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Georgia: Media Freedom in Decline

Elena Zondler, Ekaterine Basilaia, Alexander Matschke, Evelin Meier

Bonn: Deutsche Welle DW Akademie (2023), 14 pp.

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An analysis of the communication and engagement ecosystem in earthquake-affected Türkiye

London: CDAC Network (2023), 26 pp.

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The Unfreedom Monitor: Kyrgyzstan Country Report

Amsterdam: Global Voices Advox (2023), 24 pp.

"[...] The research has revealed that the incumbent Kyrgyz government is actively suppressing dissent by engaging in information manipulation, passing restrictive laws and attacking free media and investigative journalism. The Kyrgyz government has introduced new laws to regulate online activity, an ... d is proposing additional legislation on foreign agents to control and to limit the activity of NGOs and foreign media, and on mass media to gain greater control over bloggers and social media accounts with more than 5,000 followers. The government has been using the “Law on Protection from False Information,” also known as the fake news law, to silence its critics. This has included shutting down the website of Azattyk, a foreign-funded media outlet critical of the state, and detaining and censoring individuals who share or repost information critical of the government on social media. Similarly, investigative reporters in Kyrgyzstan have had to deal with multiple accusations, various attacks, or legal action taken against them. One of them, Temirov Bolot, was forced to leave Kyrgyzstan and move to Russia in November 2022. Furthermore, the research has examined how the Kyrgyz leadership is exploiting social media platforms to launch influence campaigns and boost the president’s popularity. Pages and groups supportive of Zhaparov on various social media platforms, including Instagram, Telegram, Facebook, YouTube, and WhatsApp, have emerged with the aim of garnering backing for the president during critical moments, and are run by individuals associated with his informal network, while receiving funding from unknown pro-president groups or individuals. The support pages promote the current regime’s decisions and policies by creating pro-regime content (usually videos) that is disseminated through multiple social media platforms, while also commenting on contentious news items published by critical media channels. These videos are directed towards under-educated Kyrgyz-speaking people who tend to trust unverified sources, conveying unconfirmed and intentionally exaggerated information. Overall, the situation with media freedom and freedom of opinion in Kyrgyzstan is worsening and these developments are worrying because the country has been a champion of democratic reforms in the region since 1991." (Analysis and conclusion, page 21) more

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Polarization and Exposure to Counter-Attitudinal Media in a Nondemocracy

Ahmet Akbiyik, Jeremy Bowles, Horacio Larreguy, Shelley Liu

[authors] (2023), 103 pp.

"Political polarization is an increasing global concern. Although recent research suggests that media has the potential to mitigate polarization through persuasion, it is unclear whether polarized individuals are willing to consume, and be receptive to information from, diverse news sources. This mi ... more

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Armenia. Digital Threat Landscape: Civil Society & Media

Martijn Grooten, Ashley Fowler, Marc Shaffer et al.

Internews (2023), 15 pp.

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Gap Analysis of the Independent Media Skills and Needs in the Eastern Partnership 2023: Regional Overview, Analysis and Recommendations

Magda Walter

Riga: Baltic Centre for Media Excellence (BCME) (2023), 12 pp.

"Despite their countries’ differences in size, history, political and economic climate, independent media in the EaP face serious, and often similar, challenges. Economic barriers to building resilient media business remain severe. Their very survival, and thus their ability to bring impartial inf ... more

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Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2023

Nic Newman, Richard Fletcher, Kirsten Eddy, Craig T. Robertson, Rasmus Kleis Nielsen (eds.)

Oxford: Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism (2023), 158 pp.

