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81. A Clash of Cultures: Hate Speech, Taboos, Blasphemy, and the Role of News Media

Author:
Jane Sasseen
Publication Date:
10-2013
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
National Endowment for Democracy
Abstract:
CIMA is pleased to release A Clash of Cultures: Hate Speech, Taboos, Blasphemy, and the Role of News Media, by Jane Sasseen. The ability of individuals to openly speak their minds is a core principle not only of American journalism, but American democracy. Even when speech is insulting or disrespectful to others-speech that might run afoul of hate speech laws throughout Western Europe or be banned outright in much of the rest of the world-it is generally permitted in the United States. But the rise of the Internet and the instantaneous global communications it enables have raised a host of new questions about how to handle hate speech and other potentially offensive speech when it can be seen by audiences in other countries that do not share those values.
Topic:
Media, News Analysis, Journalism, and Hate Speech
Political Geography:
United States and North America

82. CCTV's International Expansion Expansion: China's Grand Strategy for Media

Author:
Anne Nelson
Publication Date:
10-2013
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
National Endowment for Democracy
Abstract:
China Central Television has come a long ways since its founding as a domestic party propaganda outlet in 1958. The domestic service has been supplemented by an international service, boasting three major global offices in Beijing, Washington, and Nairobi, and more than 70 additional international bureaus. The quality of CCTV’s journalism depends on both the region in which it’s produced, and the subject matter’s sensitivity in Beijing. On one hand, CCTV produces sophisticated long-form reports on complex international issues such as climate change; at the same time, its reporting on the Chinese Communist Party echoes the party line. CCTV’s biggest impact may be in regions where China is directing its international investments. The Nairobi operations complement extensive investments in African infrastructure, many of them in communications; China is also pursuing critical investment in Latin America and Southeast Asia.
Topic:
Foreign Policy, Media, Journalism, and Propaganda
Political Geography:
China, Asia, Latin America, and Southeast Asia

83. The Long Shadow of Chinese Censorship: How The Communist Party's Media Restrictions Affect News Outlets Around the World

Author:
Sarah Cook
Publication Date:
10-2013
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
National Endowment for Democracy
Abstract:
The Long Shadow of Chinese Censorship: How the Communist Party’s Media Restrictions Affect News Outlets Around the World provides a survey of this phenomenon and its recent evolution as it pertains to the news media sector, though similar dynamics also affect the film, literature, and performing arts industries. Specifically, this report focuses on six types of media outlets based outside mainland China that together reach news consumers in dozens of countries: major international media; local outlets in Asia, Africa, and Latin America; mainstream media in Hong Kong and Taiwan; exile Chinese outlets providing uncensored news to people in China; and media serving Chinese diaspora communities around the world.
Topic:
Media, Journalism, and Censorship
Political Geography:
China, Asia, and Global Focus

84. Bigger Cities, Smaller Screens: Urbanization, Mobile Phones, and Digital Media Trends in Africa

Author:
Adam Clayton Powell III
Publication Date:
09-2012
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
National Endowment for Democracy
Abstract:
Africa will become predominantly urban within 20 years, according to a United Nations report, with cities tripling in size and megacities developing throughout the continent. This suggests significant changes for Africans' consumption of media in general and digital media in particular, with implications for Africa's cities, politics, and civil society.
Topic:
Development, Science and Technology, Communications, and Mass Media
Political Geography:
Africa and United Nations

85. Calling the Shots: How Ownership Structures Affect the Independence of News Media

Author:
Michelle J. Foster
Publication Date:
11-2012
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
National Endowment for Democracy
Abstract:
Around the globe, traditional news media–newspapers, magazines, and broadcast networks –are operating in more concentrated environments with fewer owners and less diverse voices. Growth in the number of news media outlets and channels has not resulted in a parallel expansion of viewpoints in traditional news media, especially within local communities. This has adverse consequences for the ability of citizens and communities to hold their governments accountable. If media cannot be free and competitive, they can be neither plural nor diverse. Who owns the media and its infrastructure and who controls its sources of capital and revenue are crucial for any media system.
Topic:
Democratization, Markets, Science and Technology, Mass Media, and Infrastructure

