Mediadelcom’s first book: Monitoring Mediascapes

Book Monitoring Mediascapes. A Premise of Wisdom-Based EU Media Governance came out timely just before the Mediadelcom final conference in Brussels. The book has been edited by Epp Lauk, Martin Oller Alonso and Halliki Harro-Loit and authored by multiple researchers working at the Mediadelcom project. It is a publication of the University of Tartu Press.

The book focuses on the capability of different European countries to collect relevant data, carry out research and analysis and finally assess the risks and opportunities associated with media development in terms of the societies’ potential for deliberative communication (p. 1).

The book takes a critical approach to research policy related to the four domains, consistency of data collection, and data overproduction, knowledge formulation and knowledge usage in media policy formulation. The book aims to show whether poor data, lack of data, restriction of access to relevant data sources and finally lack of knowledge of the media create risks for a good information and communication environment for deliberative communication. In addition, the traditions and development of media research, the financing of research projects and the competitiveness of media researchers internationally and nationally are discussed. The book raises several important questions: For what purpose is data collected, for example, in the interests of advertising sales or also in the interests of society? Are the data collected by public authorities or private companies? What kind of data are collected systematically and allow research studies to assess the dynamics of change? Where are the gaps in data, information and knowledge? (p. 8)

The book is an open access publication. An official e-variant will be published shortly. Meanwhile, you can look at the current PDF display of the book.

New book on digital media governance

The book Digital Media Governance and Supranational Courts untangles the digital media jurisprudence of supranational courts in Europe with a focus on the CJEU and the ECtHR. It argues that in the face of regulatory tension and uncertainty, courts can have a strong bearing on the applicable rules and standards of digital media.

Chapters written by expert contributors explore the interpretative steps taken by the CJEU and the ECtHR to solve arising legal issues, shedding light on their interpretation and refinement of the applied rules.

The book provides fresh insights into the effects of European adjudication on the content and scope of the rules enforced and examines the ways in which the two European courts address the specificities of digitalization and digital media in their rulings. It also addresses the process of defining the constitutional boundaries of digital media and the exercise of rights and freedoms therein, focusing on digital media and the distinct challenges posed by digitalization and digital communication.

One editor of the book – Evangelia Psychogiopoulou – is in operation at the Mediadelcom project. The other editor of the book is Susana de la Sierra. Cf. the page of the publisher, Edward Elgar Publishing.

The Global Handbook of Media Accountability forthcoming

A book on global media accountability is coming out. Largely based on outcomes of MediaACT project under the 7th Framework Programme (FP7), the EU’s research funding programme between 2007 and 2013, several editors of this book come from the teams of the ongoing Mediadelcom: Germany and Austria.

The Global Handbook of Media Accountability brings together leading scholars to de-Westernize the academic debate on media accountability and discuss different models of media self-regulation and newsroom transparency around the globe. With examination of the status quo of media accountability in 43 countries worldwide, it offers a theoretically informed comparative analysis of accountability regimes of different varieties.

As such, it constitutes the first interdisciplinary academic framework comparing structures of media accountability across all continents and creates an invaluable basis for further research and policymaking. It will therefore appeal to scholars and students of media studies and journalism, mass communication, sociology, and political science, as well as policymakers and practitioners.

More information from the publisher’s website.

Four Shades of Censorship: Report on state intervention in the Central Eastern European media markets

The paper ‘Four Shades of Censorship’ presents the results of the project “Good practice sharing for a more open and transparent media across developing democracies in CEE”. The project, funded by the National Endowment for Democracy, aims to provide a comprehensive picture of media policy processes in the Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia and Romania, based on up-to-date data.

The project was led by (HU), and involved MediaForum (CZ), ActiveWatch (RO) and MEMO 98 (SK).

The research pays special attention to the specificities of the media market and the situation of journalism, and analyses the legal environment not only on the basis of legislation but also on the basis of the practice of law enforcement. In contrast to other media policy analyses, the most important specificity of the research is that it focuses on the collection and processing of primary data instead of the secondary processing of expert interviews and literature sources. With its broad methodological background, it provides an evidence-based report that is a relevant starting point for media policy decisions by industry, government and the European Union.

The cumulative impact of the media policies of the past years in the CEE countries (and in Hungary in particular) has resulted in a comprehensive transformation of the media systems. This has gone hand in hand with the weakening of the safeguards of media freedom and a contraction in the room for manoeuvre of independent media practitioners and outlets. On the basis of our research it is clear that this process rests on three pillars: (1) the undermining of the independence of the organisations responsible for overseeing private and public media; (2) the manipulation of access to the market resources necessary for media market activities; and (3) the manipulation of the information environment by controlling the access to public information and the political agenda (political interference to the PSM).

The countries under review, Czechia, Hungary, Slovakia and Romania, share a number of similarities, mainly due to their historical and geographical position. Despite the similarities, the four countries offer significantly different boundary conditions for media freedom and the functioning of media market players. This is also reflected in the Reporters Without Borders World Press Freedom Index.

Figure: Reporters Without Borders World Press Freedom Index (*Source: The Report, p. 7.*)

Mertek Media Monitor is also a partner in Mediadelcom project.

Download the report

New book: Comparing Post-socialist Media Systems

The Croatian partners of MEDIADELCOM from the Zagreb University together with the Inter-University Centre Dubrovnik (IUC), and the Department of Communication, University of Copenhagen, are launching a new book, Comparing Post-socialist Media Systems: the Case of Southeast Europe.

This book explains divergent media system trajectories in the countries in Southeast Europe and challenges the presumption that the common socialist experience critically influences a common outcome in media development after democratic transformations by showing different remote and proximate configuration of conditions that influence their contemporary shape.

This is a conceptually rich, methodologically sophisticated, and interdisciplinary analysis of south-east European media systems that explains continuity, change and divergence between the six cases. It deserves to be read not only by scholars of the region but by those considering how to approach more generally the study of comparative media systems and cultures.

John Downey, Professor of Comparative Media Analysis, Loughborough University

Applying an innovative longitudinal set-theoretical methodological approach, the book contributes to the theory of media systems with a novel theoretical framework for the comparative analysis of post-socialist media systems. This theory builds on the theory of historical institutionalism and the notion of critical junctures and path dependency in searching for an explanation for similarities or differences among media systems in the Eastern European region.

Extending the understanding of media systems beyond a political journalism focus, this book is a valuable contribution to the literature on comparative media systems in the areas of media systems studies, political science, Southeast and Central European studies, post-socialist studies and communication studies.

The launch took place on Apr 15, 2021 at 04:00 PM CEST – Sarajevo, Skopje, Zagreb.
The event was streamed live and can be catched up at the IUC YouTube channel