"Currently, no dedicated agency or systematic effort analyzes the effect of Russian (or any other) disinformation. Who really watches Russia Today? Where? For how long? And why? Nor do we have the means to systematically track the content: How does the Kremlin’s message in Germany differ from the
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line in Sweden or Poland? Our case studies, combined with an ongoing effort at CEPA to identify and monitor Russian propaganda in parts of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) show the variety of Russia’s means and messaging. But the lack of a coherent picture constrains our ability to respond in both quantitative and qualitative terms. We recommend: Regular, targeted analysis of the reach and impact of Russian propaganda; Greater analysis of the CEE media environment to detect disinformation campaigns and understand what sources shape public awareness; and Monitoring of social media, identifying trends and personalities that are popular among polarized social groups and who could be engaged to build trust." (Page II)
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"Commercial Nationalism intervenes in discussions of the fate of nationalism and national identity by exploring the relationship between state appropriation of marketing and branding strategies on the one hand, and, on the other, the commercial mobilization of nationalist discourses. The book's uniq
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ue contribution is to consider an emerging formation characterized by the following complementary (and related) developments: the ways in which states come increasingly to rely on commercial techniques for self-promotion, diplomacy, and internal national mobilization, and also the ways in which new and legacy forms of commercial media rely on the mobilization emerging configurations of nationalism for the purpose of selling, gaining ratings, and otherwise profiting. We see this formation as a unique reconfiguration of the formation of nationalism associated with the contemporary context. Often these processes are approached separately: what is the economic role of nationalism and how do media participate in the formation of national identity?" (Publisher description)
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"Four “classic” roles: to report things as they are, to be a detached observer, to educate the audience and provide news that attracts the largest audience are fairly unanimously seen as the most important among Estonian journalists, as the relatively low standard deviations suggest. Especially
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‘educating audience’ is historically rooted role in Estonian journalism. Estonian journalists clearly distance themselves from the political power: very few of them would support government policy or are ready to convey a positive image of political leadership. At the same time only a minority of Estonian journalists perceive themselves as adversaries of the government.
Estonian journalists seem not to have any consensus concerning the roles that in one or another way guide people: provide information people need to make political decisions, motivate people to participate in political activity, support national development and set the political agenda. They also have different views on providing entertainment and relaxation and monitoring and scrutinizing political leaders. Generally, Estonian journalists tend to perceive their role as a critical but neutral observer who tries to serve as many people as possible, accepting also the right of people to express their views. Traditionally they see themselves as educators of the public. They have different views on the activist type of roles." (Journalistic roles, page 2)
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"The differences between the most and least important roles according to Czech journalists are very big. While almost 100 percent of journalists viewed their role to “report things as they are” as very or even the most important, only 1.4 percent of interviewed journalists perceived “support o
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f government policy” to be very important. The second most important perceived journalistic role to “be a detached observer” falls in accordance with the liberal Western tradition of journalism implemented in the Czech Republic after the Velvet Revolution as the normative ideal. Still, there was quite a strong tendency to educate the audience among the sampled Czech journalists. On the other hand, journalists did not consider it important to be an adversary of the government or to motivate others to participate in political activity. In general, we can say that Czech journalists convey a normative view of media as a place where non-distorted events are presented and information necessary for political decisions as well as for everyday life management can be exchanged." (Journalistic roles, page 2)
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"When it comes to professional role orientation, Latvian journalists are almost unanimous that journalists should report things as they are and act as detached observers. Interviewed journalists also found it important to provide analysis of current affairs, to educate the audience, to let people ex
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press theirs views, to tell stories about the world as well as to advocate for social change. All these professional roles, except the necessity to tell stories about the world (s=1.22) and to let people express their views (s=1.08), showed relatively low standard deviations, suggesting that journalists agree on their importance. Similar consensus among the respondents showed over the little importance of supporting official government policies and conveying a positive image of political leaders." (Journalistic roles, page 2)
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"Media concentration has been an issue around the world. To some observers the power of large corporations has never been higher. To others, the Internet has brought openness and diversity. What perspective is correct? The answer has significant implications for politics, business, culture, regulati
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on, and innovation. It addresses a highly contentious subject of public debate in many countries around the world. In this discussion, one side fears the emergence of media empires that can sway public opinion and endanger democracy. The other side believes the Internet has opened media to unprecedented diversity and worries about excessive regulation by government. Strong opinions and policy advocates abound on each side, yet a lack of quantitative research across time, media industries, and countries undermines these positions. This book moves beyond the rhetoric of free media and free markets to provide a dispassionate and data-driven analysis of global media ownership trends and their drivers. The book covers thirteen media industries, including television, newspapers, book publishing, film, search engines, ISPs, wireless telecommunication, and others across a 10- to 25-year period in thirty countries. After examining these countries, this book offers comparisons and analysis across industries, regions, companies, and development levels. It calculates overall national concentration trends beyond specific media industries, the market share of individual companies in the overall national media sector, and the size and trends of transnational companies in overall global media." (Publisher description)
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"This paper sets out how Russia built up its disinformation campaign, by analyzing what was said and comparing it with what was done. Using open source and social media intelligence (OSSMINT), it exposes the false claims that Russia targeted ISIS or defeated international terrorism. It reveals that,
