commbox Eastern & Central Europe

Responding to the Needs of Independent Russian-Language Media: 2018. Brief Policy Paper

Baltic Centre for Media Excellence (2018), 5 pp.

"This paper provides research-based evidence and analysis to assist donors and other stakeholders in taking decisions and setting priorities on the types of interventions and funding modalities to strengthen independent media in the countries of the Eastern Partnership, in particular Russian-languag ... more

Responding to the Needs of Independent Russian-Language Media: 2018. Recommendations for Donors and Media Developing Institutions Operating in the Countries of the Eastern Partnership

Roman Shuto et al.

Baltic Centre for Media Excellence (2018), 9 pp.

"This brief provides research-based evidence and analysis to assist donors in taking decisions and setting priorities on the types of interventions and funding modalities to strengthen independent media in the countries of the Eastern Partnership, in particular Russian-language media. The final goal ... more

Anti-Western Propaganda

Tamar Kintsurashvili

Tblisi: Media Development Foundation (MDF);UN Association of Georgia;USAID (2018), 38 pp.

"As many as 1,967 anti-Western comments were detected in the 17 monitored media outlets in 2017. In contrast to 2016 and 2015, when negative messages targeted human identity and rights, in 2017, a dominant topic was the foreign policy with the messages aimed at increasing the polarization on the for ... eign policy orientation of the country. This change in the strategic communication of pro-Kremlin actors shows that “loss of identity” was a rather tactical message that prepared the ground, while the messaging aimed at demonizing Georgia’s strategic partners (USA, NATO, EU) is of strategic nature. The United States of America accounted for the highest share of negative comments (25.9%), up by almost three times as compared to the previous year, followed by NATO (18,4%) and the West (14,1%). Compared to 2016, messages against the European Union have almost doubled (13.4%) whereas the comments about the loss of identity and human rights in anti-Western context have almost halved (12.9%). Comments against nongovernmental organizations (NGO) and the US philanthropist George Soros have trebled, as compared to 2016, and comprised 7.3%; this increase can be explained by a stepped up activity of far-right groups and their campaign to smear Open Society Georgia Foundation. Yet another change as compared to the previous years were clearer messages showcasing Russia as an alternative to the West and idealizing the Soviet system (7.2%). Comments against Great Britain (0,8%) have been mainly detected in two pro-Kremlin online media outlets – Georgia and the World, and Sakinformi. Alike previous years, the main source of anti-Western messages was media (827), followed by politicians (463), society (411), civil organizations (230) and the clergy (37). The structure of the Kremlin narrative in the Georgian discourse consists of three stages and aims at: 1. Creating threats; 2. Sowing distrust towards partners and Western institutions; 3. Ingraining a belief that Russia is the only option in fighting against the threats and that authoritative/Soviet-style governance is necessary. Four major threats were emphasized by pro-Kremlin actors: threat of war; threat of loss of territories; threat of bio subversion; threat of loss of identity." (Key findings, page 7) more

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Speech and Society in Turbulent Times: Freedom of Expression in Comparative Perspective

Monroe Price, Nicole Stremlau (eds.)

Cambridge et al.: Cambridge University Press (2018), xix, 334 pp.

"This volume explores how societies are addressing challenging questions about the relationship between expression, traditional and societal values, and the transformations introduced by new information communications technologies. It seeks to identify alternative approaches to the role of speech an ... more

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Russia's Arabic Propaganda: What it is, Why it Matters

Anna Borshchevskaya, Catherine Cleveland

Washington, DC: Washington Institute for Near East Policy (2018), 17 pp.

"The Middle East media landscape provides Russian state with unique opportunities. A region with strong state-controlled media, weak independent outlets, and a burgeoning reliance on social media—along with a historical suspicion of Western news sources—has created useful openings that the Kreml ... more

Conflict and Controversy in Small Cinemas

Janina Falkowska, Krzysztof Loska (eds.)

Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang (2018), 268 pp.

"This book examines small cinemas and their presentation of society in times of crisis and conflict from an interdisciplinary and intercultural point of view. The authors concentrate on economic, social and political challenges and point to new phenomena which have been exposed by film directors. Th ... more

State, media and civil society in the information warfare over Ukraine: Citizen curators of digital disinformation

Yevgeniy Golovchenko, Mareike Hartmann, Rebecca Adler-Nissen

International Affairs, volume 94, issue 5 (2018), pp. 975-994

"This article explores the dynamics of digital (dis)information in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. International Relations scholars have presented the online debate in terms of ‘information warfare’—that is, a number of strategic campaigns to win over local and global public opinion, ... more

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Winning the War on State-Sponsored Propaganda: Gains in the Ability to Detect Disinformation a Year and a Half After Completing a Ukrainian News Media Literacy Program

Erin Murrock, Joy Amulya, Mehri Druckman, Tetiana Liubyva

IREX (2018), 47 pp.