"Across markets, only around a fifth of respondents (22%) now say they prefer to start their news journeys with a website or app – that’s down 10 percentage points since 2018. Publishers in a few smaller Northern European markets have managed to buck this trend, but younger groups everywhere are ... showing a weaker connection with news brands’ own websites and apps than previous cohorts – preferring to access news via side-door routes such as social media, search, or mobile aggregators. • Facebook remains one of the most-used social networks overall, but its influence on journalism is declining as it shifts its focus away from news. It also faces new challenges from established networks such as YouTube and vibrant youth-focused networks such as TikTok. The Chinese-owned social network reaches 44% of 18–24s across markets and 20% for news. It is growing fastest in parts of Asia-Pacific, Africa, and Latin America. • When it comes to news, audiences say they pay more attention to celebrities, influencers, and social media personalities than journalists in networks like TikTok, Instagram, and Snapchat. This contrasts sharply with Facebook and Twitter, where news media and journalists are still central to the conversation. • Much of the public is sceptical of the algorithms used to select what they see via search engines, social media, and other platforms. Less than a third (30%) say that having stories selected for me on the basis of previous consumption is a good way to get news, 6 percentage points lower than when we last asked the question in 2016. Despite this, on average, users still slightly prefer news selected this way to that chosen by editors or journalists (27%), suggesting that worries about algorithms are part of a wider concern about news and how it is selected. • Despite hopes that the internet could widen democratic debate, we find fewer people are now participating in online news than in the recent past. Aggregated across markets, only around a fifth (22%) are now active participators, with around half (47%) not participating in news at all. In the UK and United States, the proportion of active participators has fallen by more than 10 percentage points since 2016. Across countries we find that this group tends to be male, better educated, and more partisan in their political vie ws. • Trust in the news has fallen, across markets, by a further 2 percentage points in the last year, reversing in many countries the gains made at the height of the Coronavirus pandemic. On average, four in ten of our total sample (40%) say they trust most news most of the time. Finland remains the country with the highest levels of overall trust (69%), while Greece (19%) has the lowest after a year characterised by heated arguments about press freedom and the independence of the media." (Summary, page 10) more

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Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2024

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

Oxford: Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism (2023), 167 pp.

"In many countries, especially outside Europe and the United States, we find a significant further decline in the use of Facebook for news and a growing reliance on a range of alternatives including private messaging apps and video networks. Facebook news consumption is down 4 percentage points, acr ... oss all countries, in the last year. • News use across online platforms is fragmenting, with six networks now reaching at least 10% of our respondents, compared with just two a decade ago. YouTube is used for news by almost a third (31%) of our global sample each week, WhatsApp by around a fifth (21%), while TikTok (13%) has overtaken Twitter (10%), now rebranded X, for the first time. • Linked to these shifts, video is becoming a more important source of online news, especially with younger groups. Short news videos are accessed by two-thirds (66%) of our sample each week, with longer formats attracting around half (51%). The main locus of news video consumption is online platforms (72%) rather than publisher websites (22%), increasing the challenges around monetisation and connection. • Although the platform mix is shifting, the majority continue to identify platforms including social media, search, or aggregators as their main gateway to online news. Across markets, only around a fifth of respondents (22%) identify news websites or apps as their main source of online news – that’s down 10 percentage points on 2018. Publishers in a few Northern European markets have managed to buck this trend, but younger groups everywhere are showing a weaker connection with news brands than they did in the past. • Turning to the sources that people pay most attention to when it comes to news on various platforms, we find an increasing focus on partisan commentators, influencers, and young news creators, especially on YouTube and TikTok. But in social networks such as Facebook and X, traditional news brands and journalists still tend to play a prominent role. • Concern about what is real and what is fake on the internet when it comes to online news has risen by 3 percentage points in the last year with around six in ten (59%) saying they are concerned. The figure is considerably higher in South Africa (81%) and the United States (72%), both countries that have been holding elections this year. • Worries about how to distinguish between trustworthy and untrustworthy content in online platforms is highest for TikTok and X when compared with other online networks. Both platforms have hosted misinformation or conspiracies around stories such as the war in Gaza, and the Princess of Wales’s health, as well as so-called ‘deep fake’ pictures and videos." (Executive summary, page 10) more

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Central Asian Media Consumption and Disinformation: A Quantitative and Qualitative Assessment in the Context of Geo-Politics

Samuel Doveri Vesterbye, Shairbek Dzhuraev, Andreas Marazis

Internews; European Neighbourhood Council (ENC) (2023), 62 pp.