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far from being a partner in the fight against ISIS, Russia in fact acted as a party to the civil war in Syria, fighting for Assad and against the armed groups—especially those backed by the United States—that oppose both the Syrian leader and ISIS. This study concludes that Putin’s policy was to distract, deceive, and destroy. The buildup to the Russian air strikes distracted Western and Russian attention from Putin’s Ukrainian operations and the buildup of his forces in Syria. The official campaign reports deceived the world about the mission’s true targets and goals. The operation destroyed the capabilities of the only credible non-jihadist alternative to Assad’s regime, including those elements directly backed by the West. This fits a pattern of behavior already played out in Ukraine. It can be used as a template to predict, examine, and judge his future actions." (Executive summary, page 3)
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"This book advances new understandings of how technologies have been harnessed to improve the health of populations; whether the technologies really empower those who use information by providing them with a choice of information; how they shape health policy discourses; how the health information r
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elates to traditional belief systems and local philosophies; the implications for health communicators; how certain forms of silence are produced when media articulates and problematizes only a few health issues and sidelines others; and much more." (Publisher description)
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"Citizen Media and Public Spaces presents a pioneering exploration of citizen media as a highly interdisciplinary domain that raises vital political, social and ethical issues relating to conceptions of citizenship and state boundaries, the construction of publics and social imaginaries, processes o
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f co-optation and reverse co-optation, power and resistance, the ethics of witnessing and solidarity, and novel responses to the democratic deficit. Framed by a substantial introduction by the editors, the twelve contributions to the volume interrogate the concept of citizen media theoretically and empirically, and offer detailed case studies that extend from the UK to Russia and Bulgaria and from China to Denmark and the liminal spaces within which a growing number of refugees now live. A rich new domain of scholarship and practice emerges out of the studies presented. Citizen media is shown to embrace both physical and digital interventions in public space, as well as the sets of values and agendas that influence and drive the practices and discourses through which individuals and collectives position themselves within and in relation to society and participate in the creation of diverse publics." (Publisher description)
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"Now in paperback for the first time, the Handbook is an academic adaptation of information contained in the Global Report on the Status of Women in News Media, a study commissioned by the International Women's Media Foundation. The book's editor was the principal investigator of the original study.
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This text draws together the most robust data from that original study, presenting it in 29 chapters on individual nations and three additional theoretical chapters. The book is the most expansive effort to date to consider women's standing in the journalism profession across the world. Contents organize nations in relation to their progress within newsrooms, with those most advanced in gender equality representing diversity in terms of region and national development. Contributing authors are, in most cases, the original researchers for their respective nations in the Global Report study." (Publisher description)
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"Polens regierende Partei hat Ende 2015 im Eilverfahren den Rundfunkrat entmachtet. Anschließend begann die PiS, wichtige Posten im öffentlichen Rundfunk neu zu besetzen. Kritiker in Polen und anderen EU-Staaten sprechen vom „Ende eines unabhängigen öffentlich-rechtlichen Rundfunks in Polen“
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. Politisch unabhängig war der öffentlich-rechtliche Rundfunk in Polen allerdings auch bisher nicht. Seit zehn Jahren hat jede polnische Regierung den rechtlichen Rahmen bis aufs Äußerste strapaziert, um im Rundfunk eigene Leute unterzubringen. Die neue Regierung hat den Rahmen der Verfassung nun gesprengt." (Abstract)
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"Die Partei Recht und Gerechtigkeit (PiS) änderte nach ihrem Sieg bei den polnischen Parlamentswahlen im Herbst 2015 innerhalb weniger Wochen das Mediengesetz und besetzte die Spitzenpositionen im öffentlich-rechtlichen Rundfunk neu. Neues Personal gibt es auch bei den Nachrichtensendungen, die be
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reits auf Parteilinie gebracht sind. Die Regierung weist alle Kritik zurück und spricht von einer Entpolitisierung. Die Fakten sprechen eine andere Sprache." (Abstract)
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"The Internews annual media consumption survey shows more Ukrainians searching for news online and fewer getting their news from television. Trust in Ukrainian online media is also up, matching the trend in greater consumption. The survey also shows that Ukrainians are consuming Russian media far le
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ss than they did last year, and that trust in Russian media continues to decline." (Internews website)
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"A Companion to Russian Cinema provides an exhaustive and carefully organised guide to the cinema of pre-Revolutionary Russia, of the Soviet era, as well as post-Soviet Russian cinema, edited by one of the most established and knowledgeable scholars in Russian cinema studies. The most up-to-date and
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thorough coverage of Russian, Soviet and post-Soviet cinema, which also effectively fills gaps in the existing scholarship in the field. This is the first volume on Russian cinema to explore specifically the history of movie theatres, studios, and educational institutions. The editor is one of the most established and knowledgeable scholars in Russian cinema studies, and contributions come from leading experts in the field of Russian Studies, Film Studies and Visual Culture. Chapters consider the arts of scriptwriting, sound, production design, costumes and cinematography. Provides five portraits of key figures in Soviet and Russia film history, whose works have been somewhat neglecte." (Publisher description)
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"The paper presents results of the research focused on opinion leaders and interpretive communities of young active Catholics in Slovakia in connection with contemporary ecclesial-societal issues. The author pays a special attention to the Church opinion leaders and the sources of the opinion leader
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s credibility. She proceeds from a broader research, realized on the sample of 339 respondents from 18 to 40 years old. She is linking her findings with the three current ecclesial-societal issues: the removal of the archbishop Róbert Bezák from office, financial separation of Church and state and clerical celibacy." (Abstract)
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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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