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To give democracy a fighting chance, get serious...
Today is International Democracy Day: Thoughts on media’s role in democratic institutions We’ve known for a long time that independent news media is a crucial ingredient in the mix of policies, institutions and political behaviors that make democracy work. And we’ve seen concrete ... |
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Europe’s failed intervention on Hungarian ...
Since 2010 Hungary–a tiny, EU-member, CEE country–became the symbol for modern, illiberal censorship and dictatorship, oppressing media freedom, introducing soft-censorship and turning public service media to state propaganda. Hungary by today serves as case study on theories of modern dictators... |
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Politics and Rethinking Media Development
Media development has not produced the results that many had hoped for in the early promising years of the post-Soviet period. Too little funding, a lack of coordination among media development actors, and a dearth of data continue to undermine the effectiveness of media development efforts worldw... |
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Turkey Election Presents Political Opportunity t...
The election June 7 in Turkey dealt a significant blow to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s plans to transform Turkey’s government into a presidential system—which would have significantly strengthened his political dominance over Turkish politics. Turkish voters may have also provided an openi... |
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IREX Releases 2015 Media Sustainability Index fo...
This week, IREX released the 14th edition of its Media Sustainability Index (MSI) for Europe and Eurasia. The 2015 MSI paints a worrisome picture of the state of media systems in the region, but despite headline-grabbing setbacks in countries like Azerbaijan, Russia, and Hungary, there is still reas... |
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All Cybersecurity All the Time, Part II
As noted in an earlier blog post, cyber surveillance, cyber security, cyber threats, cyber everything has become the flavor of the month in the Washington think tank circuit lately. This week’s entry into the field was provided by the Brookings Institution at a book launch and discussion Wednesday... |
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Media Pluralism Key For a Healthy Media Environm...
Guest post by Silvia Chocarro Marcesse There is no question media pluralism and diversity are crucial for strong democracies. The pressing question is how to guarantee it. According to a group of Latin American experts that met in Washington, DC, the media environment in the region needs some regula... |
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Reporters Without Borders Releases 2015 Press Fr...
The latest analysis of the state of press freedom around the world paints a grim picture, as the Reporters Without Borders 2015 Press Freedom Index reports that two thirds of the 180 countries surveyed registered a decline. RSF reported declines in every region of the world, but the European Union a... |
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National Press Club Examines the Crackdown on Pr...
Given the political tumult in Turkey and the dramatic crackdown on independent media, which reached new heights in December, the National Press Club organized a panel session to discuss this and other challenges for the sector. The Panelists included: Tolga Tanis, Washington correspondent for Hurri... |
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Investigative Journalism in the Philippines
On November 23, 2009, a convoy of 58 men and women, 32 of them journalists, were slaughtered by gunmen outside of Ampatuan, a town in the southern Philippine province of Maguindanao. The victims were headed to the provincial office of the Commission on Elections to watch the wife of Esmael Manguda... |