"This report presents a rapid media consumption assessment in Central Asia. It tells the reader what information - and disinformation - Central Asians consume, as well as the reasons why they consume it. How do recent international and regional geo-political events impact their media choices and wha ... more

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Google Scholar (99)

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Repressed media and illiberal politics in Turkey: The persistence of fear

Murat Akser, Banu Baybars

Southeast European and Black Sea Studies, volume 23, issue 1 (2023), pp. 159-177

"This article examines the historical roots of the role of successive Turkish governments’ fear of media and Turkish media’s fear of government authority with respect to the development of press freedom over the long run and closely analyzes the historical pressures imposed on journalists throug ... more

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Gendered Disinformation 2023

Tamar Kintsurashvili

Tbilisi: Media Development Foundation (MDF) (2023), 51 pp.

"During the six months of the gender-based disinformation study (January 1 – June 30, 2023), the following trends were revealed: A total of 42 cases of gendered disinformation were identified, of which 24 were homophobic and 18 were sexist or attacked women based on moral criteria. In most cases, ... more

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The Unfreedom Monitor: Kazakhstan Country Report

Sofya du Boulay

Amsterdam: Global Voices Advox (2023), 21 pp.

"This report focuses on the main trends in digital authoritarian technologies used in Kazakhstan from 2017 to 2022. It contextualises the repressive online mechanisms within the changing political landscape. The January 2022 protests tested the grounds of social and political liberties — the seemi ... more

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Freedom of Expression and Media Consumption Research in Armenia

Yerevan: Internews; USAID; Prisma Research and Analysis (2023), 71 pp.

Google Scholar (121)

WorldCat (120)

Grauen ohne Grenzen: Horror in Film & Literatur

iz3w, issue 394 (2023), pp. 22-41

"Wie einst im ursprünglichen Gothic die verlassenen Schlösser des Feudalismus als Orte des Spuks in die bürgerliche Ära hineinragten, so sind es heute die globalen Ruinen des geplatzten Traums von Freiheit, Gleichheit und Brüderlichkeit, in denen das Grauen haust: Von den vom Immobiliencrash ge ... more

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Responsible Journalism in Conflicted Societies: Trust and Public Service Across New and Old Divides

Jake Lynch, Charis Rice (eds.)

London; New York: Routledge (2023), xii, 216 pp.

"Applying an inclusive concept of ‘conflicted societies’ that goes beyond those affected by violent conflict to include traditionally ‘stable’ but increasingly polarised democracies, such as the UK and the USA, contributors engage with longstanding questions and new challenges surrounding co ... more

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Communication Science in Türkiye: How Communication Research and Education Developed Over the Years

Füsum Alver, Aynur Sarisakaloglu

Publizistik, volume 68 (2023), pp. 89-108

"In Türkiye, communication science falls under the category of social sciences and is regarded as an interdisciplinary scientific field focused on empirical research. The field is influenced by communication science developments of the West in terms of developing theories and methodology, and it fa ... more

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Fairwork Georgia Ratings 2023: Old Challenges and New Forms of Work in the Neoliberal Paradise

Oxford; Berlin: Fairwork (2023), 35 pp.

Google Scholar (142)

WorldCat (141)

Denial of Genocides in the Twenty-First Century

Bedross Der Matossian (ed.)

Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press (2023), xvi, 400 pp.

"Throughout the twenty-first century, genocide denial has evolved and adapted with new strategies to augment and complement established modes of denial. In addition to outright negation, denial of genocide encompasses a range of techniques, including disputes over numbers, contestation of legal defi ... more

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The Routledge Handbook of Media Education Futures Post-Pandemic

Yonty Friesem, Usha Raman, Igor Kanižaj, Grace Y. Choi (ed.)

London; New York: Routledge (2023), xxvi, 531 pp.

"Combining an innovative mix of traditional chapters, autoethnography, case studies, and dialogue within an intercultural framework, the handbook focuses on the future of media education and provides a deeper understanding of the challenges and affordances of media education as we move forward. Topi ... more

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Worsening Safety Conditions for Women Journalists in Turkey’s Alternative News Media

Özlem Erkmen, Bora Ataman, Baris Çoban

Journalism Studies, issue 7 (2023), pp. 857-875

"This study, drawing on alternative journalism theory takes a postcolonial feminist approach to investigating the lived experiences and gender-based safety problems of women journalists working for alternative media in Turkey. It evaluates the impact on their professional and private lives of Islami ... more