"This is a review of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation’s (SDC) media assistance by consultants from iMedia. The aim is to capitalise on SDC’s experience of media over the last 10 years. The objective is to examine the organisation’s current media assistance programmes and bring
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out lessons learned. NB: this is not an evaluation report but it does end with some conclusions and recommendations offered from iMedia’s independent perspective." (Executive summary)
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"The monitoring and the analysis carried out for the purpose of this study found out that the media and the institutional channels of mass communication of religious communities have behaved correctly while carrying out their duties, and have established a climate of communication that emits and fos
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ters mutual respect among the faithful, tolerance and harmony that have prevailed the Albanian religious tradition. On the other hand, alongside media institutions of religious communities or organizations operating in the country, the Albanian online world has been infiltrated by a relatively large number of websites which appear to have been created and operated by Islamic religious organizations based in Turkey or other countries in the Middle East. Some of these websites promote schools of Islam that do not match the tradition of the Albanian Islam, and provide a more radical interpretation of the Islamic doctrine. Especially problematic are some websites that promote in Albanian the schools of Salafism and Wahhabism as well as other extremist schools or sects. Meanwhile, the monitoring of the mainstream print and broadcast media in Albania, revealed that they report on religion and activities of religious background mainly during religious festivities, on cases of religiously-motivated clashes or conflicts, on controversial statements regarding religion, its history and religious cohabitation in Albania, as well as cases of scandal and controversy among the ranks of religious authorities." (Page 3)
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"Die hier vorgestellte Untersuchung hatte zum Ziel, unterschiedliche Informationsnutzungstypen im Kontext der Flüchtlingsdebatte in der Bevölkerung Deutschlands zu identifizieren und anhand ihrer persönlichen Merkmale, ihrer Einstellungen gegenüber Geflüchteten und der Flüchtlingspolitik sowie
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bezüglich ihrer Erwartungen an die Medien und Bewertungen der Berichterstattung zu beschreiben. Die quotierte Befragung ist bevölkerungsrepräsentativ für die deutschsprachigen Onliner über 18 Jahre. Die Datenerhebung fand in zwei Wellen im Februar 2016 und Februar 2017 statt. Von den 1579 Teilnehmenden aus dem Jahr 2016 nahm etwas mehr als die Hälfte (53 %) auch an der zweiten Befragung teil. Für das Jahr 2016 ergab die Clusteranalyse vier Nutzergruppen, die Themen-Vielnutzer (29 % der Bevölkerung), die Themen-Vermeider (19 %), die Journalismus-Orientierten (33 %) sowie die Social-Media-Orientierten (20 %). Im Jahr 2017 konnte das Cluster der Social-Media-Orientierten nicht wieder identifiziert werden. Die Veränderungen der Struktur, Größen und Charakteristika der Cluster verdeutlichen, dass parallel zur nachlassenden Berichterstattungsintensität auch die Suche der Bürger nach Informationen zum Thema geringer geworden ist. Die Erwartungen der Befragten an die Berichterstattung haben sich im Jahresverlauf nur wenig verändert. Vor allem die Gruppe der Journalismus-Orientierten weicht deutlicher von den anderen Gruppen ab, die Mitglieder dieser Gruppe erwarten eher eine ausgewogene Berichterstattung, erkennen aber auch gleichzeitig weniger Probleme mit einer angeblich verzerrten Berichterstattung in den Medien zum Flüchtlingsthema. Negative Emotionen, die mit der Berichterstattung verbunden sind, treten verstärkt bei denen auf, die sich (auch) stark auf soziale Medien als Informationsquelle verlassen, oder die sich der themenbezogenen Berichterstattung gar nicht oder nur ganz am Rande widmen. Im Umkehrschluss bedeutet dies, dass diejenigen, die vor allem journalistische Medienangebote nutzen, sich weniger um ihre Familien sorgen, weniger Angst vor Flüchtlingen haben und auch weniger Themenverdrossenheit zeigen." (Zusammenfassung)
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"Die MedienNutzerTypologie (MNT) liefert eine wissenschaftlich fundierte typologische Segmentierung der Mediennutzergruppen in Deutschland. Sie fügt Menschen mit ähnlicher Prägung zu homogenen Gruppen zusammen. Diese einzelnen MedienNutzerTypen unterscheiden sich trennscharf in Hinblick auf ihre
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Programm- und Genreinteressen sowie in ihrer Nutzungsintensität innerhalb ihres Medienportfolios. Das in der Praxis bewährte MNTModell wurde nun um psychografische Merkmale erweitert. Umgangssprachlich formuliert sollte geklärt werden: „Wie ticken die Menschen in ihrem Innersten, was treibt sie an?“ Im Vergleich zu einer früheren Justierungsstudie der MNT mittels Telefonbefragung kam ein völlig anderes, implizites Verfahren zum Einsatz. Das innovative Verfahren des „Emotional Branding Monitor (EBM)“ nutzt einen seit mehreren Jahrzehnten bekannten und viel erforschten „Umweg“ zur Offenlegung unbewusster Wahrnehmung: Befragten werden emotionale Bilder und Begriffe gezeigt, bei denen sie in Sekundenbruchteilen entscheiden sollen, ob diese Stimuli zu einem zu untersuchenden Objekt, in diesem Falle der eigenen Person, passen oder nicht. Mit Hilfe des EBM konnte die MedienNutzerTypologie um die unterbewusste Ebene erweitert und damit emotionale und motivationale Aspekte der Cluster ergänzt werden. So wurde eine Basis für ein besseres Verständnis der Wünsche und Ansprüche der Nutzertypen geschaffen." (Zusammenfassung)
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"During the transition years, Albania saw the establishment of a relatively complete legal framework for the protection and development of media freedom and independence. However, in many cases, the legal framework was delayed or a mechanical transplant of western legislation. Enforcement of legisla
