The coverage of news media on conflicts increasingly became the subject of criticism, accused of sensationalism, oversimplification, and underrepresentation of certain issues. While recognizing that it is the journalists and editors that make choices regarding the collection and framing of the stories and accounts published in newspapers and digital media outlets, this thesis sets to understand these choices against the background of the web of structural constraints pertaining to professional, organizational, economic and political contexts of their work. Drawing on a theoretical perspective of Peace Journalism and Bläsi’s model of factors influencing conflict-coverage, this thesis explores what factors influenced the coverage of Hong Kong’s Anti-Extradition protests and how they can be seen as hindrances or facilitators for Peace Journalism. The study presents the results of a qualitative content analysis of material obtained through semi-structured expert interviews with four journalists who covered the protests on-site. The findings display that factors pertaining to the journalistic system, personal features of the journalist, lobbies, conflict situation on-site, public climate, and audience were playing a significant role in shaping the news production throughout the Anti-Extradition protests. A majority of these factors were identified as limiting rather than facilitating Peace Journalism. This study suggests that in order to have a relevant and lasting impact, Peace Journalism needs to formulate strategies that consider the realities journalists face on the ground and factors influencing conflict coverage that pose limitations to its practice.

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The Media High Council (MHC) was put in place by the 2003 constitution of the Republic of Rwanda as amended to today. As article 34 clarifies, the MHC is an independent institution which aims to address issues of media and press freedom. In the same spirit, the law number 30 /2009 of 16/9/2009 determines its mission, organisation and functioning. According to article 2 of this law, the Media High Council is responsible for protection, control and promotion of media and media professionals. Based on normative theories, qualitative methods and thematic analysis, this study has explored the policy formation of the Media High Council and how it has been balancing the seeming contradictory responsibilities of protecting and controlling media from 2007 to 2010. / Communication Science / M.A. (Communication)

The thesis presents a contribution to the topic of critical examination of various ways to evaluate and compare the level of press (media) freedom in countries throughout the world. It analyses the process of presentation the conclusions of press freedom indices to the public. The analysis is guided on two levels. First, the form in which the press freedom indices are published is investigated. And second, the media reflection of these publications is examined. The starting-point of this analysis focuses on theoretical view on various definitions of press freedom. First part of the thesis therefore provides the summary of important fields that should not be forgotten by any conceptualization of press freedom. Second chapter deals with the problems connected to evaluations and comparisons of press freedom in general and then in particular concerning the Freedom of the Press index by Freedom House and World Press Freedom Index by Reporters Without Borders. In the second part of the thesis, Czech media reflection of the two concerned indices is analyzed. First, the specifics of the Czech media landscape are dealt with. Next, the content analysis is applied that should approach the way Czech media use the data provided by the indices. The thesis then concludes the most serious weaknesses in the process through...