86. An Explosion of News: The State of Media in Afghanistan

Author:
Peter Cary
Publication Date:
02-2012
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
National Endowment for Democracy
Abstract:
After the ouster of the Taliban from power by U.S.-led coalition troops in November 2001, the media scene in Afghanistan exploded. Under the Taliban, only one government radio station was allowed to operate, and there were no independent media. Ten years later, the Afghan media scene is a lively place, with more than 175 FM radio stations, 75 TV channels, four news agencies, and hundreds of publications including at least seven daily newspapers. Internet cafes can be found in major cities, and 61 percent of Afghans have mobile phones, which some use to listen to radio.
Topic:
Civil Society, Democratization, Development, and Mass Media
Political Geography:
Afghanistan, United States, Central Asia, and Taliban

87. Digital Media in the Arab World One Year After the Revolutions

Author:
Jeffrey Ghannam
Publication Date:
03-2012
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
National Endowment for Democracy
Abstract:
The Arab region is experiencing a profound media shift. The year following the start of the Arab revolutions–in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya and violent uprisings in Syria, Yemen, and Bahrain–was followed by continued repression and threats to the exercise of free expression online and offline. But the year also saw great strides in the numbers of Arabs across the region turning to social media platforms and the ascendancy of online engagement. This report traces and analyzes the enabling of tens of millions of individuals–as well as established news outlets–to attract wide global followings with Facebook and Twitter updates and YouTube videos about rapidly changing events. The widely diverse and pluralistic online communities in the Arab world are creating and sharing content, calling into question the future of the many state-owned or self-censored media that provide less in the way of engagement that Arab audiences have come to expect.
Topic:
Democratization, Politics, Science and Technology, Mass Media, and Regime Change
Political Geography:
Middle East, Libya, Yemen, Arabia, Syria, Egypt, Bahrain, and Tunisia

88. Covering Elections: The Challenges of Training the Watchdogs

Author:
Rosemary Armao
Publication Date:
03-2012
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
National Endowment for Democracy
Abstract:
An unparalleled opportunity for media developers to boost democracy is at hand in the Middle East and North Africa, where once repressed media and civil society groups are forming in the wake of popular uprisings that toppled or are threatening regimes. New constitutions are being drafted, new forms of government debated, and new representatives selected, all against a backdrop of new citizen empowerment and tension among differing parties if not, as in the case of Egypt, outright violence. In addition, new media and technology have radically changed both the political debate in societies and how that debate is covered compared to the past.
Topic:
Democratization, Government, Science and Technology, Mass Media, and Foreign Aid
Political Geography:
Africa and Egypt

89. Empowering Independent Media: U.S. Efforts to Foster a Free Press and an Open Internet Around the World

Publication Date:
04-2012
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
National Endowment for Democracy
Abstract:
NED established the Center for International Media Assistance (CIMA) in 2006 with encouragement from the U.S. Congress, which hoped that such an initiative would create a solid base of knowledge about the growing but not well understood field of media assistance. Two years later, CIMA published a volume entitled Empowering Independent Media, which provided a comprehensive look at both the key issues in the field as well as its latest findings and developments. Not surprisingly, the volume's recommendations became essential reading for policy makers, donors, and implementers on how to strengthen all aspects of media assistance.
Topic:
Civil Society, Human Rights, Communications, and Mass Media
Political Geography:
United States

90. Dangerous Work: Violence Against Mexico's Journalists and Lessons from Colombia

Author:
Douglas Farah
Publication Date:
04-2012
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
National Endowment for Democracy
Abstract:
The job of Mexican journalists covering drug trafficking and organized crime along the Mexico- U.S. border has regularly been called the most dangerous job in the world. And the danger has spread from journalists for traditional media to bloggers and citizens who post reports on drug cartel violence through social media such as Twitter and Facebook. The danger is not just from drug cartels, however. Journalists often identified local politicians and police– frequently in the pay of the cartels– as the source of most of the threats.
Topic:
Political Violence, Crime, Mass Media, and Narcotics Trafficking
Political Geography:
Colombia, Latin America, and Mexico