Expanding comparative media systems analysis from transitional to postcolonial societies

2020 ◽  
Vol 82 (7) ◽  
pp. 611-627
Author(s):  
Ylva Rodny-Gumede
Keyword(s):  
Systems Analysis ◽  
Western Europe ◽  
Postcolonial Studies ◽  
Media Development ◽  
Comparative Media ◽  
Global North ◽  
The Media ◽  
Media Politics ◽  
Media Systems ◽  
Normative Models

Comparative media systems theory has failed to pronounce on trajectories of media development in postcolonial societies in a meaningful way, as media development in postcolonial societies has been analysed from within normative liberal frameworks emanating from North America and Western Europe and later transitional societies in Eastern Europe and East Asia, societies with histories quite separate from the Colonial heritage and legacies that have, and keep, influencing the media–politics nexus in many postcolonial societies. To expand the analysis of media development in postcolonial societies, postcolonial studies have much to add to comparative media systems analysis, not only to expand the analysis beyond the global North but also for the analysis of global disruptions that are challenging normative models of media systems analysis.

The Dress of Democracy: One Size Does Not Fit All

2020 ◽  
pp. 49-90
Author(s):  
Herman Wasserman
Keyword(s):  
News Media ◽  
Lived Experiences ◽  
Government Control ◽  
Media Freedom ◽  
Global North ◽  
The Media ◽  
Universal Truth ◽  
The Many ◽  
Normative Models ◽  
Increased Pressure

This chapter considers the link between media and democracy, which is often assumed to be a self-evident and universal truth. The chapter argues that the mismatch between normative models derived from the Global North and the lived realities in African societies is evident in many cases where media have failed to keep governments to account, where the media served sectional interests, and where media ethical norms imported from elsewhere did not adequately speak to African lived experiences. The chapter also notes the many cases of democratic regression in African societies, where the resurgence of authoritarian tendencies has increased pressure on media freedom and consequently on the ability of media to contribute to democratic debate and the deepening of democratic culture. The chapter uses Zimbabwe as an illustration of such repressive government control over the news media that has given rise to alternative forms of media.

Political Parallelism

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Afonso de Albuquerque
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
Political Communication ◽  
Western Europe ◽  
Intrinsic Value ◽  
Academic Research ◽  
Specific Pattern ◽  
The Political ◽  
The Media ◽  
Media Systems ◽  
Universal Applicability

Political parallelism refers to a pattern or relationship where the structure of the political parties is somewhat reflected by the media organizations. A concept introduced by Seymour-Ure and Blumler and Gurevitch in the 1970s, political parallelism became widespread after Hallin and Mancini made it one of the four basic analytical categories of their masterpiece Comparing Media Systems, three decades later. Since then, political parallelism has been often taken as a category with a potentially universal applicability. There are some reasons for cautiousness in this respect, however, as the premise that the political parties are the core organizers of the dynamics of politics makes sense in circumstances existing in Western Europe, especially from the 1950s until very recently, but not at every moment or even everywhere. Otherwise, it is possible to think about political parallelism as one specific pattern of media/politics relations among several others either already existing or possible. The fact that this model in particular receives so much attention does not result necessarily from its intrinsic value, but it may be related to asymmetries existing in the international landscape of the academic research in journalism and political communication, which privileges Western-based standpoints over others. Arguably, taking political parallelism from a broader outlook, considering both Western and non-Western views may provide a richer perspective about it.

Parties, Ideology, and News Media in Central-Eastern and Western Europe

2016 ◽  
Vol 30 (3) ◽  
pp. 571-593 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laia Castro-Herrero ◽  
David Nicolas Hopmann ◽  
Sven Engesser
Keyword(s):  
News Media ◽  
Western Europe ◽  
Media Bias ◽  
General Assumption ◽  
Eastern Bloc ◽  
The European Union ◽  
The Media ◽  
Central Eastern ◽  
Partisan Media ◽  
Media Systems

This study assesses the degree and direction of media bias towards political parties in Central-Eastern and Western European democracies. Previous research has argued that despite policy efforts to detach the media from the political domain, journalism in former Eastern Bloc countries is still characterized by a more partisan style than in Western Europe. Our analysis employs data from the European Parliament Election Study 2009 (EES) and the European Media Systems Survey 2010 (EMSS), covering 187 parties and more than 120 media outlets in fifteen Western and ten Central and Eastern media systems across the European Union. To analyze partisan media bias, we look at (1) how well audience patterns correlate with partisan preferences of media users and (2) the extent to which media outlets favour specific parties according to experts. Contrary to our hypotheses, the results show that levels of media bias in Central and Eastern Europe are similar to those in Western Europe. We also find that left–right party ideology predicts media bias in the latter, but not in the former. Our findings question the general assumption that partisan media bias is higher in “the East” and challenge the widespread belief that a long tradition of media commercialization, as found in “the West,” leads to less political media bias.

