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Internationales Handbuch Medien

Hans-Bredow-Institut

Christiane Matzen; Anja Herzog (eds.)

Baden-Baden: Nomos, 28th ed. (2009), 1308 pp.

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Die Medien in Mazedonien

Vladimir Zlatarsky, Dirk Förger

KAS Auslandsinformationen, issue 7-8 (2009), pp. 62-80

"On World Press Freedom Day, about 200 journalists met in the Macedonian capital of Skopje in May 2009 to protest against unfair trials of journalists and pillory political pressure and the level of press freedom in general. To be sure, Macedonia’s constitution guarantees freedom of opinion and th ... e press. Moreover, laws such as the electronic media act of 2005 and the radio act do allow a certain latitude for journalists. Yet problems remain: many media depend on the state, wages are low, journalist training is defective, and outrages against reporters are still happening. Macedonia’s secession from ex-Yugoslavia in 1991 did not bring domestic unity. One enduring problem is the tension between the Macedonian majority and the Albanian minority. The armed conflict between the army and Albanian separatists was resolved only by the Ochrid agreement (OFA). Today, the country is a parliamentary democracy endeavouring to join the EU and NATO. Yet the Atlantic Alliance did not issue an invitation to the 2008 Bucharest summit, probably because of the ethnic tension and persistent corruption in the country and the unresolved dispute with Greece over the name Macedonia. Headed by Nikola Gruevski, the coalition of civil and Albanian forces that currently governs the country continues to steer a course towards Europe, but it is confronted by great challenges: high unemployment, an extensive shadow economy, murky relations between politics and the economy, and the uneasy coexistence of ethnic groups. All this is echoed by the media of the country. The total number of Macedonian print media can only be estimated; it is said that there are around 750. The most powerful newspaper group is the one owned by the Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung (WAZ) which acquired three products called ”Dnevnik”, ”Utrinski vestnik” and ”Vest” in May 2003. Founded in 1996, Dnevnik boasts the highest circulation. The paper itself states that it is printing 55,000 copies a day, having broken the monopoly of the former ’state paper’ ”Nova Makedonija”. Good style and up-to-date coverage brought new readers. With a circulation of 30,000, ”Vest” belongs to the yellow-press category. Printed in 8,000 copies, ”Utrinski vestnik” mainly offers analyses and comments. Even privatization could not prevent the fall of ”Nova Makedonija”, the mouthpiece of the communists before independence. These days, it is barely hanging on with a circulation of 3,000. The eponymous company also owns ”Vecer” (circulation 3,000) and the Turkish-language ”Birlik”. Established in Sofia in 2004, the immensely popular ”Vreme” has meanwhile reached a circulation of 10,000, appearing also on Sundays under the name of ”Nedelno vreme”. ”Fakti”, the leading paper published in the Albanian language, appears also in the Kosovo. At the same time, two Kosovan-language papers are being published in Macedonia, ”Koha Ditore” and ”Lajme”. About 60 weeklies are being printed in Macedonia, of which many appear at irregular intervals and face great financial problems. However, all the country’s print media stand in need of financial transparency. The considerable pressure exerted by the state on the media, mostly through paid advertisements, adversely affects the choice and quality of information. Moreover, the special advantages enjoyed by established houses make it even more difficult for new independent papers to enter the market. In 1997, the Council for Electronic Media (CEM) was established to monitor radio and television channels, protect pluralism and the freedom of opinion, and safeguard the independence of all media. Although CEM members are nominated by renowned institutions, they are all appointed by parliament in the end, a procedure which Freedom House regards as problematic. Currently, there are six media institutes that hold broadcasting licences: MTV, a public-service channel, A1 TV, Alsat-M, Kanal 5, Sitel, and Telma. A1 TV, the market leader that was launched in 1993 as Macedonia’s first private channel, attracted 23.7 percent of the viewing public in 2007. Next in line at 12.3 percent is Sitel, which has been mainly airing entertainment programmes since 1993. Kanal 5 has a market share of 7.6 percent, while Telma has 3.9. Launched in 2006, Alsat-M airs programmes in the Albanian language, swiftly winning over 86 percent of the country’s Albanian population. At 52, the number of TV stations is high for a small country like Macedonia, although the funding question remains moot in many cases. At a total of 62, radio stations are also fairly numerous, although only four of them hold a national licence. Because of the growing importance of television and, to an even greater extent, the internet, the number of listeners has been declining in recent years. On a regional and local scale, however, radio stations, two of which are transmitting Albanian-language programmes, still retain their importance. Among the country’s news agencies, Makfax has established itself as a reputable source. Founded in 1992, the agency also reports in Albanian and English. Makedonski Informativen Centar, another private agency, was established in 2007. Founded in 1992 on the initiative of parliament, Makedonska Informativna Agencia also offers trilingual service. Portal Total supplies business news every day. Finally, the internet has become a major source of information thanks to the online editions of various papers and journals. The charges made in May of this year appear justified. In the view of Freedom House, the media in Macedonia are only ’partially free’. Outrages are still being committed on journalists for whose protection associations have been founded, although these are ethnically divided and hardly cooperate at all. Thus, the Association of Journalists exists side by side with the Association of Albanian Journalists. The associations will have their work cut out to protect their own members from physical or legal persecution and lay abuses before the public: in May 2006, for example, a court in Kumanova sentenced Mr Bozinovski, an investigative journalist, to three months’ imprisonment for libel and defamation after he had written an article exposing the links between politics, business, and journalism. Although Mr Bozinovski’s article was written three years ago, and the libel clause on which the proceedings were based had been struck from the code days before the sentence, the court obviously wanted to finish the case under the ’old law’. The prisoner owes his premature release only to the pressure exerted by the EU and Amnesty International. Reports about attacks on Albanian journalists are piling up as well: in September 2007, for example, a reporter of the Albanian-language Alsat-M television channel had his camera forcibly torn from him when he filmed policemen who had aroused the rage of villagers by stopping the car of an MP who was involved in a parliamentary scandal. When he refused to hand over his camera, the journalist was knocked down by policemen. The electronic media act adopted in 2005 was intended to protect pluralism from cartels. Thus, the owner of one electronic medium is not prohibited from acquiring an interest in another. What he may not do, however, is acquire an interest in a company which owns a print medium or is active in advertizing, telecommunications, or the film industry. Once again, however, there is a gap between theory and practice, all the more so as many Macedonian TV channels belong to influential enterprises which, in turn, are closely related to political parties." (Executive summary). more

