1st Edition
The Global Handbook of Media Accountability
The Global Handbook of Media Accountability brings together leading scholars to de-Westernize the academic debate on media accountability and discuss different models of media self-regulation and newsroom transparency around the globe. With examination of the status quo of media accountability in 43 countries worldwide, it offers a theoretically informed comparative analysis of accountability regimes of different varieties. As such, it constitutes the first interdisciplinary academic framework comparing structures of media accountability across all continents and creates an invaluable basis for further research and policymaking. It will therefore appeal to scholars and students of media studies and journalism, mass communication, sociology, and political science, as well as policymakers and practitioners.
Part 1 Introduction
1 Media Accountability: A Global Perspective
Susanne Fengler, Tobias Eberwein, Matthias Karmasin, Sandra Barthel, and Dominik Speck
Part 2 Anglo-Saxon Countries
2 Overview: Anglo-Saxon Countries
Tim P. Vos
3 The United Kingdom: Consolidation and Fragmentation
Gordon Ramsay
4 The United States of America: The Triumph of Autonomy over Accountability
Ryan J. Thomas
5 Canada: Fragile Consolidation Efforts in Media Accountability
Simon Thibault, Colette Brin, and Pierre Trudel
6 Australia and New Zealand: A Resurgence of Public Interest in Media Performance
Ian Richards and Verica Rupar
Part 3 Western Europe
7 Overview: Western Europe
Tobias Eberwein, Susanne Fengler, and Matthias Karmasin
8 Sweden: Old Wine in New Bottles
Torbjorn Von Krogh and Goran Svensson
9 Germany: Beyond the Beacon
Tobias Eberwein and Janis Brinkmann
10 Spain: An Expanding Accountability Landscape with Major Challenges to Overcome
Xavier Ramon, Ruth Rodriguez-Martinez, Marcel Mauri-Rios, and Salvador Alsius
11 Italy: Overregulation, Media Concentration, Political Transparency, and Economic Crisis
Sergio Splendore
Part 4 Central and Eastern Europe and the Post-Soviet Space
12 Overview: Central and Eastern Europe and the Post-Soviet Space
Bogusława Dobek-Ostrowska
13 Poland: Polarized Model of Media Accountability
Michał Głowacki and Michał Kuś
14 Hungary: Growing Concentration, Intensifying Control
Agnes Urban
15 Estonia: From Analog to Digital – One Step Upward but Two Steps Back?
Urmas Loit, Epp Lauk, and Halliki Harro-Loit
16 Bosnia and Herzegovina: The Authority, the Media, and the Public in Correlating Multiple Negative Influences
Enes Osmančević
17 Ukraine: Lack of Self-Regulation in an Oligarch-Driven Media Landscape
Dariya Orlova and Halyna Budivska
18 Russia: Media Accountability in a Polarized Society
Anna Litvinenko and Svetlana S. Bodrunova
19 Kyrgyzstan: Accountability in a Constrained Media Environment
Bahtiyar Kurambayev
Part 5 Turkey, Israel, the Mena Region, and Iran
20 Overview: Turkey, Israel, the Mena Region, and Iran
Judith Pies and Hanan Badr
21 Turkey: Crackdowns against Journalists are Paralyzing Media Accountability
Ceren Sozeri Ozdal
22 Israel: The Importance of Alternative Media as a Media Accountability Instrument
Noam Lemelshtrich Latar, Matan Aharoni, and Motti Poppel
23 Morocco: Accountability at a Nascent Stage
Mohammed Ibahrine and Bouziane Zaid
24 Tunisia: The Urgent Need for Media Accountability
Abdelkrim Hizaoui
25 Egypt: No Horizons for Independent Media Accountability?
Hanan Badr and Nadia Leihs
26 Jordan: (Still) Co-Opted and Contained
Philip Madanat and Judith Pies
27 Iraq: Citizens Finally Taking Media into Account
Anja Wollenberg
28 Iran: Centralized Control and Tattered Accountability
Mahsa Alimardani and Marcus Michaelsen
Part 6 Sub-Saharan Africa
29 Overview: Sub-Saharan Africa
