MEGAPHONE: SOCIAL-MEDIA-NATIVE OUTLETS BETWEEN EDITORIAL INDEPENDENCE AND ALGORITHMIC CONSTRAINTS

Though the role of digital media in protest movements has received plenty of attention since the onset of Occupy Wall Street and the Arab Uprisings a decade ago, the way that protest movements have enabled the institutional development of independent digital news media has received less attention. How do protest movements enable the rise of independent digital news media? How do these emerging outlets interact with components of pre-existing media? And what techno political constraints do these outlets face? To answer these questions, we zoom in on Lebanon where an uprising broke out in 2019 and gave rise to a network of independent and interdependent digital media outlets. We focus on the rise of Megaphone, an independent social-media-native news outlet that left its mark on the country’s political and media scene. Based on a politico-economic analysis of the emerging digital media scene in Lebanon, a historical analysis of the distinctive meaning of media independence in that context, and a case study of Megaphone, we examine the notion of independent digital media in the context of protest movements and analyze the distinctive travails of social-media-native outlets. We also show how, in Lebanon, independence movements, protest movements, and uprisings have historically contributed to introducing new media forms and outlets and shaping Lebanon’s media. Our paper contributes to a techno-political and algorithmic notion of media independence and begins to theorize social-media-native independent news outlets as a peculiar form of emerging, and increasingly prevalent, media institution.

Media policy in Greenland

This article describes the historical development of media policy in Greenland, and the shifts in the underlying normative and causal ideas that legitimise media policy. I argue that media policy reflects changes in Greenland's political system. Specifically, under colonial rule, Greenlandic media was state run and media was seen as an instrument to educate the population. Gradually, with the introduction of home rule, a paradigm shift took place, whereby media was seen as a vital instrument to strengthen Greenlandic language and identity. At the same time, normative ideas of media independence appeared which called for institutionalisation of the arm's length principle. Due to the influence and institutional spill-over from Denmark, I argue, Greenlandic media policy fit rather well into the “Nordic media model” although media policy in Greenland is mostly formulated without long-term or broad political agreements.

The Western Media and the Crisis in Zimbabwe

The crisis in Zimbabwe in the past decade has many dimensions. One of the underestimated dimensions is the impact of Western media reportage on the unfolding drama in the country. Biased reportage by some mainstream Western media channels on Zimbabwe has had a negative and damaging effect both on the Mugabe regime as well as the country’s economy. It has also highlighted the excesses of the Mugabe regime in its quest to ensure regime security. In response to these Western media blitz, the Mugabe regime has countered them by stifling media independence in the domestic arena in a calculated strategy aimed at cushioning itself from unfair and biased media attacks. While there is some truth in what is being reported about the Mugabe regime by the Western media, on balance, this paper argues that the role played by the Western media in the ensuing political crisis in Zimbabwe has done more harm than good. In a big way, the Western media has aggravated the political and socioeconomic crisis in Zimbabwe in the past decade.

Legal Guarantees Of Media Independence In Ukraine And The European Union

The article is devoted to the analysis of legal guarantees of media independence in Ukraine and the European Union. The author believes that safeguards are a set of objective and subjective factors aimed at the practical protection of human rights and freedoms, to eliminate any obstacles to their full and proper implementation. The main purpose of the safeguards is to create the necessary conditions for the transformation of the rights and freedoms enshrined in the law from possibilities into reality. It has been established that press freedom should be regarded as a guaranteed right or a guaranteed opportunity to freely establish, publish, edit, read, distribute, publish, publish and publish print media of your choice. The author substantiates the division of guarantees of media independence into normative, institutional (organizational) and procedural immunity as a kind of guarantees of media activity. Legal safeguards include a set of legal norms that ensure the realization and protection of a set of rights that are included in the notion of media freedom. Constitutional guarantees of media freedom are an integral feature of a democratic media system. Guarantees of independence of the broadcasting regulatory bodies are provided first and foremost by the system of their formation. The author has determined that additional measures are necessary to eliminate the restrictions that impede the strengthening and development of the information industry, its infrastructure, providing real support to the activities of journalists and providing specific rules for their protection, expanding the possibilities for access of citizens through this network to information submitted in foreign printed media. media, etc. The guarantee of media independence is also the establishment of disciplinary, civil, administrative or criminal liability.

China’s soft power from the BRICS to the BRI

This article considers the opportunities and difficulties in extending China’s cultural influence, usually termed ‘soft power’, among those of its close neighbours through which it is envisaged the construction of the ‘New Silk Road’ will pass. The article considers three variables that can be argued to have an effect on the degree of cultural influence a nation can wield: the degree of media independence from the state, the overall size of the economy and the relative prosperity of the individual members of a society. It argues that in those countries that are near neighbours to China, it does have some resources that can promote its cultural influence but that it also faces local and global competitors who can deploy alternative resources.