"While Ukrainians consume a high volume of news content, barely one in four Ukrainians trust the media and only 23% cross-check news sources—the most basic form of media literacy [...] In this context, IREX designed and implemented Learn to Discern (L2D), a “demand-side” response to the proble ... more

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How the Propaganda Machine Stole the Russian Election. Monitoring of Media: Russian Presidential Election 2018

Luydmila Savchuk, Rasto Kužel

International Media Support (IMS);Memo98 (2018), 74 pp.

"The Russian state media failed to provide sufficient information about political alternatives to incumbent Vladimir Putin ahead of the 18 March presidential election. Coverage on nationwide private channels was similarly limited. For the 2018 presidential election, a strong and independent media pr ... more

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Social Media and Politics in Central and Eastern Europe

Pawel Surowiec, Václav Stetka (eds.)

London; New York: Routledge (2018), xvi, 207 pp.

"This book surveys current developments in social media and politics in a range of Central and Eastern European countries, including Ukraine and Russia. It explores the process of adoption of social media by politicians, journalists and civic activists, examines the impact of the different social an ... more

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Digital News Report 2018

Nic Newman, Richard Fletcher, Antonis Kalogeropoulos, David A. L. Levy, Rasmus Kleis Nielsen (eds.)

Oxford: Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism (2018), 143 pp.

"The use of social media for news has started to fall in a number of key markets after years of continuous growth. Usage is down six percentage points in the United States, and is also down in the UK and France. Almost all of this is due to a specific decline in the discovery, posting, and sharing o ... more

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Der neue kalte Krieg der Medien: Die Medien Osteuropas und der neue Ost-West-Konflikt

Marc Stegherr

Wiesbaden: Vieweg (2018), 424 pp.

"Der Band beschäftigt sich mit der Verschärfung des politischen Diskurses zwischen Ost und West, die vielfach in den westlichen Medien kritisierte Renationalisierung der osteuropäischen Gesellschaften, ihr „neo-konservativer“ Trend, der sich auch und gerade in den Medien spiegelt. Russland is ... more

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Publics Globally Want Unbiased News Coverage, But Are Divided on Whether Their News Media Deliver: Deep Political Divides in Many Nations on Satisfaction with News Media

Amy Mitchell, Katy Simmons, Katerina Eva Matsa, Laura Silver

Pew Research Center (2018), 54 pp.

"Publics around the world overwhelmingly agree that the news media should be unbiased in their coverage of political issues, according to a new Pew Research Center survey of 38 countries. Yet, when asked how their news media are doing on reporting different political issues fairly, people are far mo ... more

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Contemporary BRICS Journalism: Non-Western Media in Transition
Top Insights

Svetlana Pasti, Jyotika Ramaprasad (eds.)

London; New York: Routledge (2018), xiv, 273 pp.

"Contemporary BRICS Journalism: Non-Western Media in Transition is the first comparative study of professional journalists working in BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa). The book presents a range of insider perspectives, offering a valuable insight into the nature of jo ... more

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Handbook of Conspiracy Theory and Contemporary Religion

Asbjørn Dyrendal, David G. Robertson, Egil Asprem (eds.)

Leiden; Boston: Brill (2018), xiii, 556 pp.

"Conspiracy theories are a ubiquitous feature of our times. The Handbook of Conspiracy Theories and Contemporary Religion is the first reference work to offer a comprehensive, transnational overview of this phenomenon along with in-depth discussions of how conspiracy theories relate to religion(s). ... more

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Handbook of conspiracy theory and contemporary religion

Asbjørn Dyrendal, David G. Robertson, Egil Asprem (eds.)

Leiden; Boston: Brill (2018), xiii, 556 pp.

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Mass Media in the Post-Soviet World: Market Forces, State Actors, and Political Manipulation in the Informational Environment After Communism

Peter Rollberg, Marlene Laruelle (eds.)

Stuttgart: ibidem-Verlag (2018), 446 pp.

"This collection covers the major trends of the media environment of the post-Communist world and their recent development, with special focus on Russia and the post-Soviet space. The term ‘media environment’ covers not just traditional print and electronic media, but new media as well, and rang ... more

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Disinformation Resilience in Central and Eastern Europe

Kyiv: Foreign Policy Council “Ukrainian Prism” (Prismua);Eurasian States in Transition Research Center (EAST Center) (2018), 335 pp.

"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 ... more