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Global Information Society Watch 2009: Focus on Access to Online Information and Knowledge – Advancing Human Rights and Democracy

Alan Finlay (ed.)

Association for Progressive Communications (APC); Hivos (2009), 231 pp.

"GISWatch has three interrelated goals: surveying the state of the field of information and communications technology (ICT) policy at local and global levels; encouraging critical debate; strengthening networking and advocacy for a just, inclusive information society. Each year the report focuses on ... more

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"Attempts to Influence": Survey of Perceptions of Albanian Journalists

New York: Open Society Institute (2009), 5 pp.

"The following text examines the freedom of the press in Albania from the subjective perspective of journalists. It does not discuss individual cases, or provide statistics on violence against journalists, but it does reveal how journalists felt affected by different political actors and events duri ... more

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Approach - Models - Impact: Strategic Support of Roma Media Initiatives

Marie Struthers

In: Media on the Move: Migrants and Minorities and the Media. 4th Symposium Forum Medien Und Entwicklung (FoME)

Christoph Dietz, Petra Stammen (eds.)

Aachen: Catholic Media Council (CAMECO) (2009), pp. 57-64

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South East and Central Europe Media Handbook 2009. Vol. 1
Deep Insights

Oliver Vujovic, Radomir Licina (eds.)

Vienna: South East Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO) (2009), 1325 pp.

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A Long Way Home: Representations of the Western Balkans in Political and Media Discourses

Tanja Petrovic (ed.)

Ljubljana: Peace Institute (2009), 93 pp.

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Towards a New Model: Media and Communication in Post-Conflict and Fragile States
Deep Insights

Shanthi Kalathil, John Langlois, Adam Kaplan

Washington, DC: World Bank, Communication for Governance and Accountability Program (CommGAP) (2008), 105 pp.

