to enable or constrain women’s agency and leadership’ in screen production (Liddy 2020: 1). In contrast, our book approaches the same problem from the opposite perspective: we seek to correlate the ‘policy, practice and power’ (Liddy 2020) with the actual work of women screenwriters. Our aim is to point out what women screenwriters, creators and filmmakers are doing in disparate corners of the world, and how their effort is positively impacting communities, shaping culture and creating change. We argue that, despite the fact that women screenwriters are underrepresented in leadership roles in film industries worldwide, the impact of their films remains visible and palpable. We provide evidence that, as women step into the roles of screenwriter, filmmaker and collaborator, using known and emerging technologies, formats and genres under the broad scope of ‘screen production’, they raise the voices of other women and other communities. This volume shows the impact of women’s voices in creating real change for the communities whose stories are told through the topics and themes of these women’s screen works. Not least, this volume seeks to celebrate these women and their communities and bring awareness of that impact to broader communities worldwide." (Introduction, page 1) more

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Journalism under Duress: Worlds of Journalism Study Report (Wave 3: 2021–2025)

Thomas Hanitzsch, Folker Hanusch, Corinna Lauerer, Vera Slavtcheva-Petkova (eds.)

Munich: Ludwig-Maximilian Universität (LMU), WJS Center (2025), 371 pp.

"This report presents findings from the third wave of the Worlds of Journalism Study (WJS3), conducted between 2021 and 2025. In this iteration, we focused on journalists’ perceptions of risk and uncertainty in their profession and sought to identify key factors that shape how journalists navigate ... more

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Imagining AI
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Stephen Cave, Kanta Dihal (eds.)

Oxford: Oxford University Press (2023), xvii, 423 pp.

"Imagining AI: How the World Sees Intelligent Machines is the first volume showcasing research into how different cultures around the globe envision life with artificial intelligence. AI is now a global phenomenon. Yet Hollywood narratives dominate perceptions of AI in the English-speaking West and ... more

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What is journalism for?

Jon Allsop

Bristol: Bristol University Press (2025), 180 pp.

"Journalism faces multiple threats today all over the world: economic decline, online disinformation, the rise of AI, authoritarian curbs on freedom of the press, and violence against journalists. In such a climate, it’s more urgent than ever to ask what journalism is for. Drawing on his experienc ... more

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The Palgrave Handbook of Global Digital Journalism

Bruce Mutsvairo, Kristin Skare Orgeret (eds.)

Cham: Palgrave Macmillan (2025), xxi, 444 pp.

"This book responds to mounting calls to broaden the theorization of digital journalism, addressing critical questions about an emerging yet rapidly expanding area of study, and presenting multiple entry points and approaches that help us understand digital journalism better. Seeking to establish it ... more

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Media Compass: A Companion to International Media Landscapes
Quick Overview

Aljosha Karim Schapals, Christian Pentzold (eds.)

Hoboken, NJ: Wiley Blackwell (2025), xxiii, 502 pp.

"In 'Media Compass: A Companion to International Media Landscapes', an international team of prominent scholars examines both long-term media systems and fluctuating trends in media usage around the world. Integrating country-specific summaries and cross-cutting studies of geopolitical regions, this ... more

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Research Handbook on Human Rights and Digital Technology Global Politics, Law and International Relations

Ben Wagner, Matthias C. Kettemann, Kilian Vieth-Ditlmann, Susannah Montgomery (eds.)

Northampton, MA: Edward Elgar Publishing, 2nd ed. (2025), 428 pp.

"Bringing together perspectives from academia and practice, this second edition Research Handbook provides fresh insights into debates surrounding digital technology and how to respect and protect human rights in an increasingly digital world. New and updated chapters cover the issues posed by the m ... more

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Expanding Digital Opportunity: A Framework and Road Map for Strengthening Digital Inclusion

Anne N. Junod, Corianne Scally Payton, Marokey Sawo, Lizzy Ferrara

Washington, DC: Urban Institute (2025), 82 pp.

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The Critical Role Support Organizations Can Play in Maturing the Local News Field

Anika Anand, Darryl Holliday

Democracy Fund;Commoner Company (2025), 16 pp.

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Putting ‘filter bubble’ effects to the test: Evidence on the polarizing impact of ideology-based news recommendation from two experiments in Germany and the U.S.

Katharina Ludwig, Philipp Müller, Nevena Nikolajevic, Alexander Grote

Information, Communication & Society (2025), 20 pp.