Recent attacks on media freedom in South Africa, that includes the ruling ANC party’s proposal for statutory regulation of the press, have seen press self-regulation fiercely contested and the ombudsman of the Press Council of South Africa (PCSA) defending the press’ constitutional right to freedom of expression. Extensive arguments have been made by government, the public and the press for other forms of press regulation, such as statutory and independent co-regulation. In addition no accurate, detailed trends arising from complaints the ombudsman has dealt with in recent years, have been freely available on which arguments in such a debate could be based. This research analyses the complaints dealt with by the press ombudsman in recent years in order to evaluate the present self-regulatory system, which is based primarily on the theories of freedom of expression and social responsibility of the press. The analyses involves determining what trends exist in complaints cases that the ombudsman, Joe Thloloe, has dealt with since he took office in August 2007, until August 2011 when a Review of his office was published by the PCSA. The study takes a qualitative approach, with some degree of quantification, and utilises document analysis and qualitative content analysis as data collection methods to analyse 593 cases, with specific focus on government complaints which form 15% of all cases analysed. The findings reflect that the ombudsman’s approach in dealing with complaints was fair, that he displayed intolerance for transgressions and that his rulings were free of any obvious bias. This is evident in, amongst other findings, the very few appeals lodged against his rulings and even less successful appeals. In addition the press often voluntarily corrected their mistakes before prompted by the ombudsman. The findings also dispel some of the ANC’s criticisms that have led to its calls for statutory press regulation, such as the public and government’s acceptance of the self-regulation system, complaints from government largely having involved accuracy and not privacy as the ANC claimed, and that government’s failure to sign the legal waiver often resulted in cases being dismissed. The findings also point to a significant increase in complaints, specifically from government, in the year 2010, which is the year in which the ANC renewed its calls for statutory regulation. This does not necessarily reflect a sudden decline in the quality of journalism but rather indicates that the ruling party differed fundamentally in its philosophical thinking regarding the press, which was perhaps informed by a developmental model of the press rather than the social responsibility model on which the present system is based. In this sense the government sees it fit to interfere or censor the press if it feels the system is not performing. The findings show the ombudsman’s office lacked proper record-keeping from which accurate statistics could be derived, leaving a gap for criticism against the ombudsman. In addition, most often complaints against newspapers involved accuracy and fairness (such as not asking for comment). As is evident in several complaints falling outside the ombudsman’s mandate and the high number of dismissed cases, the findings also point to a lack of awareness or information of the system and of the ombudsman’s roles. In light of the theoretical frameworks that set out how the self-regulation system, which is entrenched in the notion of press freedom, can enhance the cause of press freedom by its ombudsman enforcing a socially responsible Press Code, the findings ultimately lead to the conclusion that the ombudsman’s work has advanced the cause of press freedom in South Africa during the research period. / Thesis (MA (Communication Studies))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2013

Recent attacks on media freedom in South Africa, that includes the ruling ANC party’s proposal for statutory regulation of the press, have seen press self-regulation fiercely contested and the ombudsman of the Press Council of South Africa (PCSA) defending the press’ constitutional right to freedom of expression. Extensive arguments have been made by government, the public and the press for other forms of press regulation, such as statutory and independent co-regulation. In addition no accurate, detailed trends arising from complaints the ombudsman has dealt with in recent years, have been freely available on which arguments in such a debate could be based. This research analyses the complaints dealt with by the press ombudsman in recent years in order to evaluate the present self-regulatory system, which is based primarily on the theories of freedom of expression and social responsibility of the press. The analyses involves determining what trends exist in complaints cases that the ombudsman, Joe Thloloe, has dealt with since he took office in August 2007, until August 2011 when a Review of his office was published by the PCSA. The study takes a qualitative approach, with some degree of quantification, and utilises document analysis and qualitative content analysis as data collection methods to analyse 593 cases, with specific focus on government complaints which form 15% of all cases analysed. The findings reflect that the ombudsman’s approach in dealing with complaints was fair, that he displayed intolerance for transgressions and that his rulings were free of any obvious bias. This is evident in, amongst other findings, the very few appeals lodged against his rulings and even less successful appeals. In addition the press often voluntarily corrected their mistakes before prompted by the ombudsman. The findings also dispel some of the ANC’s criticisms that have led to its calls for statutory press regulation, such as the public and government’s acceptance of the self-regulation system, complaints from government largely having involved accuracy and not privacy as the ANC claimed, and that government’s failure to sign the legal waiver often resulted in cases being dismissed. The findings also point to a significant increase in complaints, specifically from government, in the year 2010, which is the year in which the ANC renewed its calls for statutory regulation. This does not necessarily reflect a sudden decline in the quality of journalism but rather indicates that the ruling party differed fundamentally in its philosophical thinking regarding the press, which was perhaps informed by a developmental model of the press rather than the social responsibility model on which the present system is based. In this sense the government sees it fit to interfere or censor the press if it feels the system is not performing. The findings show the ombudsman’s office lacked proper record-keeping from which accurate statistics could be derived, leaving a gap for criticism against the ombudsman. In addition, most often complaints against newspapers involved accuracy and fairness (such as not asking for comment). As is evident in several complaints falling outside the ombudsman’s mandate and the high number of dismissed cases, the findings also point to a lack of awareness or information of the system and of the ombudsman’s roles. In light of the theoretical frameworks that set out how the self-regulation system, which is entrenched in the notion of press freedom, can enhance the cause of press freedom by its ombudsman enforcing a socially responsible Press Code, the findings ultimately lead to the conclusion that the ombudsman’s work has advanced the cause of press freedom in South Africa during the research period. / Thesis (MA (Communication Studies))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2013

