"The global economic downturn has affected countless businesses across the region, forcing them to slash costs, lay off employees, and reduce output. Media businesses are no exception. However, when media businesses are hit, it is not just their turnover that suffers: their primary function, the del
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ivery of news to citizens, feels the impact too. To explore the impact of the crisis on independent media and accountability journalism, the Media Program carried out a study in 18 post-socialist countries heavily hit by the crisis: Albania, Armenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, and Ukraine. The study looks at media performance in 2009 compared with the previous three years, explores the cost-saving measures taken by significant news carriers, and the effects of these measures on output, breadth and depth of coverage, scope of investigative reporting, and opportunities for open public debate." (OSI website)
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"Mit geschätzten 400 Millionen Internetnutzern (Juni 2010) ist die VR China vor den USA der größte nationale Internetmarkt. Nach den USA und Japan bildet China den weltweit drittgrößten Markt fur Informations- und Kommunikationstechnologien. Die drei an der US-amerikanischen Nasdaq-Borse gehand
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elten chinesischen Web-Portale Sina.com, Souhu.com, Netease.com, das Web-Portal Tom.com, das zu mehr als 50 Prozent dem reichsten Mann Asiens, dem Hongkonger Tycoon Li Ka-shing, gehört und Chinas führender B2BPortalbetreiber Alibaba.com unter Leitung von Jack Ma, sind die wichtigsten Akteure des chinesischen Internet. Im Jahr 2018 will China 70 Prozent seines gesamten innerchinesischen Handels uber E-Commerce abwickeln. Der chinesische Internetnutzer ist jung, wohnt in der Stadt, verfügt als Student über eine gute formale Ausbildung, aber nur ein kleines Einkommen. Das ländliche China, das nach wie vor zwei Drittel der Bevölkerung umfasst, ist bislang vom Internet so gut wie ausgeschlossen. Kulturelle Besonderheiten des chinesischen Internet sind die weit verbreitete Online-Spielsucht, die intensive Nutzung des Netzes fur Poesie und virtuelle Friedhöfe." (Zusammenfassende Thesen, Seite 27)
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"Media coverage of REDD+ in Indonesia indicates that the issue has captured the attention of a broad cross-section of society. However, opinions are evidently polarised and some voices are clearly louder than others. Moreover, while the engagement of all levels of society has been constructive for m
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oving the policy debate forward, equally it has raised financial expectations and created conflict over resource control. Consequently, the need to balance conflicting and competing interests is likely to have significant implications for creating a REDD+ strategy that is effective, efficient and equitable." (Page 1)
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"Als in diesem Jahr der OSZE vorstehendes Land sollten für Kasachstan ganz besondere Anforderungen auch in Hinblick auf seine Pressefreiheit gelten. Die internationalen Rankings kommen allerdings zu einem äußert kritischen Urteil. Die Realität scheint komplizierter. Aus ihrer langjährigen Erfah
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rung als Journalistin in Almaty gibt die Autorin einen Überblick über die kasachstanische Medienlandschaft und die Arbeitsbedingungen von Journalisten und kann westlichen Lesern damit helfen, Nachrichten in der dortigen Presse besser einzuordnen." (Zusammenfassung)
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"There are various risks at the local level. On one hand, Nepal lies on a seismically active zone and has a fragile geological structure and, on the other hand, proper policies, government access to rural and remote places, and public awareness and knowledge are lacking. There is an urgent need for
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all sectors to address disaster related issues. Awareness campaigns should be conducted for the initiation of comprehensive disaster risk management. The mass media has to raise its voice on the frequency and intensity of disasters, vulnerabilities, risks, rights, and responsibilities and shape mainstream disaster risk reduction (DRR) programmes into development efforts. The disaster management (DM) cycle should be considered while news and information are collected. Voices of affected communities need to be captured and experts consulted. Information should be provided capturing the voices of communities, experts, civil societies, and government authorities. To make information more accessible, programmes should be catchy, attractive, and entertaining. When does a particular disaster occur? What possible impact can it have? Which community and economic class is eff ected? What are the causes? Such questions and issues have to be considered while preparing reports and terminologies have to be accurate. Media personnel can also focus on disaster preparedness and possible disaster risk reduction measures." (Executive summary)
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"More than 20 million people in Pakistan were affected by the worst floods in the country’s history in late July 2010 [...] The humanitarian response included efforts to inform people about the services available, and communicate with them about accessing these services. It also included efforts t
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o provide platforms by which people could tell the aid workers about particular help they needed or register complaints about services. However, during the flood response, there was no consistent, broad research that could indicate which communication efforts were most effective. This study is an attempt to start providing this data, and thereby directly support the communication plans and efforts of humanitarian organizations. It assesses the impact of humanitarian information provided to flood-affected populations in Sindh and Punjab three months after the flood, and examines to what degree people received information about help available and how well that information enabled people to get that help and to help themselves." (Executive summary, page 2)
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"Media in Balochistan - the largest of Pakistan's four province in land mass - in general and provincial capital Quetta in particular has visibly expanded since 2000 in a trend that largely reflects the shifting media landscape in the rest of Pakistan. With the doors thrown open to private ownership
