commbox Central Asia & Caucasus

Central Asia & Caucasus

Filter

733

Sort by:

Direction:

External Link (303)

Google Scholar (307)

WorldCat (314)

The Palgrave Handbook of Global Digital Journalism

Bruce Mutsvairo, Kristin Skare Orgeret (eds.)

Cham: Palgrave Macmillan (2025), xxi, 444 pp.

"This book responds to mounting calls to broaden the theorization of digital journalism, addressing critical questions about an emerging yet rapidly expanding area of study, and presenting multiple entry points and approaches that help us understand digital journalism better. Seeking to establish it ... more

External Link (527)

Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2025
Deep Insights

Nic Newman, Richard Fletcher, Craig T. Robertson, Amy Ross Arguedas, Rasmus Kleis Nielsen (eds.)

Oxford: Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism (2025), 170 pp.

"• Engagement with traditional media sources such as TV, print, and news websites continues to fall, while dependence on social media, video platforms, and online aggregators grows. This is particularly the case in the United States where polling overlapped with the first few weeks of the new Trum ... p administration. Social media news use was sharply up (+6pp) but there was no ‘Trump bump’ for traditional sources. • Personalities and influencers are, in some countries, playing a significant role in shaping public debates. One-fifth (22%) of our United States sample says they came across news or commentary from popular podcaster Joe Rogan in the week after the inauguration, including a disproportionate number of young men. In France, young news creator Hugo Travers (HugoDécrypte) reaches 22% of under-35s with content distributed mainly via YouTube and TikTok. Young influencers also play a significant role in many Asian countries, including Thailand. • News use across online platforms continues to fragment, with six online networks now reaching more than 10% weekly with news content, compared with just two a decade ago. Around a third of our global sample use Facebook (36%) and YouTube (30%) for news each week. Instagram (19%) and WhatsApp (19%) are used by around a fifth, while TikTok (16%) remains ahead of X at 12%. • Data show that usage of X for news is stable or increasing across many markets, with the biggest uplift in the United States (+8pp), Australia (+6pp), and Poland (+6pp). Since Elon Musk took over the network in 2022 many more right-leaning people, notably young men, have flocked to the network, while some progressive audiences have left or are using it less frequently. Rival networks like Threads, Bluesky, and Mastodon are making little impact globally, with reach of 2% or less for news. • Changing platform strategies mean that video continues to grow in importance as a source of news. Across all markets the proportion consuming social video has grown from 52% in 2020 to 65% in 2025 and any video from 67% to 75%. In the Philippines, Thailand, Kenya, and India more people now say they prefer to watch the news rather than read it, further encouraging the shift to personality-led news creators. • Our survey also shows the importance of news podcasting in reaching younger, better-educated audiences. The United States has among the highest proportion (15%) accessing one or more podcasts in the last week, with many of these now filmed and distributed via video platforms such as YouTube and TikTok. By contrast, many northern European podcast markets remain dominated by public broadcasters or big legacy media companies and have been slower to adopt video versions. • TikTok is the fastest growing social and video network, adding a further 4pp across markets for news and reaching 49% of our online sample in Thailand (+10pp) and 40% in Malaysia (+9pp). But at the same time people in those markets see the network as one of the biggest threats when it comes to false or misleading information, along with Facebook. • Overall, over half our sample (58%) say they remain concerned about their ability to tell what is true from what is false when it comes to news online, a similar proportion to last year. Concern is highest in Africa (73%) and the United States (73%), with lowest levels in Western Europe (46%). • When it comes to underlying sources of false or misleading information, online influencers and personalities are seen as the biggest threat worldwide (47%), along with national politicians (47%). Concern about influencers is highest in African countries such as Nigeria (58%) and Kenya (59%), while politicians are considered the biggest threat in the United States (57%), Spain (57%), and much of Eastern Europe." (Executive summary, page 10-11) more

External Link (306)

Our Media, Our Democracy, Our Future. The Future of the Media in the Western Balkans and Turkey – Facts and Trends. Regional Overview
Deep Insights

Sanela Hodžic, Sandra B. Hrvatin

Sarajevo; Ljubljana: Mediacentar; Peace Institute; South East European Network for Professionalization of Media (SEENPM) (2025), 57 pp.