Herman Wasserman
30 Kenya: An Exploration of Media Regulation and Accountability
Levi Obonyo
31 Nigeria: Democratic Press, Authoritarian Government?
Chinyere Stella Okunna, Ngozi Marion Emmanuel, and Henry Chigozie Duru
32 Ghana: The Double-Bind of Media Freedom
Michael Yao Wodui Serwornoo, Benedine Azanu, Timothy Quashigah, and Modestus Fosu
33 South Africa: Media Accountability in a Young Democracy
Herman Wasserman
34 Namibia: Fit for Purpose? A Critical Assessment of the Performance of the Media Ombudsperson System
Admire Mare and Hilary Mare
35 Uganda: The Arduous Quest for Media Accountability
William Tayeebwa
36 Zimbabwe: Media Accountability in an Authoritarian Context
Wallace Chuma
Part 7 Asia
37 Overview: Asia
Shakuntala Rao
38 India: Strong State and Weak Media Accountability
Suruchi Mazumdar
39 Pakistan: Corporatization and Weak Ethics
Sher Baz Khan
40 Myanmar: Potential Diversity, Unfulfilled Hopes
Dominik Speck, Isabella Kurkowski, and Zayar Hlaing
41 Japan: Corporate Accountability First
Cesar Castellvi
42 China: Little Prospect of Enhanced Media Accountability
Sigrun Abels, Hendrik Ankenbrand, Doris Fischer, and Shi Ming
43 Hong Kong: Media in Political Turmoil
Agnes Lam, Ernest Lau, and Florence Ng
44 Indonesia: A Press Council with Exceptional Powers
Angela Romano and Stanley Adi Prasetyo
Part 8 Latin America
45 Overview: Latin America
Fernando Oliveira Paulino, Mariella Bastian, and Renata Gomes
46 Argentina: Advances and Setbacks in the Democratization of Communication
Cynthia Ottaviano
47 Brazil: Media Accountability Instruments, Journalists, and Media Ownership
Fernando Oliveira Paulino, Mariella Bastian, and Renata Gomes
48 Chile: Double System of Self-Regulation and a few Union Organizations
Fernando Gutierrez Atala and Constanza Hormazabal Durand
49 Mexico: Searching for a More Independent and Democratic Media System
Lenin Martell and Laura Martinez Aguila
50 Colombia: Media Observatories and Ombudspersons as Places of Reflection
Diego Garcia Ramirez, Maria Patricia Tellez, and Edgar Allan Nino Prato
51 Costa Rica: Media Responsibility as a Pending Issue
Patricia Vega Jimenez, Giselle Boza Solano, Lilliana Solis Solis, Luisa Ochoa-Chaves, and Lidieth Garro-Rojas
Part 9 Conclusions
52 Summary of Country Chapters
Susanne Fengler, Tobias Eberwein, Matthias Karmasin, Sandra Barthel, and Dominik Speck
53 A Comparative Analysis of Media Accountability across the Globe: Models, Frameworks, Perspectives
Susanne Fengler
Biography
Susanne Fengler is Professor of International Journalism and Director of the Erich Brost Institute for International Journalism at TU Dortmund University, Germany. She is the co-editor of Journalists and Media Accountability: An International Study of News People in the Digital Age, Cultures of Transparency: Between Promise and Peril, and The European Handbook of Media Accountability.
Tobias Eberwein is Senior Researcher at the Institute for Comparative Media and Communication Studies at the Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna, Austria. He is the co-editor of Media Accountability in the Era of Post-Truth Politics: European Challenges and Perspectives, Mapping Media Accountability – In Europe and Beyond, and The European Handbook of Media Accountability.
Matthias Karmasin is Director of the Institute for Comparative Media and Communication Studies at the Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna, and Full Professor at the Department of Media and Communications at the University of Klagenfurt, Austria. He is the co-editor of Responsibility and Resistance: Ethics in Mediatized Worlds, the Handbook of Integrated CSR Communication, and The European Handbook of Media Accountability.