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tion remains a problem. In the framework of relations between the media and politics, both in the early transition phases and during recent years, there have been frequent efforts of political formations to ensure in a way control Relations between media and politics in Albania over the media through law as in the case of the Press Law or the case of legislation establishing the regulations for the election of the Steering Council of RTSH and AMA, which gives the opportunity to the political majority to decide on the composition of the steering bodies of these two institutions. In terms of transparency over media ownership, Albania has made progress, but the concern is raised regarding the possibility of hidden ownership. Besides the ownership factor, their funding also has played a considerable role in the degree of dependence or independence of the media. In this regard, for many domestic analysts or international rapporteurs, the situation remains alarming. The EU Progress Report on Albania notes that media financing remains very problematic. There is almost no transparency and funding sources are manipulated or hidden. Similar to countries of the polarized pluralistic media model, in Albania too, professional organizations and the trade unions of journalists are generally weak. An indicator of the lack of organization of the media and the journalists’ community is also the fact that Albania, for a long period during the transition years, has not managed to have a Media Council, which exists in the majority of the region’s countries. The inexistence or poor role of journalists’ associations has led to a poor level of self-regulation of media in the country." (Executive summary)
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"This article analyzes how journalists in the Western Balkans consider the roles of journalism in times of transitions in the region. Findings from the Worlds of Journalism (WJS) study reveal that journalists and editors in the Western Balkans perceive their roles to be broader than those in traditi
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onally western societies. They subscribe to traditional journalism values but also argue that the media has a broad responsibility to contribute to enhance transitions of societies after longer periods of conflict. At the same time, journalists have little trust in the institutions of society entrusted with the task of leading the countries through many issues of transitional justice. The article draws on empirical material from the WJS survey in 2014 and 2015 in Albania, Croatia, Kosovo and Serbia." (Abstract)
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"The report is based on a survey of more than 70,000 people in 36 markets, along with additional qualitative research, which together make it the most comprehensive ongoing comparative study of news consumption in the world. A key focus remains in Europe where we have added Slovakia, Croatia, and Ro
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mania for the first time – but we have also added four markets in Asia (Taiwan, Hong Kong, Malaysia, and Singapore) along with three additional Latin American countries (Argentina, Chile, and Mexico) [...] In particular we have focused on two areas: (1) the extent to which people are prepared to pay for news or the different ways journalism might be funded in the future, and (2) understanding more about some of the drivers of low, and in some cases declining, trust in the media. For the first time we’ve attempted to measure and visualise relative levels of media polarisation across countries and identify a link between media polarisation and trust. Another focus has been on the media’s relationship with platforms – in particular how news is discovered and consumed within distributed environments such as social media, search, and online aggregators." (Foreword)
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"With 13 religions, 8061 religious centers, 2 million of young people, Catalonia accommodates a wide range of religions. Almost 90% of people own digital devices. In this framework, we aim to study the consumption of digital media by Catalan millennials from all over the region, with only young peop
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le from the city of Barcelona being excluded for the purpose of analysis in future projects. Religious apps, games, websites, online communities and participation in forums are some of the main issues we want to explore. We also aim to establish whether or not these devices contribute to consolidate online religious communities and to achieve inter-religious dialogue. For fulfilling this goal, we surveyed more than 1800 young people aged 12–18 years. Methodology also included in-depth interviews with coordinators from youth organizations and netnography. This research is based on previous investigations into communication, digital media, sociology and religion by authors such as Campbell, Elzo, Leurs and Hemming." (Abstract)
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"This book is a broad and detailed case study of how journalists in more than 20 countries worldwide covered the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Fifth Assessment (AR5) reports on the state of scientific knowledge relevant to climate change. Journalism, it demonstrates, is a key elem
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ent in the transnational communication infrastructure of climate politics. It examines variations of coverage in different countries and locations all over the world. It looks at how IPCC scientists review the role of media, reflects on how media relate to decision-making structures and cultures, analyzes how key journalists reflect on the challenges of covering climate change, and shows how the message of IPCC was distributed in the global networks of social media." (Publisher description)
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"The aim of this report is to illustrate, on the basis of online hate speech examples from six countries - Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, the Netherlands and Spain -, patterns of cyber hate against four communities. The topics that will be subsequently analysed are: antisemitism, antiziganism, h
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omophobia and anti-Muslim hatred. Each section will follow a similar pattern by first offering a definition of the central terms, analysing the context and transnational trends and then highlighting country-specific aspects. The label "country specific" should not imply that those aspects are in any way country exclusive. However, they show different emphasis and peculiarities in the participating countries. This transnational analysis is complemented by national reports de-tailing the information and cases provided by the participating organisations." (Introduction, page 8)
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