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1. Towards a Comparative Model of Press Functioning

Author:
Adam Jones
Publication Date:
02-2003
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas
Abstract:
While the role of the press and other media has been central to a wide variety of ideological frameworks and political prescriptions, from classical liberalism to state socialism, there has been little attempt to generate a "macro-theory" of press functioning that claims to be valid for press systems worldwide. This paper attempts to construct such an analytical framework, by isolating two key variables (a "mobilizing imperative" and a "professional imperative") that act to shape the orientation and behavior of press institutions, their sponsors, and their editorial staff. "Meta-environmental" variables, such as pre-existing press culture and level of economic development, are also considered. The paper draws on a wide variety of case-studies, mostly from the less-developed world, to depict the diverse strategies by which press workers seek to reconcile the mobilizing and professional imperatives, and to open up space for the latter. The paper concludes with a presentation of three models, each applicable to a given "type" of media system ("hard" authoritarian, "soft" authoritarian, and market-oriented liberal-democratic). It is claimed that these three models, despite certain conceptual difficulties, account for the great majority of media systems worldwide, and help to explain the institutional behaviors and professional orientations that they exhibit.
Topic:
International Relations, Development, Economics, and Politics
Political Geography:
Africa

2. Gendercide and Genocide

Author:
Adam Jones
Publication Date:
02-2003
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas
Abstract:
Gender-selective atrocities have tended to attract little attention when the victims are male. The result is that gender-selective killing-"gendercide"-has tended to be examined only in the context of the female experience. This paper takes a broader and more inclusive approach to the subject. It argues that, contrary to the standard depiction, gender-selective mass killing is more likely to target men than women-especially males of a "battle age." Drawing on a wide range of historical and contemporary case studies, the paper examines the methods and underlying motivations of gendercides against both men and women. Moving beyond a state-centered framework, it also considers institutional gendercide through forced labor, military conscription, female infanticide, witch-hunts, and other phenomena. It concludes by calling for an inclusive approach to gender-selective mass killing, and for a recognition of extreme urgency of the phenomenon in the modern world.
Topic:
Civil Society, Development, Gender Issues, and Genocide

3. The Russian Press in the Post-Soviet Era: A Case Study of Izvestia

Author:
Adam Jones
Publication Date:
07-2001
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas
Abstract:
The progress of the Russian press in the late Soviet and post-Soviet eras can be described (with apologies to Vladimir Lenin) as "two steps forward, on step back." The flowering of glasnost (openness) under Mikhail Gorbachev le to a "golden age" of Soviet journalism, including an explosion of new publications and a lifting of nearly all state restrictions on journalists' professional activities. However, the collapse of the USSR and the onset of material crisis in 1991-92 quickly produced a winnowing of the press and a retrenchment on the part of surviving publications. At the same time, powerful new forces - especially oligarchs and regional and leaders - arose to vie with the state for influence over post-Soviet media. This paper explores the trajectory of one of the leading newspapers of the Soviet and post-Soviet period, Izvestia, in the light of those broader trends. While Izvestia emerged from the ashes of Soviet communism with formal control over its material plant and journalistic collective, it was soon subjected to a tug-of-war between powerful actors determined to control its destiny - first the Communist-dominated Duma (parliament), and then large corporations and business oligarchs. The struggle led, in 1997, to the dismissal of the paper's editor. Oleg Golembiovsky, and the departure of many staff to form Novye Izvestia (New Izvestia) - though this publication too, was also unwilling or unable to avoid the temptations of a close alliance with one of the leading oligarchs, Boris Berezovsky. The findings are place in the broader comparative context of the press in transition, based on the author's research into process of media liberalization and transition worldwide.
Topic:
Cold War, Development, and Government
Political Geography:
Russia, Europe, and Asia