"The results of the research conducted in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, and Turkey suggest that the key determinants for the future of our media and democracies are the following: • The poor socio-economic status of journalists and their exposure to ... pressure and attacks, coupled with modest support mechanisms, cripple the ability of journalists to promote the public interest, report on key issues of public interest, and hold power to account. In the most extreme cases, the pressure involves imprisonment, interrogation, surveillance, and lawsuits aimed at silencing journalists. • The lack of consistent monitoring and registration of cases of Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (SLAPP) in the region, with dozens of lawsuits against journalists filed by political officials and their affiliates. • A growing number or media outlets, but a declining number of journalism students, highlighting concerns about the future shrinking of staff numbers in media newsrooms and about the growing automatization of journalism. The most drastic drop was in North Macedonia, with the number of journalism students in 2023 amounting to only 11% of the number from ten years ago and 50% of the number from 2000. • The number of media outlets is growing, mostly in the online sector, while print media outlets are becoming increasingly endemic. • A worrying trend of overt concentration of media ownership in the hands of a few media conglomerates, often tied to national or foreign governments, that takes a toll on media freedom and pluralism. • The dominant instrumentalization (through ownership and funding) of media (including private and public) for particular political and/or business interests limits the space for editorial independence and integrity. • Non-profit media are still a rarity in the region, with only a few non-profit radio broadcasters in some countries, and an unknown number of online platforms of civil society organizations with a community-focused mission. • Lack of transparency of the media sector, particularly a lack of accessible and reliable information concerning the media industry and the media market. • Advertising is the main source of revenues in the media sector, with the total revenues ranging between EUR 12 million in Montenegro and over EUR 4 billion in Turkey. • Although it is declining, the TV sector is still dominant in terms of its share of advertising revenues, while social media’s share is increasing, and in Turkey it amounts to as much as 45.7% of advertising revenues. • The tech giants such as Google and Meta are an increasingly dominant competitor for media outlets in the region, jeopardizing the future sustainability of national and local media outlets and potentially curbing political pluralism in public communication. • Public funding for the media, including funding of public broadcasters (declining in four out of seven countries), grants, and subsidies for media outlets and government advertising, amounts to several to dozens of millions of euros per country, taking up an important share of media revenues, but without proactive transparency, effective guarantees of editorial independence, well-defined purpose and evaluation, the opportunities to make public funding for the media an important instrument of media democratization remain under-used. • The representation of different age, gender, ethnic, religious, and other groups in media content and in the newsrooms’ staff is limited. In multiethnic communities some policies promote ethnic diversity of media content, while other identity axes are largely neglected and pluralism in public communication is very limited. Women are an important, and in many countries even dominant, workforce in the media, but remain underrepresented in managerial posts." (Executive summary) more

External Link (220)

Google Scholar (252)

WorldCat (223)

Gespiegelte Wirklichkeit: 'Osteuropa' und Öffentlichkeit im Wandel

Manfred Sapper (et al.)

Osteuropa, volume 75, issue 1-3 (2025), 472 pp.

"Der 100. Jahrestag von 'Osteuropa' bietet allerdings Anlass, in drei Bereichen das Verhältnis von Osteuropa und Öffentlichkeit zu analysieren. Der erste ist ein kritischer Blick auf die Geschichte und Gegenwart der Zeitschrift. Seit ihrer Gründung bewegt sich Osteuropa an der Grenze zwischen Wis ... senschaft, Journalismus und Politik. Das ist ein Balanceakt. Jens Bisky und Cord Aschenbrenner als Beobachter von außen machen sich Gedanken, ob er funktioniert, und Mitglieder der Redaktion blicken von innen auf die Vergangenheit, die Konstruktionspläne der Gegenwart und den künftigen Reformbedarf. Noch steht Osteuropa quer zum herrschenden Trend der Fragmentierung und Parzellierung der Öffentlichkeit. Interdisziplinarität bleibt fester Bestandteil des Osteuropa-Gens. Der zweite Bereich ist der Frage gewidmet, wie „der Osten“ in den deutschen Horizont kommt und wie aus Informationen Wissen wird. Welche Themen kommen an, welches Erkenntnisinteresse steht hinter der Beschäftigung mit Geschichte, Politik, Literatur oder Musik Osteuropas? Eine Pionierfunktion zur Vermittlung von Informationen aus anderen Ländern haben Korrespondenten. Sie registrieren als erste politische und kulturelle Trends vor Ort, sie sollen durch verlässliche Informationen Öffentlichkeit herstellen. Doch das ist nicht so einfach. Christian Neefs Portrait der drei „Korrespondenten-Promis“ Paul Scheffer, Hermann Pörzgen und Gerd Ruge sowie Markus Ackerets Schilderungen aus dem Moskau von heute veranschaulichen, wie politische Rücksichtnahme, Restriktionen, Einschüchterung und Selbstzensur die Arbeit an der Aufklärung beeinträchtigen. Gleichzeitig zeigen die Rezeptionsanalysen in diesem Bereich, wie stark die historische Osteuropaforschung und die deutsche Aufnahme von Literatur und Musik aus dem Osten Europas von der politischen Großwetterlage bestimmt sind. So spiegeln sich die politischen Brüche des Jahrhunderts 1:1 in der deutsch-deutschen Rezeption sowjetischer Musik. Und das literarische Osteuropa, das lange Zeit terra incognita war, wurde über die besondere Gewaltgeschichte der Region sowie die Verarbeitung der existenziellen Gewalterfahrung im Holocaust oder im Gulag geprägt. En passant zollen wir auf diesem Wege auch einigen jener Personen Anerkennung, die mit ihrem Wirken viel für die Osterweiterung des deutschen Horizonts und für die publizistische Qualität von Osteuropa getan haben und nicht zufällig unter den Autoren dieses Bandes sind: den Historikern Karl Schlögel, Dietrich Beyrau und Gerd Koenen, der Lektorin Katharina Raabe, dem Slavisten Ulrich Schmid, der Musikwissenschaftlerin Dorothea Redepenning und dem Ökonomen Roland Götz. Danke! Im dritten Bereich nehmen wir den Wandel der Medienlandschaft, der Öffentlichkeit und der Gesellschaft in den Kernländern Osteuropas, in Russland, der Ukraine und Belarus in Zeiten von Diktatur und Krieg unter die Lupe. Während es in der Ukraine allen kriegsbedingten Einschränkungen zum Trotz nach wie vor einen relativen Medienpluralismus gibt, sind die Medien in Belarus und Russland weitgehend gleichgeschaltet, Freiräume für Öffentlichkeit und Gesellschaft zerschlagen. Damit wächst die politische und gesellschaftliche Bedeutung des Journalismus, der Publizistik und des Verlagswesens im Exil. Sie sind das Surrogat der öffentlichen Sphäre und Pfeiler der Gegenöffentlichkeit. Und gleichzeitig sind auch sie Barometer zur Prognose der politischen Großwetterlage." (Editorial) more

