Media Freedom and Deliberative Democracy: Europe in a Comparative Perspective

The Public Sphere

Electronic participation can play a crucial role in building broader public involvement in decision-making and public policy to bring about more inclusive societies. Prior empirical analyses have neglected the fact that political institutions are not only affecting the expansion of digital government, but also often interact with more structural conditions to constrain or incentivize the adoption and expansion of e-participation. This research analyses the role of institutional factors in encouraging or constraining e-participation across countries. Fractional regression models are employed to analyze panel data (2008-2018) from the United Nations Member States scores in the E-Participation Index (EPI) developed by the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA). The results indicate that the quality of democratic institutions, freedom of the press, and government effectiveness are all relevant predictors of a higher performance in e-participation. Policy implications are drawn in line with the 2030 UN Agenda for Sustainable Development Goals.

Central and Eastern European Media in Comparative Perspective: Politics, Economy and Culture. John Downey and Sabina Mihelj, eds. Surrey, UK: Ashgate Publishing, 2012. 199 pp. $95 hbk.Reviewed by: Anthony Moretti, Robert Morris University, Moon Township, PA, USA DOI: 10.1177/1077699013506348This book demands the attention of scholars or anyone interested in understanding the ongoing development of print and television media in Russia and multiple nations in the region. In short, it challenges assumptions that people in the West (might) have about the operation of privately owned and public-sector media in Central and Eastern Europe. Perhaps the worst assumption is that all Central and Eastern European media are homogeneous, no matter the country in which they disseminate news, entertain- ment, and other programming. Such thinking could be a relic of the Cold War in which a monolithic image of the region was ingrained in the minds of Americans and others who lived in the West.The text is edited by John Downey, a reader in comparative media in the Department of Social Sciences at Loughborough University in the United Kingdom, and Sabina Mihelj, a senior lecturer in media, communication, and culture at Loughborough University. It includes seven essays examining the political, economic, and cultural forces that influence the content, ownership, and audience preferences in this part of the world.When examining politics, the book argues that as more pressure is applied by domestic political agencies, the less likely the media system will be free (based on the Western interpretation of that word as it relates to media). No surprise there; Russia is the most obvious example of this. But what the book also demonstrates is that while the European Union (EU)-an external agency-succeeded in some cases in institut- ing media policies in many of these former Soviet bloc states consistent with EU practices, the United also has been successful in guiding nations toward its media practices. The EU attempted to link mimicking of its media policies (i.e., strong public-service broadcasters and subsidies for independent and national production, p. 152) to interested in gaining EU membership. But that linkage often has not held. Alison Harcourt, of the University of Exeter, writes, States in the region adopted European policy models on paper but they have not worked well in practice. Hence, although the European model seems to have prevailed over the US model, in practice, a more liberal market has emerged (p. 145).Karol Jakubowicz, a former journalist and educator and now the chairman of the National Broadcasting Council in his native Poland, divides the in the region into democratic (Croatia is among them), semidemocratic to semiauthoritarian (Russia is among them), and authoritarian (Belarus is among them). He states, Indeed, media freedom and independence is higher in the democratic and progressively lower in semi-democratic and semi-authoritarian and authoritarian countries (p. …

A profound problem posed by education for any pluralistic society with democratic aspirations is how to reconcile individual freedom and civic virtue. Children cannot be educated to maximize both individual freedom and civic virtue. Yet reasonable people value and intermittently demand both. We value freedom of speech and press, for example, but want (other) people to refrain from false and socially harmful expression. The various tensions between individual freedom and civic virtue pose a challenge that is simultaneously philosophical and political. How can we resolve the tensions philosophically in light of reasonable political disagreements over the relative value of individual freedom and civic virtue? Instead of giving priority to one value or the other, this essay defends a democratic ideal ofconscious social reproduction, which consists of three principles:nonrepression, nondiscrimination, and democratic deliberation.