scholarly journals What is Media Assistance and (Why) Does It Matter? The Case of Polish Foreign Aid to the Media in Belarus and Ukraine

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (3(27)) ◽  
pp. 390-408
Author(s):  
Aleksandra Galus
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Aid ◽  
Public Diplomacy ◽  
Specific Form ◽  
Local Context ◽  
Media Freedom ◽  
Media Development ◽  
Media Assistance ◽  
The Media ◽  
Media Systems ◽  
Polish Foreign

The paper offers an analysis of media assistance, as a specific form of foreign aid, that Poland offers to strengthen media development in Belarus and Ukraine. It shows if Poland tailors media assistance according to the local context and existing challenges for democratic changes of recipient countries’ media systems. The study builds on the literature concerning the media, development and democratization, in particular looking at media assistance as both democratic aid and public diplomacy. It reveals that Poland’s approaches to media development in Belarus and Ukraine do differ: Poland mainly provides autocratic Belarus with technical support for media established outside of that country, while clearly focusing on media capacity development in democratizing Ukraine. The findings show that Polish media assistance, however, is unlikely to boost media freedom in Belarus as is usually expected as an outcome of democratic aid and is under-financed in the case of Ukraine.

Accountability in Journalism

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susanne Fengler
Keyword(s):  
Self Regulation ◽  
Self Control ◽  
Media Criticism ◽  
The Public ◽  
Press Councils ◽  
Global North ◽  
Strategic Influence ◽  
Media Markets ◽  
The Media ◽  
Media Systems

In the past decade, academic and professional debates about media accountability have spread around the globe – but have done so in a fundamentally different framework. In many Western democracies, trust in media – along with trust in politics and trust in institutions – as eroded dramatically. Fundamental shifts regarding the patterns of media use and the structure of media and revenue markets have made media and journalism more exposed to criticism from various stakeholders, and more vulnerable to the strategic influence of national and international actors. While many “Western” media professionals have reacted to these challenges to its credibility by new initiatives to demonstrate accountability and transparency, policy makers in other countries even in the “Global North” have tightened their grip on independent media and gradually weakened the concept of self-control. At the same time, an ongoing democratization in many parts of the world, along with a de-regulation of media markets, has created a growing demand for self-regulation and media accountability in countries formerly characterized by rigid press control. Claude-Jean Bertrand defined the development and current structures of accountability in journalism as “any non-State means of making media responsible towards the public.” Key aims of media accountability are “to improve the services of the media to the public; restore the prestige of media in the eyes of the population; diversely protect freedom of speech and press; obtain, for the profession, the autonomy that it needs to play its part in the expansion of democracy and the betterment of the fate of mankind.” Journalists and news outlets have a wide array of responses to professional, public, and political criticisms via press councils, ombudsmen, media criticism, and digital forms of media accountability, while online and offline media accountability instruments have distinct traditions in different media systems and journalism cultures.

scholarly journals Between neutrality and engagement: Political journalism in Hungary

2017 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 48-63 ◽  
Author(s):  
Péter Bajomi-Lázár
Keyword(s):  
Media Policy ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Transformation ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
The Public ◽  
Political Journalism ◽  
Political Events ◽  
Comparative Media ◽  
The Media ◽  
Media Systems

 After the political transformation, Hungarian journalism organizations and media policy makers attempted to introduce the standards and practices of neutrality-seeking journalism, yet most news outlets continued to offer engaged accounts of political events and issues. Why was the professionalization of journalism interrupted? This paper attempts to answer this question by offering an overview of the comparative media systems literature in search of the factors shaping journalism practices and by placing Hungary on the map of media systems. Then it suggests that different audience needs may be an additional factor explaining the dominance of different journalism practices in different media systems, with the public in transition societies seeking confirmation rather than information when using the media.