External Link (387)

Google Scholar (284)

WorldCat (339)

Satellite Ministries: The Rise of Christian Television in the Middle East
Deep Insights

Febe Armanios

New York: Oxford University Press (2025), xxx, 337 pp.

"Through extensive fieldwork and archival research, Febe Armanios explores how Western evangelicals and indigenous Christians harnessed terrestrial and satellite technologies to promote Christian television in the Middle East. The sixteen channels analyzed in this study fall into three main categori ... more

External Link (254)

As USAID dies, many of Georgia's "vibrant" CSOs face extinction

Jaba Devdariani

GEOpolitics, issue 16 (2025), 6 pp.

"For decades, Georgia has been one of the largest per capita recipients of U.S. assistance. In 2012-2023, the years in which the Georgian Dream has been in power, total U.S. overseas development assistance (ODA) stands at USD 1 billion 920 mil lion, according to official data. Of course, the lion’ ... more

External Link (270)

Journalism under Duress: Worlds of Journalism Study Report (Wave 3: 2021–2025)
Deep Insights

Thomas Hanitzsch, Folker Hanusch, Corinna Lauerer, Vera Slavtcheva-Petkova (eds.)

Munich: Ludwig-Maximilian Universität (LMU), WJS Center (2025), 371 pp.

"This report presents findings from the third wave of the Worlds of Journalism Study (WJS3), conducted between 2021 and 2025. In this iteration, we focused on journalists’ perceptions of risk and uncertainty in their profession and sought to identify key factors that shape how journalists navigate ... more

External Link (174)

Armenian Media Vulnerability Report: Survey Findings, Conclusions and Recommendations

Riga: Baltic Centre for Media Excellence (BCME); Media Initiatives Center (2025), 35 pp.

"Armenian media outlets face multiple vulnerabilities that threaten their organizational security (including digital and cyber security), financial stability, the well-being of journalists, as well as ability to operate in a crisis to contain reputational damage and ensure continuity of operations. ... more

External Link (312)

Democratic Decline, Economic and Political Pressures, Urgency for Reforms. The Future of the Media in Turkey – Facts and Trends

Sinem Aydinli

Sarajevo; Istanbul; Ljubljana: Mediacentar; Bianet; Peace Institute; South East European Network for Professionalization of Media (SEENPM) (2025), 39 pp.

"The state of the media and democracy in Turkey faces critical challenges that hinder freedom of expression and pluralism, due to restrictive legal frameworks, economic instability, and cross-ownership in the media sector. Although digitalization has transformed news consumption, the government’s ... more

Download (184)

Analysis of monetization tools for media, bloggers and media personalities in Armenia, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine: Overview of the financial landscape for digital content creators

Arthur Papyan, Anna Barseghyan, Oleg Khomenok

Fojo Media Institute (2025), 49 pp.