"There is very little undestanding of the role that communicartion processes play in the numerous starnds of post-conflict reconstruction, including peacebuilding, governance, and long-term development. This paper addressess this gap by distilling lessons learned from the media and communication str ... more

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Pursuing Just Peace: An Overview and Case Studies for Faith-Based Peacebuilders

Mark M. Rogers, Tom Bamat, Julie Ideh (eds.)

Baltimore: Catholic Relief Services (CRS) (2008), 158 pp.

"The volume begins with a general overview of faith-based peacebuilding by pastor and peace-practitioner David Steele. Several CRS staff members provided input on the early drafts [...] The case studies that follow all deal with initiatives involving Catholic actors. This is the tradition out of whi ... more

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Global Information Society Watch 2008: Focus on Access to Infrastructure

Alan Finlay (ed.)

Association for Progressive Communications (APC); Hivos; Third World Institute (ITeM) (2008), 204 pp.

Google Scholar (79)

WorldCat (72)

Comparing Media Systems in Central Europe: Between Commercialization and Politicization

Boguslawa Dobek-Ostrowska, Michal Glowacki

Wroclaw: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Wroclawskiego (2008), 244 pp.

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Regional Overview on Child Sexual Abuse Images Through the Use of Information and Communication Technologies in Belarus, Moldova, Russia and Ukraine

Bangkok: ECPAT International (2008), 95 pp.

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Kosovo

Bernhard Chiari, Agilolf Keßelring (eds.)

Paderborn et al.: Schöningh, 3., durchges. und erw. Aufl. (2008), 276 pp.

"Das Kosovo hat sich 2008 zum unabhängigen Staat erklärt. Ungelöst blieben innere wie äußere Konfliktherde. Der überarbeitete und erweiterte »Wegweiser Kosovo« ist auf diesen neuesten Stand der Entwicklung gebracht. Er behandelt Geschichte und Kultur des Kosovo vom mittelalterlichen Serbien ... more

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The Handbook of Election News Coverage Around the World

Jesper Strömbäck, Lynda Lee Kaid (eds.)

New York; Abingdon: Routledge (2008), xix, 450 pp.

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Oral history and public memories

Paula Hamilton, Linda Shopes (eds.)

Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press (2008), xvii, 302 pp.

"Oral history is inherently about memory, and when oral history interviews are used "in public," they invariably both reflect and shape public memories of the past. Oral History and Public Memories is the only book that explores this relationship, in fourteen case studies of oral history's use in a ... more

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Media Sustainability Index 2008: Development of Sustainable Independent Media in Europe and Eurasia

Leon Morse (ed.)

Washington, DC: IREX (2008), xxi, 276 pp.

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WorldCat (50)

Fernsehen und politischer Wandel in der Republik Moldova: Eine kommunikationsgeschichtliche Analyse zur Medienpolitik 1986-2005

Marina Dumbrava

Leipzig: Leipziger Universitätsverlag (2008), 328 pp.

"Die Beziehungen zwischen Politik und Medien können sich innerhalb von Demokratien höchst unterschiedlich gestalten, denn die politischen Kulturen der jeweiligen Staaten durchdringen in hohem Maße deren Medienstrukturen. Wie sich dieses Verhältnis in den post-sowjetischen Transformationsgesellsc ... more

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Zur Situation der Medien in Rumänien

Christiana Christova, Dirk Förger

KAS Auslandsinformationen, issue 8-9 (2008), pp. 43-67

"Von einer konsolidierten Medienlandschaft ist Rumänien noch entfernt. Gewiss, die Pressefreiheit hat sich nach 2004 verbessert und die Verfassung spricht von Gewissens-, Meinungs- und Religionsfreiheit, verbietet Zensur und sichert das Recht auf Information. Doch hört „freie Meinungsäußerung� ... more

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Kosovo and the Media

Marko Trosanovski, Tome Smilevski (eds.)

Skopje: Macedonian Institute for Media (2008), 261 pp.

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KMAP follow-up survey on women and ethnicity in the media in Kosovo. Final survey report

EnCompass LLC; USAID; IREX (2008), 101 pp.

South East and Central Europe Media Handbook 2009. Vol. 1 Deep Insights

Towards a New Model: Media and Communication in Post-Conflict and Fragile States Deep Insights

South East and Central Europe Media Handbook 2009. Vol. 1
Deep Insights

Towards a New Model: Media and Communication in Post-Conflict and Fragile States
Deep Insights