Big Data, Not Big Brother: New Data Protection Laws and the Implications for Independent Media Around the World

For years, the road to news media financial sustainability was said to be paved with data—digital news outlets were counseled to collect as many details about their readers as possible in order to deliver more relevant content as well as to support more lucrative, targeted advertising. Yet, more recently, citizens and policymakers alike have grown concerned about the pervasive tracking of web users. This has led to a new wave of data protection laws and regulations worldwide that seek to empower people and curtail the excessive collection of personal data.

How Social Media Taxes Can Burden News Outlets: The Case of Uganda

In July 2018, the government of Uganda implemented a tax on individual users of social media platforms. In the first three months following the introduction of the tax in the country, internet penetration dropped from 47 percent to 35 percent. Given that a significant amount of news circulation now happens via social media and messaging apps, how might this new tax impact the news media ecosystem? The negative effects on news media are less direct and arguably more pernicious than might be expected.

Media Development and the Open Government Partnership: Can Improved Policy Dialogue Spur Media Reforms?

The global effort to promote open and transparent government creates new opportunities to put media development on the political agenda of countries around the world. This report looks in particular at the structures of the Open Government Partnership (OGP), which in its 2016 Paris Declaration characterized the media as a “crucial force for transparency and accountability.” In an era of democratic backsliding and declining public trust in institutions of all kinds, the need for pluralistic, independent, and high-quality news media has never been more important.

Confronting the Crisis in Independent Media: A Role for International Assistance

With independent media around the world in crisis, what is the role of international donors and private foundations? And how can these international actors provide effective support when the driving forces behind independent media’s decline—simultaneously technological, financial, social, political, and institutional—are so complex and difficult to disentangle?

“Free Internet” and the Costs to Media Pluralism: The Hazards of Zero-Rating the News

In many countries, mobile operators have teamed up with social media platforms to offer free access to specific websites or internet services—including news websites. The most well-known of these offerings, Facebook’s Free Basics, has been explicitly pitched as a way to give citizens in developing countries greater access to news, but Facebook is not the only company touting these so-called “zero-rated” arrangements as a bridge across the digital divide. This report examines whether these arrangements are broadening access to diverse sources of news, as promised, and whether they might have broader consequences for the news market.

Defending Independent Media: A Comprehensive Analysis of Aid Flows

When donors provide assistance to the media sector, they frequently back projects that aim to strengthen the media’s contribution to good governance in some way or another. This kind of funding is consistent with recent declarations made by the international community on the importance of protecting independent media for the sake of democracy and development. Yet, in the bigger picture, donors still only commit a tiny fraction to this sector and appear to be responding slowly, if at all, to the unique challenges of press freedom in the digital age.

Tracking Media Development Donor Funding

International donors, both public and private, play an essential role in media development worldwide. Visit our Media Development Donor Profiles page for all of CIMA’s research on donor funding levels and strategic priorities.

What is Media Development?

The term “media development” refers to evolution and change in the fields of news media and communications. This evolution can be stimulated by donor support, private investment, or indigenous processes of change led by media owners, managers, journalists, or other players such as media industry associations, or other collective efforts.

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The Source

3
May
Between Hope and Fear: Ethiopian Media in the Age of Abiy

By Simegnish Mengesha When I was forced to leave Ethiopia in 2014, it was a dangerous time to be a journalist. Attemptin...
16
Apr
India’s Other Media Boom

Digital news and social media hold increasing sway over public opinion, but as the world’s largest democracy goes to t...
9
Apr
A Critical Juncture in West Africa: Why Regional Processes Matter

In CIMA’s recent report, A Regional Approach to Media Development in West Africa, co-published with the Media Foundati...
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Thursday, June 27th, 2019

China’s New Media Dilemma: The Profit in Online Dissent

Thursday, June 27 12:00 p.m. – 1:30 p.m. EDT (Lunch served 12:00pm) National Endowment for Democra...

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Thursday, June 6th, 2019

Big Data, Not Big Brother: Digital Media Analytics in a New Age of Data Protection

Thursday, June 6 3:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m. EDT (Light refreshments served 3:00-3:15) National Endowmen...

Thursday, January 31st, 2019

Protected: Confronting the Crisis in Independent Media: Strategic Approaches for International Donors

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Big Data, Not Big Brother: New Data Protection Laws and the Implications for Independent Media Around the World

For years, the road to news media financial sustainability was said to be paved with data—digital news outlets were counseled to collect as many details about their readers as possible in order to deliver more relevant content as well as to support more lucrative, targeted advertising. Yet, more r...
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Press Freedom Scores

Montenegro

In Montenegro, business leaders and government pressure independent media. The government tends to play favorites towards certain public media outlets. In addition, right to access is not always respected, especially with regards to government corruption incidents. Check out what the major media freedom indices have to say. (All scores are adjusted to a 0-100 scale).

  • IREX
  • FH
  • RSF