Download (105)

Azerbaijan digital skills assessment 2023-2024

Geneva: ITU (2024), ix, 83 pp.

"The survey findings reveal that 25 per cent of those aged between 15 and 74 have at least basic digital skills, with 7.8 per cent having above basic digital skills and 17.3 per cent having basic digital skills. The study also found that over a quarter (26.5%) of respondents below the basic level of ... more

External Link (280)

Google Scholar (308)

WorldCat (326)

Media and Democracy in the Middle East

Nael Jebril, Mohammed Ali Abunajela

London; New York: Routledge (2024), 176 pp.

"Since the outburst and spread of what was known as the ‘Arab Uprisings’ in 2010, the political and media landscapes in the Middle East region have dramatically changed. The initial hope for democratic change and governance quality improvements has faded, as several regimes in the Middle East ha ... more

Download (93)

Financial transparency of media 2023

Nino Gelashvili, Mariam Pataridze

Media Development Foundation (MDF); Deutsche Welle DW Akademie (2024), 43 pp.

External Link (209)

Google Scholar (233)

WorldCat (269)

Refugees and the Media: Local and Global Perspectives

Nasir Uddin, Delaware Arif (eds.)

Cham: Palgrave Macmillan (2024), xxv, 354 pp.

"Should the media stand by refugees or maintain deliberate ‘neutrality’? Should the media dehumanize the refugees further in their humanitarian conditions? Are the media entitled to publish photographs of refugees without informed consent? Should the media stand by the state being responsible fo ... more

Download (234)

Media environment of Georgia

Mamuka Andguladze

Tbilisi: Human Rights Center (2024), 38 pp.

Download (88)

The Nexus of Digital Authoritarianism and Religious Populism

Ihsam Yilmaz

Religions, volume 14, issue 747 (2024), 19 pp.

"This paper delves into the intricate relationship between religious populism and the legitimization of digital authoritarianism in Turkey. Specifically, it investigates how the ruling party, AKP, has strategically linked Islamist values to state policies as a means of justifying its repressive cont ... more

External Link (296)

Freedom of expression and media consumption research in Armenia

Shushan Ghahriyan, Gayane Harutyunyan, Liana Poghosyan

Yerevan: Prisma; Internews; USAID (2024), 60 pp.

"The research reveals that traditional television channels and online news websites continue to be the most popular sources of general media consumption, with 80 percent and 73 percent of respondents using them, respectively. Despite minor variations, media consumption habits have remained stable be ... more

External Link (333)

Media pluralism in selected Black Sea countries: The influence of European standards

Andrei Richter

Strasbourg: European Audiovisual Observatory; Council of Europe (2024), 35 pp.

Download (203)

Online Toxicity Against Syrians in Turkish Twitter: Analysis and Implications

Hala Mulki, Samir Alabdullah, Ahmed Halil, Nawari Al-Ali, Maria Kyriakidou, Ludek Stavinoha

International Journal of Communication, volume 18, issue 24 (2024), pp. 191-218

"This study examines the portrayal of Syrians on Turkish Twitter between January and August 2021 through a big data analysis of more than 30,000 tweets. We employ the concept of online toxicity to differentiate between disinformation and hate speech and explore how they are embedded in the negative ... more

External Link (276)

Google Scholar (211)

WorldCat (204)

Networked misogyny beyond the digital: The violent devaluation of women journalists’ labor and bodies in Turkey’s masculine authoritarian regime

Ergin Bulut, Basak Can

Feminist Media Studies, volume 24, issue 4 (2024), pp. 675-694

"Following the conservative Turkish government’s political-economic capture of the news media, educated and pro-feminist women journalists have migrated online. Despite having more publicity across platforms, they face immediate prosecution based on the tweet of an anonymous troll, an informant ci ... more

Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2025 Deep Insights

Our Media, Our Democracy, Our Future. The Future of the Media in the Western Balkans and Turkey – Facts and Trends. Regional Overview Deep Insights

Satellite Ministries: The Rise of Christian Television in the Middle East Deep Insights

Journalism under Duress: Worlds of Journalism Study Report (Wave 3: 2021–2025) Deep Insights

Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2025
Deep Insights

Our Media, Our Democracy, Our Future. The Future of the Media in the Western Balkans and Turkey – Facts and Trends. Regional Overview
Deep Insights

Satellite Ministries: The Rise of Christian Television in the Middle East
Deep Insights

Journalism under Duress: Worlds of Journalism Study Report (Wave 3: 2021–2025)
Deep Insights