Online forums, the modern-day equivalent of readers’ letters, have enhanced the capacity of readers to access the press. User comments have become a prevalent feature of journalism in the digital era as a way by which to increase democratic participation while boosting website traffic and enhancing brand loyalty. At the same time, vitriolic comments could become toxic to online news websites’ brand identity, thus alienating the very audience these are trying to appeal to. To tackle the problem of online incivility, news organizations have resorted to several strategies, ranging from the moderation of user comments and the ban on anonymity to the migration of public discussion to the outlets’ social media presence or, ultimately, the closure of online forums. Online news portals’ choice of preferred strategy has been influenced in recent times by the spectre of liability for hate speech and defamatory user comments. The extent to which online news portals should assume editorial responsibility and should be liable for user comments has been shaped by national law, by the E-Commerce Directive framework, and by the extensive and not entirely consistent body of case law developed by the European Court of Human Rights in this area. This chapter will discuss the liability of online news portals for user comments from an EU and comparative perspective before examining the criteria crafted by the European Court of Human Rights. Finally, it will consider the impact of online news platforms’ responsibility for user-generated content on press freedom.

The role of the media in the society, as a powerful means that contributes to democracy, is strictly related to its responsibility. It implies that the information should be gathered and disseminated in compliance with the law, but also according to ethical professional standards. This is crucial not just for the public trust in the institutions, but also as a testbed to data protection and privacy rights. On the other side, the protection of journalistic sources as a cornerstone of press freedom, enables whistleblowing, investigative journalism, and democratic accountability. However, in the face of threats to national security, terrorism, or serious crime, states increasingly invoke public interest to justify limiting this protection. The tension lies competing public goods: press freedom and rule of law versus public safety. The doctrine considers the protection of journalistic sources as a qualified right, not an absolute one, which is subject to strict scrutiny when limitations are considered. Given the premises, the aim of this paper is to provide a general picture of the international standards invoked to strike the balance between guarantying media freedom and source protection, in the age of digital media and rapid information flows. The methodology used in this paper is doctrinal legal research method, analyzing critically and in a comparative perspective, relevant theories, legal framework and jurisprudence.

Reports on violence against journalists in Brazil have captured the concern of international human rights organizations. This article discusses a case involving another such concern: the use of criminal defamation laws in Brazil to punish journalists for criticizing public officials. At the same time, Brazilian media sources regularly report on crimes of racism, which most often involve derogatory name-calling and hate speech. By examining the intersection of these apparently contradictory concerns, this article sheds new light on speech rights in Brazil and the United States and argues that a comparative perspective is crucial to contextualizing and harmonizing free speech and its limitations under modern democratic constitutions. By considering the infusion of traditional notions of honor and status with post-World War II views of dignity, this article argues for a comparative consideration of how best to combat racism and whether hate speech regulation in the U.S. should be reconsidered. As such, the type of law often used to protect the powerful in Brazil could come to be used to protect the vulnerable in the United States and opens the possibility that the irony of free speech could become more than just a scholarly debate.

The title of Herman Wassermann's book suggests a normative accounting of ‘the state of’ the press's ability to operate independently in a range of African countries. Happily, the collection goes be...

Click to increase image sizeClick to decrease image size Additional informationBIOGRAPHICAL NOTEBRUCE MUTSVAIRO is a Senior Lecturer in Journalism at Northumbria University, Newcastle-Upon-Tyne.

Ian Shapiro and Kahreen Tebeau (Eds), After Apartheid: Reinventing South Africa? University of Virginia Press, Charlottesville, 2011, 376 pp., ISBN 9780813930978, ₹ 2,994.

About the book: Featuring specially commissioned chapters from experts in the field of media and communications law, this book provides an authoritative survey of media law from a comparative perspective. The handbook does not simply offer a synopsis of the state of affairs in media law jurisprudence, rather it provides a better understanding of the forces that generate media rules, norms, and standards against the background of major transformations in the way information is mediated as a result of democratization, economic development, cultural change, globalization and technological innovation. The book addresses a range of issues including: media law and evolving concepts of democracy; network neutrality and traffic management; public service broadcasting in Europe; interception of communication and surveillance in Russia; state secrets, leaks and the media. A variety of rule-making institutions are considered, including administrative, and judicial entities within and outside government, but also entities such as associations and corporations that generate binding rules. The book assesses the emerging role of supranational economic and political groupings as well as non-Western models, such as China and India, where cultural attitudes toward media freedoms are often very different.