scholarly journals Professional autonomy

2015 ◽  
Vol 36 (2) ◽  
pp. 79-95 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gunnar Nygren ◽  
Boguslawa Dobek-Ostrowska ◽  
Maria Anikina
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Research ◽  
Professional Autonomy ◽  
Research Project ◽  
Media Development ◽  
Daily Work ◽  
The Media ◽  
Media Systems ◽  
Key Dimensions ◽  
Negative Sense

Abstract Degree of autonomy is one of the key dimensions of professionalization in journalism. However, the strive for autonomy looks different in different media systems, where pressure on autonomy can come from both political and commercial powers, outside and within the media. Media development also changes the conditions for professional autonomy for journalists, in both a positive and a negative sense. In the comparative research project “Journalism in change”, the journalistic cultures in Russia, Poland and Sweden are studied. In a survey involving 1500 journalists from the three countries, journalists report on their perceived autonomy in their daily work and in relation to different actors inside and outside the media. The survey covers how the work has been changed by media developments, and how these changes have affected journalists′perceived autonomy. The results show similarities in the strive for autonomy, but also clear differences in how autonomy is perceived by journalists in the three countries.

scholarly journals The Nordic Model of Whiteness and Exceptionalism: Representation of Otherness in Some Nordic Film and Television

2020 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ružica Radulović
Keyword(s):  
Predominantly White ◽  
Postcolonial Studies ◽  
Main Hypothesis ◽  
Film And Television ◽  
Nordic Region ◽  
The Social ◽  
Global North ◽  
The Media ◽  
The Common ◽  
Literature And Film

Race is a controversial question in the Global North, especially in those environments that consider themselves to be colorblind, while in fact they are predominantly white. This seems to be particularly the case in the Nordic countries, where the concepts of equality and egality are central to the mutual feeling of identity and where the racial discourse is marked by the prohibition of racial discrimination. By reducing the category of race to something fictive, one cannot address it openly in the contemporary Nordic societies. Therefore, this paper deals with the representation of Otherness – external and internal – in the Nordic film and television. As the paper focuses on the closely related notions of Nordic whiteness and Nordic exceptionalism, it is based on the categorial apparatus of postcolonial studies. The main hypothesis is that the widely spread positive hetero image of the Nordic region as socially open, tolerant and free, is undermined by the media representation of the identity of Other, where the prejudices, racism and paternalism towards the non-white population (and especially the non-white immigration) are being disclosed. The aim of the paper is to reveal how film and television, as potential correctives of the existing stereotypes, can reflect the ever changing political, cultural and social circumstances and by that, how (and whether) this image of Otherness necessarily corresponds to the narrative of exceptionalism and whiteness of the Nordic region. Nordic exceptionalism, together with Nordic whiteness as the integral part of the broader feeling of the Nordic identity, has become a part of the common political discourse and an object of discussion within the field of popular culture, literature and film. Still, the sense of one own’s exceptionalism has become a subject of critical debate, a myth to be debunked, as the phenomena such as the escalation of ethnic violence have marked the recent years in the Nordic societies. This development of the social, cultural and political circumstances has been reflected in the contemporary Nordic media production (film and television) and continues to be analyzed. The image of the Nordics, as being inherently white and homogenous, has thus been exposed as artificial and constructed.

Media Pluralism and Democratic Consolidation: A Recipe for Success?

2021 ◽  
pp. 194016122110104
Author(s):  
Fatima El Issawi
Keyword(s):  
Democratic Consolidation ◽  
Civic Culture ◽  
Power Struggle ◽  
Political Debate ◽  
Media Pluralism ◽  
The Media ◽  
Media Politics ◽  
Media Systems ◽  
Ambivalent Relationship ◽  
The Relationship

The Tunisian political transition has succeeded in building a working, yet fragile governance beyond ideological and political divides. Political debate across media platforms has become open and dynamic, but the media–politics nexus thrives within a complex system of clientelism forged on shifting alliances between politicians and business tycoons, including recapture by agents of the former regime. The media–politics interplay is taking competitive and antagonistic forms, effectively exacerbating polarized conflicts. This paper reflects on the notions of hybrid media systems, agonistic pluralism, and civic culture, based on data collected in a focus group conducted in Tunis in May 2019 that brought together representatives from media, politics, and civil society complemented by interviews with leading journalists and media stakeholders. This paper argues that the relationship between media and politics is interdependent and marked by confrontation and adaption; the uncertainty of the transition is leading to a complex and volatile power struggle in which neither media nor politics have the upper hand in defining the terms of the game. This ambivalent relationship, taking place within a new system of clientelism, has had a mixed outcome on the process of democratic consolidation.

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