Category: The Hot Potato
Why Is Iran Shaking up Its Media?
A major reform of Iran’s media is underway as the country’s leadership wants to boost its influence, both at home and abroad. Yet, “the strategy…
Anya Schiffrin: Media Capture Got Worse
Media capture is a useful concept for understanding the state of the media today, describing a situation in which governments or vested interests networked with…
Internet Freedom in Europe: It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Turkey
An increasing number of governments are increasingly turning the screws on internet freedom. Funnily enough, they look at the EU for inspiration. When Judit Varga,…
Journalism in Ukraine: A Feast of the Oligarchs
With the Ukrainian media ruled by four influential oligarchs, the future of the country’s independent journalism looks bleaker than ever. The dominance of a handful…
Nic Newman: “Divided Societies Seem to Trust the Media Less”
Nic Newman is a senior research associate at the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, University of Oxford. As journalist and digital strategist, Mr…
What Happens When Academia and Media Work Together
When journalists team up with university researchers, only good things can come of it. With scale and structure, this type of collaboration can solve many,…
How Covid-19 Threatens Media Freedom
Access to accurate information is essential to fighting a pandemic. However, many governments hide behind the emergency to restrict media freedom. On January 26, Malaysian…
Is Fact-Checking Working?
Much time and money have been spent on combatting misinformation through fact-checking. But it’s not clear whether it has any impact at all. Fact-checkers are taking…
Serbian Journalism in Free Fall
All eyes are currently resting on Hungary and other media freedom bashers across Europe – but it is actually in Serbia where independent journalism is…
Google Bankrolls Oligarch-Owned Media Group in Hungary
Google joins the Hungarian government of Viktor Orban and its allies in funding the company that runs Origo, a Hungarian pro-government news portal. The recent…