Contents: Introduction Part I The Open Justice Principle: Courts, transparency and public confidence - to the better administration of justice, Beverley McLachlin The principle of open justice: a comparative perspective, J.J. Spigelman A public right to know about public institutions: the 1st Amendment as sword, Anthony Lewis Name suppression: an adjunct to the presumption of innocence and to mitigation of sentence, Roderick Munday Automatic reporting restrictions in criminal proceedings and Article 10 of the ECHR, Ian Cram Democracy and the demystification of courts: an essay, David A. Anderson. Part II Cameras in the Court-Room: Courts on television, Martin Dockray Cameras in the courtroom - not without my consent, M. David Lepofsky A comparative analysis of 1st Amendment rights and the televising of court proceedings, Daniel Stepniak. Part III Prejudicial Media Publicity: Punishing the press: using contempt of court to secure the right to a fair trial, Stephen J. Krause You say 'fair trial' and I say 'free press': British and American approaches to protecting defendants' rights in high profile trials, Joanne Armstrong Brandwood Pre-trial publicity and its treatment in the English courts, David Corker and Michael Levi Fundamental rights, fair trials and the new audio-visual sector, Clive Walker Empirical and legal perspectives on the impact of pre-trial publicity, T.M. Honess, S. Barker, E.A. Charman and M. Levi. Part IV Journalists' Privilege Not to Reveal Sources: Protecting journalists' sources: Section 10, Contempt of Court Act 1981, Stephanie Palmer The priestly class: reflections on a journalist's privilege, William E. Lee Protection against judicially compelled disclosure of the identity of news gatherers confidential sources in common law jurisdictions, Janice Brabyn Name index.

Leading researchers from different regions of Europe and the United States address five major interrelated themes: 1) how ideological and normative constructs gave way to empirical systematic comparative work in media research; 2) the role of foreign media groups in post-communist regions and the effects of ownership in terms of impacts on media freedom; 3) the various dimensions of the relationship between mass media and political systems in a comparative perspective; 4) professionalization of journalism in different political cultures—autonomy of journalists, professional norms and practices, political instrumentalization and the commercialization of the media; 5) the role of state intervention in media systems

Featuring specially commissioned chapters from experts in the field of media and communications law, this book provides an authoritative survey of media law from a comparative perspective. The handbook does not simply offer a synopsis of the state of affairs in media law jurisprudence, rather itprovides a better understanding of the forces that generate media rules, norms, and standardsagainst the background of major transformations in the way information is mediated as a result of democratization, economic development, cultural change, globalization and technological innovation. The book addresses a range of issues including: Media Law and Evolving Concepts of Democracy Network neutrality and traffic management Public Service Broadcasting in Europe Interception of Communication and Surveillance in Russia State secrets, leaks and the media A variety of rule-making institutions are considered, including administrative, and judicial entities within and outside government, but also entities such as associations and corporations that generate binding rules. The book assesses the emerging role of supranational economic and political groupings as well asnon-Western models, such as China and India, where cultural attitudes toward media freedoms are often very different. Monroe E. Price is Director of the Center for Global Communication Studies at the Annenberg School for the University of Pennsylvania and Joseph and Sadie Danciger Professor of Law and Director of the Howard M. Squadron Program in Law, Media and Society at the Cardozo School of Law. Stefaan Verhulst is Chief of Research at the Markle Foundation. Previously he was the co-founder and co-director, with Professor Monroe Price, of the Programme in Comparative Media Law and Policy (PCMLP) at Oxford University, as well as senior research fellow at the Centre for Socio Legal Studies. Libby Morgan is the Associate Director of the Center for Global Communication Studies at the Annenberg School for the University of Pennsylvania.

Contents: Introduction: comparing media systems in Central and Eastern Europe: politics, economy, culture, Sabina Mihelj and John Downey Post-Communist political systems and media freedom and independence, Karol Jakubowicz The interplay of politics and economics in transitional societies, Colin Sparks Between segmentation and integration: media systems and ethno-cultural diversity in Central and Eastern Europe, Sabina Mihelj Gender (in)equity in post-socialist media, Mojca Pajnik Transnational capital, media differentiation, and institutional isomorphism in Central and Eastern European media systems, John Downey Transnational media regulation in Central and Eastern Europe, Alison Harcourt Back to the local? Transnational media flows and audience consumption patterns in Central and Eastern Europe, VA!clav A tetka Conclusion, John Downey and Sabina Mihelj Index.