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of the airwaves, independent TV channels and FM radio stations have come to be a part of daily life for many. And with competition has come the rush for news, to be the first to break news. Even though one still has to see a critical mass of private, independent TV channels and radio stations, locally owned and voicing local concerns in languages of Balochistan - something needed and often stridently demanded - media has crept into the consciousness of the people, if not through independent news and analysis then through the sheer volume of its presence. In a province long engaged in a monologue with itself - cut off as it is from the rest of the country through huge distances, lack of infrastructure and the Pakistani state's Orwellian contr over news and information from Balochistan - the proliferation of media in recent years has fueled a hunger for information, a desire to have a say and be heard." (Page 7)
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"In 2004-2005, the United States Agency for International Development’s (USAID) Office of Transition Initiatives commissioned Altai Consulting to conduct the first comprehensive media evaluation of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, looking at the impact of the Afghan media on opinions and behav
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iors three years after the beginning of the country’s reconstruction. The evaluation found, among other things: that Afghans were avid and sophisticated media users and that cultural barriers to media use were less significant than previously expected; that the radio played a predominant role throughout the country; and that media are instrumental in social progress and education. However, since publication of that report1, Afghanistan’s media sector has seen important changes. To inform future assistance from the international community to the Afghan media, it was deemed necessary to assess the current state of the Afghan media – by reflecting a full and accurate audience profile, to determine program preferences, to measure the impact of the Afghan media on local opinions and behaviors and to gauge Afghan expectations in terms of programming and messaging. A large-scale research project was thus planned and conducted from March to August 2010. This research included a deep probe into the media sector and the public’s behaviors and expectations. The methodology used to achieved this included a combination of: literature review; direct observations; key informant interviews with most relevant actors involved in the media sector; 6,648 close-ended interviews in more than 900 towns and villages of 106 districts, covering all 34 provinces of the country; an audience survey on more than 1,500 individuals run daily for a week; about 200 qualitative, open-ended interviews; and 10 community case studies. Such an effort guarantees that results presented here are fairly representative of the Afghan population at large. This document provides a comprehensive synthesis of data collected during the survey. A database of media actors, 16 priority district reports, 10 case study reports, a complete description of the methodology and the original datasets from the main quantitative research and the audience research are publicly available, allowing anyone interested to access more focused information as needed." (Introduction, page 8)
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"Internet censorship and surveillance becomes more sophisticated. The first-generation controls like China's "Great Firewall" are being replaced by techniques that include strategically timed distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks, targeted malware, take-down notices and stringent terms-of-usa
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ge policies. Their aim is to shape and limit the national information environment. This publication reports on these new trends and their implications for the global internet commons. In addition, it offers 32 detailed country profiles on internet surveillance from the Commonwealth of Independent States, the Middle East and North Africa, Asia and Europe." (CAMECO Update 2-2010)
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"This booklet documents the participatory video methodology as an affordable and easy-to-use video tool enabling community members to record their experience and strengthen their own knowledge on disaster risks and climate change, as well as to increase their capacity to act on that knowledge and se
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cure change." (commbox)
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"The Anthropology of News and Journalism is the first book to explore the role of news and journalism in contemporary culture from an anthropological perspective—as a form of cultural meaning-making in its creation, content, and dissemination. Anthropology's global, comparative perspective and eth
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nographic methods provide powerful insights for analyzing case studies from around the world. Essays by leading scholars explore communities of professional and nonprofessional journalists. They describe news-making processes ranging from the local to the global digital environment, as well as how news is disseminated and received in a variety of cultural settings." (Publisher description)
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"This book highlights the importance of the news media as watchdogs, agenda setters and gatekeepers for the quality of democratic deliberation in the public sphere. At the same time, it theorizes that the capacity of journalists and media systems to fulfill these roles depends on the broader context
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determined by the profession, the market and the state. Media systems' performance often falls far short of the ideals, as succesive case studies from different world regions demonstrate. Finally, the book asks what policy interventions work effectively to close the gap between the democratic promise and perfomance of the news media as an institution. The final chapter, "Policy recommendations", concludes (page 406): "Interventions include reforms directed at strengthening the journalistic profession, notably institutional capacity building, through bodies such as press councils, press freedom advocacy NGOs, and organizations concerned with journalistic training and accreditation. Other important reforms seek to overcome market failures, including developing a regulatory framework for media systems to ensure pluralism of ownership and diversity of contents. Finally, policies also address the role of the state, including deregulation to shift state-run broadcasting to public service broadcasting, overseen by independent broadcasting regulatory bodies, and the protection of constitutional principles of freedom of the press, speech, and expression." (commbox)
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"Asia’s Media Innovator’s Vol 2 is the offspring of the earlier book that appeared in 2008. This new volume consists of studies of innovations at media companies in the region. The success of these media companies shows the dynamism in the region, and reflects its potential for growth. Each chap
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ter covers various forms of media, including online newspapers and broadcast outlets. Every couple of weeks a new chapter will be published online." (KAS website)
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