"Algorithmic news recommender systems (NRS) are present in many digital platforms. A decade after Eli Pariser introduced the infamous ‘filter bubble’ hypothesis, empirical evidence challenges the assumption that recommendation algorithms predominantly create homogeneous opinion environments. Stu ... more

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Decline of Christianity in the U.S. has slowed, may have levelled off: Findings from the 2023-24 Religious Landscape Study

Gregory A. Smith, Alan Cooperman, Becka A. Alper et al.

Pew Research Center (2025), 392 pp.

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The USAID Crisis and Funding the Future of Independent Media

Rowan Philp

Global Investigative Journalism Network (GIJN), February 17 (2025)

"Independent nonprofit media around the globe suddenly find themselves at the center of a perfect storm of at least four new existential threats. The sudden hold on USAID foreign assistance funding by the US Trump administration has frozen an estimated $268 million in agreed grants for independent ... media and the free flow of information in more than 30 countries, including several under repressive regimes — and much more lost for the future — throwing much of the nonprofit watchdog sector into crisis, and potentially leaving numerous reporters, contractors, and accountability projects without pay in the weeks ahead. This is in addition to devastating cuts to the agency’s public health and humanitarian programs around the world. Despite ongoing confusion and many legal challenges, several media grantees and experts told GIJN they regard this important funding as dead. The ransacking of USAID systems by unaccountable private sector agents poses an urgent data security threat to journalists, according to development experts. They have warned that contact details of thousands of human rights defenders, media support actors, and journalists involved in US-funded projects in the past decades, as well as information on what they do and how they work, has fallen into hostile hands. The USAID freeze and accompanying US administration social media attacks on officials and beneficiaries has fueled new threats and proposed criminal investigations by enemies of independent media in repressive nations. It has also amplified public smears against courageous networks holding bad actors accountable in the public interest. The freeze further disrupts an already fractured sustainability environment in which some funders have slowly exited the sector, and in which policy changes at major social media and tech companies have suppressed distribution, promoted misinformation, and enabled harassment of independent media and its sources. The risk of self-censorship to lure future funding is yet another allied threat in this bully landscape. Some of the gravest immediate threats are being faced by exiled outlets and independent media in places such as Ukraine, Cameroon, and throughout Central America. For example, Ukraine’s Slidstvo.info, an award-winning independent investigative agency, lost 80% of its funding in a single day in January, as its two respected intermediary funders reportedly confessed their own shock, and reluctantly but firmly warned the organization to immediately halt operations on the USAID money they disburse — including any use of grant money already in the outlet’s account." (Introduction) more

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In Eastern Europe, freeze on US aid leaves door open to Russian disinformation

Romain Chauvet

Washington, DC: International Center for Journalists, February 25 (2025)

"The Trump administration’s freeze on U.S. foreign aid will lead to a surge in Russian disinformation across Eastern Europe, experts warn, as independent media outlets across the region will be forced to shutter, leaving a vacuum of credible information in their wake. “Russian disinfo will have ... more

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USA: Trump's foreign aid frees throws journalism around the world into chaos

Reporters Without Borders, February 6 (2025)

"President Donald Trump has frozen billions of dollars around the world in aid projects, including over $268 million allocated by Congress to support independent media and the free flow of information. Reporters Without Borders (RSF) denounces this decision, which has plunged NGOs, media outlets, an ... more

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Trump’s aid cuts will lead to a surge in propaganda and misinformation, say press freedom groups

Harriet Barber, Rebecca Ratcliffe, Deepa Parent

The Guardian, February 11 (2025)

"Donald Trump’s foreign aid freeze will lead to a decline in the number ofindependent media outlets across the world, causing a surge in misinformation andplaying into the hands of state propagandists, media organisations have warned. The US president has suspended billions of dollars in projects ... more

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The Routledge International Handbook of Online Deviance

Roderick Graham, Stephan G. Humer, Claire Seungeun Lee, Veronika Nagy (eds.)

London; New York: Routledge (2025), xxvii, 765 pp.

"Covering a wide range of different online platforms, including social media sites and chatrooms, this volume is a comprehensive exploration of the current state of sociological and criminological scholarship focused on online deviance. Understanding deviance broadly, the handbook acknowledges both ... more

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Trump funding freeze halts decades of U.S. democracy work around the world

Frank Langfitt

National Public Radio (NPR), February 18 (2025)

"The Trump administration has stopped funding practically all U.S. government work supporting democracy, human rights and press freedom around the globe. President Trump issued an executive order last month halting congressionally appropriated foreign assistance, pending a review of the programs fun ... more

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Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2025
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Nic Newman, Richard Fletcher, Craig T. Robertson, Amy Ross Arguedas, Rasmus Kleis Nielsen (eds.)

