commbox Southeast Europe

Samizdat, Tamizdat, and Beyond: Transnational Media During and After Socialism

Friederike Kind-Kovács, Jessie Labov (eds.)

Oxford; New York: Berghahn (2015), xiii, 366 pp.

"In many ways what is identified today as "cultural globalization" in Eastern Europe has its roots in the Cold War phenomena of samizdat ("do-it-yourself" underground publishing) and tamizdat (publishing abroad). This volume offers a new understanding of how information flowed between East and West ... more

Small Cinemas in Global Markets: Genres, Identities, Narratives

Lenuta Giukin, Janina Falkowska, David Desser (eds.)

Lanham: Lexington Books (2015), xxiv, 294 pp.

"Small Cinemas in Global Markets addresses aspects such as identity, revisiting the past, internationalized genres, new forms of experimental cinema, markets and production, as well as technological developments of alternative small screens that open new perspectives into small cinema possibilities. ... more

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Popular Television in Eastern Europe During and Since Socialism

Timothy Havens, Anikó Imre, Katalin Lustyik (eds.)

London: Routledge (2015), xi, 285 pp.

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Kosovo: Setting Media Standards. Public Awareness and Effectiveness of the Independent Media Commission and the Press Council of Kosovo

Bill Taylor

Thomson Foundation (2015), 19 pp.

"Within a few short years, the Press Council of Kosovo (PCK) and the Independent Media Commission (IMC) have successfully established a model of media regulation and selfregulation familiar to Western democracies. This follows a historic period of state or partisan influence in print media and broad ... more

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Untold Stories: How Corruption and Conflicts of Interest Stalk the Newsroom
Top Insights

London: Ethical Journalism Network (EJN) (2015), v, 82 pp.

"This report, which has been produced by a group of distinguished journalists and their supporters, examines the broad scope of the crisis. It covers countries where media are on the frontline of tough political battles, such as Egypt and Turkey. In Ukraine, for instance, the practice of paid-for jo ... urnalism is a tool routinely used by politicians at election time. The same is true in India. In other countries, including Nigeria, Philippines, and Colombia the precarious working conditions of news staff provide fertile conditions for corruption and “brown envelopes” or under-the-table cash payments to reporters and editors which are a routine feature of journalistic work. The struggles facing journalists in settled democracies, such as the United Kingdom and Denmark, are less brazen, but no less challenging and in a range of countries across the Western Balkans with a shared and painful history, media corruption hinders aspirations to break free from the legacy of war, censorship and political control during decades of communist rule. The story is of an uphill struggle. Everywhere there is a crisis of confidence inside newsrooms caused by crumbling levels of commitment to ethics, a lowering of the status of journalistic work and a pervasive lack of transparency over advertising, ownership and corporate and political affiliations. Government control over lucrative state advertising, which is often allocated to media according to their political bias, remains widespread. At the same time, the elimination in most countries of the invisible wall separating editorial and advertising has created a surge of so-called “native advertising,” hidden advertorials and paid-for journalism. It was this conflict of interest that plunged the crisis-prone UK press into a new bout of handwringing in February 2015 when Peter Oborne, a leading political journalist, quit his job at the Daily Telegraph accusing the management of censoring stories about HSBC bank, a leading advertiser caught up in a tax scandal. These reports tell essentially the same story of deep cuts in editorial investment, undue pressure on newsrooms, and media increasingly dependent upon atypical models of ownership in which media have become the trophy possessions of powerful figures and institutions in pursuit of wider corporate and political objectives." (Introduction, page iii-iv) more

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CANnual Report 2015: The Advertising Economy of Central and Eastern Europe Reflected in Numbers

Budapest: WeCAN Communications (2015), 196 pp.

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Moving Stories: International Review of How Media Cover Migration
Top Insights

Aidan White (ed.)

London: Ethical Journalism Network (EJN) (2015), 106 pp.

"We asked writers and researchers to examine the quality of coverage and to highlight reporting problems as well as good work. The conclusions from many different parts of the world are remarkably similar: journalism under pressure from a weakening media economy; political bias and opportunism that ... more

Voices of Freedom - Western Interference? 60 Years of Radio Free Europe

Anna Bischof (ed.)

Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht (2015), xii, 294 pp.

"International radio broadcasters took on a centrally important role during the Cold War. Founded at the beginning of the 1950s, Radio Free Europe (RFE) was to become both a political instrument for influencing public opinion and one of the few alternative sources of information for many people livi ... more

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A Difficult Profession: Media Freedom Under Attack in the Western Balkans

Human Rights Watch (2015), 69 pp.

"Based on 86 in-depth interviews with journalists, editors and media owners, this report documents the hostile environment in which journalists work in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), Kosovo, Montenegro, and Serbia. Journalists and editors interviewed for this report described a difficult media space ... more

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Secrets, lies, and journalist-spies: The contemporary moral dilemma for Bulgarian media professionals

Lada Trifonova Price

International Journal of Press/Politics, volume 20, issue 2 (2015), pp. 185-203

"The subject of this article is the issue of journalist-spies in the Bulgarian media before and after the fall of communism in 1989. The focus is on the perceptions of Bulgarian journalists on the role alleged secret service collaborators played, and continue to play, in the postcommunist society an ... more

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Bad Practices, Bad Faith: Soft Censorship in Macedonia

Vienna; Washington, DC; Paris: South East Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO);Center for International Media Assistance (CIMA);WAN-IFRA (2015), 26 pp.

