Picture: earth by Beth Scupham, license CC BY 2.0

ARTICLE: Who sets the international news agenda?

Wealthy countries have a big influence in deciding how other countries perceive the world. Lei Guo, of Boston University, and Chris J. Vargo, of University of Colorado Boulder, studied global intermedia agenda setting and the flow of international news. Using the GDELT open source data, researchers conducted a big data analysis of about 54 million … Continued


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ARTICLE: What’s keeping newspapers from fully engaging social media?

Mainstream newspapers in Finland, Japan and Korea have one thing in common: they all seem to under-utilize social media in their operation. The reasons, however, are different for each country, write Joo-Young Jung, of International Christian University, and Mikko Villi, of University of Jyväskylä. The authors interviewed 18 senior journalists working for 14 different mainstream … Continued


Picture: Social Network Analysis Visualization by Martin Grandjean, license CC BY-SA 3.0 & Turkey relief location map by NordNordWest, license CC BY-SA 3.0

ARTICLE: Turkey’s news media landscape highly polarized also on Twitter

Twitter has become an important playground for the news media in Turkey.  Burak Doğu of the İzmir University of Economics, conducted a network analysis in Twitter to look at Turkey’s polarized news media landscape after the Gezi protests. The findings are analyzed at four levels: identifying the actors, positioning the actors and examining connections among … Continued


Picture: View of Joburg inner city from Gandhi Square by South African Tourism, license CC BY 2.0

ARTICLE: Different types of government support could help foster diversity in South African media

There should be more constructive debate about media diversity in South Africa, Julia Plessing of the University of Johannesburg, argues. She studied different types of print media regulation and support in Scandinavia, Latin America and West Africa, and examines these in the South African context. There is a tension between ensuring press freedom by state … Continued



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ARTICLE: Transnational networks and investigations as drivers of Europeanisation

Journalists and media organizations increasingly engage in cross-border investigations. Annett Heft and Barbara Pfetsch, of Freie Universität Berlin, and Brigitte Alfter (authors not in original order) studied how transnational networks of journalists are created and what impact does collaboration have on the Europeanisation of coverage by national media. Europeanisation is a process through which the … Continued


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ARTICLE: Being a liberal journalist in contemporary Russia

It is problematic to apply Western-centric media system theories to contemporary neo-authoritarian Russia, in light of mechanisms used by the state to control the media and the country’s overall development, a new study finds. Vera Slavtcheva-Petkova, of the University of Chester, studied the conditions of liberal journalists in the country. The author conducted a semi-ethnographic … Continued


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REPORT: Blame for disinformation falls upon mainstream media

Were it not for the logic of mainstream media, disinformation spreading and media manipulating “far right” groups would have remained in the margins, Alice Marwick and Rebecca Lewis, both of Data & Society Research Institute, write. A recent report by the Institute reviews the online world of “conspiracy theorists, techno-libertarians, white nationalists, Men’s Rights advocates, … Continued


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ARTICLE: Media policies should better support journalists’ autonomy

An article by Epp Lauk, of University of Jyväskylä (Finland), and Halliki Harro-Loit, of University of Tartu (Estonia), examines journalistic cultures and professional autonomy in Bulgaria, Belgium, Croatia, Finland, Estonia, Greece, Italy, Romania, Slovakia, and Spain. Their analysis stems from the MEDIADEM study of 14 European countries. European media policies have for a long time … Continued


Working Late by Kevin McShane, licence CC BY-NC 2.0

ARTICLE: Quality of Romanian journalism suffers from poor working conditions

The working conditions of Romanian journalists reflect poorly on the quality of their work, Ioana Avădani, of Center for Independent Journalism, writes. Avădani’s recent article reviews Romanian journalists’ working environment with regards to payment and contract models. The end of the Communist regime liberated the Romanian media sector, but the positive trajectory has been curbed … Continued