Oxford: Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism (2025), 170 pp.

"• Engagement with traditional media sources such as TV, print, and news websites continues to fall, while dependence on social media, video platforms, and online aggregators grows. This is particularly the case in the United States where polling overlapped with the first few weeks of the new Trum ... p administration. Social media news use was sharply up (+6pp) but there was no ‘Trump bump’ for traditional sources. • Personalities and influencers are, in some countries, playing a significant role in shaping public debates. One-fifth (22%) of our United States sample says they came across news or commentary from popular podcaster Joe Rogan in the week after the inauguration, including a disproportionate number of young men. In France, young news creator Hugo Travers (HugoDécrypte) reaches 22% of under-35s with content distributed mainly via YouTube and TikTok. Young influencers also play a significant role in many Asian countries, including Thailand. • News use across online platforms continues to fragment, with six online networks now reaching more than 10% weekly with news content, compared with just two a decade ago. Around a third of our global sample use Facebook (36%) and YouTube (30%) for news each week. Instagram (19%) and WhatsApp (19%) are used by around a fifth, while TikTok (16%) remains ahead of X at 12%. • Data show that usage of X for news is stable or increasing across many markets, with the biggest uplift in the United States (+8pp), Australia (+6pp), and Poland (+6pp). Since Elon Musk took over the network in 2022 many more right-leaning people, notably young men, have flocked to the network, while some progressive audiences have left or are using it less frequently. Rival networks like Threads, Bluesky, and Mastodon are making little impact globally, with reach of 2% or less for news. • Changing platform strategies mean that video continues to grow in importance as a source of news. Across all markets the proportion consuming social video has grown from 52% in 2020 to 65% in 2025 and any video from 67% to 75%. In the Philippines, Thailand, Kenya, and India more people now say they prefer to watch the news rather than read it, further encouraging the shift to personality-led news creators. • Our survey also shows the importance of news podcasting in reaching younger, better-educated audiences. The United States has among the highest proportion (15%) accessing one or more podcasts in the last week, with many of these now filmed and distributed via video platforms such as YouTube and TikTok. By contrast, many northern European podcast markets remain dominated by public broadcasters or big legacy media companies and have been slower to adopt video versions. • TikTok is the fastest growing social and video network, adding a further 4pp across markets for news and reaching 49% of our online sample in Thailand (+10pp) and 40% in Malaysia (+9pp). But at the same time people in those markets see the network as one of the biggest threats when it comes to false or misleading information, along with Facebook. • Overall, over half our sample (58%) say they remain concerned about their ability to tell what is true from what is false when it comes to news online, a similar proportion to last year. Concern is highest in Africa (73%) and the United States (73%), with lowest levels in Western Europe (46%). • When it comes to underlying sources of false or misleading information, online influencers and personalities are seen as the biggest threat worldwide (47%), along with national politicians (47%). Concern about influencers is highest in African countries such as Nigeria (58%) and Kenya (59%), while politicians are considered the biggest threat in the United States (57%), Spain (57%), and much of Eastern Europe." (Executive summary, page 10-11) more

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Digitaler Kolonialismus: Wie Tech-Konzerne und Großmächte die Welt unter sich aufteilen
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Ingo Dachwitz, Sven Hilbig

München: Beck (2025), 351 pp.

"Das Versprechen der Digitalen Revolution ist die Heilserzählung unsererZeit. Dieses Buch erzählt eine andere Geschichte: Die des digitalen Kolonialismus. Statt physisches Land einzunehmen, erobern die heutigen Kolonialherren den digitalen Raum. Statt nach Gold und Diamanten lassen sie unter mensc ... more

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Reading Justice Claims on Social Media: Perspectives from the Global South

Phillip Santos, Cleophas T. Muneri (eds.)

Cham: Palgrave Macmillan (2024), xxi, 326 pp.

"This book explores how unresolved questions of social justice shape the character of the political terrain and political actors, through the lens of social media. It treats communication as the medium through which social issues and processes are made visible. Given the rise and spread of populist ... more

Imagining AI Top Insights

Media Compass: A Companion to International Media Landscapes Quick Overview

Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2025 Top Insights

Digitaler Kolonialismus: Wie Tech-Konzerne und Großmächte die Welt unter sich aufteilen Top Insights

Imagining AI
Top Insights

Media Compass: A Companion to International Media Landscapes
Quick Overview

Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2025
Top Insights

Digitaler Kolonialismus: Wie Tech-Konzerne und Großmächte die Welt unter sich aufteilen
Top Insights