"A principal challenge to independent journalism is the symbiotic relationship between the ruling party and many media outlets and their owners. Examples on both the national and local level are described in this report. Government-friendly outlets are bolstered by various means, particularly non-tr ... more

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Opfer der Geschäftswelt und politischer Interessen: Medien in Bosnien-Herzegowina

Sanela Hodžic

Religion & Gesellschaft in Ost und West, volume 43, issue 10 (2015), pp. 22-25

"Trotz der hohen Standards der Mediengesetze in Bosnien-Herzegowina hapert es bei deren Umsetzung. Medienschaffende sind häufig dem Druck von Politik, staatlichen Institutionen und einflussreichen Unternehmen ausgesetzt. Viele Medienunternehmen sind aufgrund ihrer desolaten Finanzlage zusätzlich f ... more

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Representing Multiculturalism in Comics and Graphic Novels

Carolene Ayaka, Ian Hague (eds.)

New York, London: Routledge (2015), xiii, 269 pp.

"This book presents a wide ranging survey of the ways in which comics have dealt with the diversity of creators and characters and the (lack of) visibility for characters who don't conform to particular cultural stereotypes. Contributors engage with ethnicity and other cultural forms from Israel, Ro ... more

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Eroding Freedoms: Media and Soft Censorship in Montenegro

Ana Vujosevic, Vladimir Vuckovic

Paris; Washington, DC: WAN-IFRA;Center for International Media Assistance (CIMA) (2015), 23 pp.

"Montenegro’s government should support openness and informed debate in making and implementing public policy decisions. Instead, information concerning matters of public interest is often withheld or distorted by government and by pliant media outlets favoured with official assistance. State fund ... more

Journalists' Perceptions of Nomenklatura Networks and Media Ownership in Post-Communist Bulgaria

Lada Trifonova Price

Medijske Studije / Media Studies, volume 6, issue 11 (2015), pp. 19-33

"This article discusses the role of the former communist party elite (the nomenklatura) in the Bulgarian post-communist media landscape in relation to media ownership and the origin of media outlets’ capital. The spotlight is on Bulgarian journalists’ perceptions examined through semi-structured ... more

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Die Presse in der Julikrise 1914: Die internationale Berichterstattung und der Weg in den Ersten Weltkrieg

Georg Eckert, Peter Geiss, Arne Karsten (eds.)

Münster: Aschendorff (2014), 271 pp.

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Feminist Publicist Strategies: Women's NGOs' Media Activism and Television Journalism in Serbia and Croatia

Danica Minic

Media, Culture & Society, volume 36, issue 2 (2014), pp. 133-149

"This article defines feminist media activism in terms of counter-public communication and provides a brief overview of activities, functions, types of activists and historical contexts relevant to this kind of feminist activism. Following this research approach, it then examines the specific cases ... more

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In the Service of the Public: Functions and Transformation of Media in Developing Countries
Inspiring Practice

Jan Lublinski, Petra Berner, Merjam Wakili (eds.)

Bonn: Deutsche Welle DW Akademie (2014), 300 pp.

"This study constitutes the attempt to draw some initial conclusions from the work conducted by DW Akademie and other media development organizations in the past. It aims at a better understanding of which public service functions former state broadcasters can provide at all and which approaches of ... media development actors have proved to be successful. Reforming of state mouthpieces into public service media can indeed be achieved. This is one of the most important findings of this study. DW Akademie researchers here present examples of media outlets that fulfill their public service remit of creating a public sphere and supporting integration to a substantial degree. Even among the success stories, not all the media outlets studied here have adopted a public service ethos to its full extent. Their work, however, improved considerably. In assisting reform, media development actors were thus able to enhance the public’s freedom of expression as well as its access to information – two basic human rights we see as important prerequisites for peace and democracy. On the other hand, this study shows how difficult and complex transformation is. State media are often highly politicized. Successful transformation, therefore, requires support of a lot of different actors: the political elite, civil society, the management of the broadcaster, its staff, and last but certainly not least, the public as a whole. It is vital that media development actors identify windows of opportunity and profit from them in order to propel change forward. At the same time, this study demonstrates that media development organizations have to think beyond their traditional fields of expertise: capacity development and newsroom consultancy. A much broader approach is needed if substantial and sustainable development is to be achieved. DW Akademie is currently implementing a new, more complex strategy for successful media development cooperation that takes this into account. Political and legal frameworks have become a strategic area of activity. Other equally important areas comprise qualifications, professionalism, and economic sustainability of the media sector, participation in society, and digital change. With regard to public broadcasting, political and legal frameworks are especially important in order to ensure editorial independence of former state broadcasters. Furthermore, media development actors have to engage more in organizational development. Therefore, at the end of this study, we dedicate a whole chapter to this question. This study of selected media outlets from twelve countries does not attempt to provide a final answer to the question of successful public service transformation. It aims at giving an overview of what has been achieved in practical work in this field in the course of the past years. More research is needed to understand which steps of reform are needed for a genuine transformation that is sustainable in the long term. The media are undergoing crucial developments. Digital change, convergence, and social media have increased pluralism of opinion substantially in many parts of the world. At the same time, the media face new challenges with respect to their economic sustainability. The notion of public service media that offer a model for providing journalistic quality without financial dependence deserves further thought." (Preface) more