There is widespread agreement that populism is on the rise around the globe. A concept that has been largely associated with Latin America has increasingly become related to the Global North where populists have gained power in several countries in the past decade. Previously, scholars argued that although populism has the ability to rapidly attract popular support it rarely persists in the long term. Yet there are both historical and contempary examples to contradict that notion. Which leads to the question; how do populists sustain power in a competitive democracy? This paper takes a closer look at how populists in power use media strategies to solidify their position. Existing scholarly literature on the use of media by populists is scarce and has mainly been focused on Latin America. For the research purpose, a detailed narrative spanning an eight year period was conducted to account for the media strategies used by populists in the Hungarian government. The results dinstinguish several strategies used by populists in Hungary which can be linked to their success in preserving power. The thesis contributes to the knowledge on populist media strategies and the wide literature on populism.

This graduation thesis, entitled "Results of libel in press in the relation to the relevant moral rights especially in the area of private law in the Czech Republic" examines press interference into relevant moral rights. The first chapter describes the historical foundations of personal rights protection, as well as their international and European connections. The second chapter discusses the power of media, and the means used for its maintenance and strengthening. In the third chapter, an outline of motivations for publication of news press, which balance between righteousness and libel. In the fourth chapter, an assessment of the clash between freedom of speech and protection of privacy, which are categories guaranteed in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The content of the fifth chapter is fundamental because it provides a thorough analysis of the law which governs personal rights, with a focus on the civil code, press law and procedural rules. The sixth chapter brings sight of rules established by autoregulation. It deals with self- censorship, the journalist's code of ethics, self-controlling authorities and so on. In the seventh chapter, the author examines the motivation behind submitting an accusation for the breach of personal rights. The motivation can be a real and legitimate defence...

The Media High Council (MHC) was put in place by the 2003 constitution of the Republic of Rwanda as amended to today. As article 34 clarifies, the MHC is an independent institution which aims to address issues of media and press freedom. In the same spirit, the law number 30 /2009 of 16/9/2009 determines its mission, organisation and functioning. According to article 2 of this law, the Media High Council is responsible for protection, control and promotion of media and media professionals. Based on normative theories, qualitative methods and thematic analysis, this study has explored the policy formation of the Media High Council and how it has been balancing the seeming contradictory responsibilities of protecting and controlling media from 2007 to 2010. / Communication Science / M.A. (Communication)

This thesis investigates whether institutional journalism should receive special treatment at the hands of the law. Special treatment encompasses the affording of benefits to and the imposition of liabilities on journalistic institutions and the individuals who work for them. The arguments against special treatment are pragmatic and theoretical: pragmatic arguments emphasise, inter alia, the difficulty of providing a definition of journalism, and theoretical arguments emphasise the difficulty in explaining why special treatment can be coherent. The former can be addressed by describing how special treatment is already afforded to institutional journalism, both liabilities and benefits, to individuals and institutions, and showing that some of the problems foreseen by the pragmatic arguments have not proved as difficult as they appear. The arguments that special treatment is incoherent can be addressed by arguing that the credibility and assessability of institutional journalism still provide a prima facie rationale for special treatment irrespective of the rise of public speech on the Internet, when combined with the integral nature of journalism to democracy. Two basic arguments are advanced why this is so. The first, the free speech values argument, is a consequentialist account that holds that special treatment is appropriate when (or because) institutional journalism contributes to free speech values. It is attractive, but presents difficulties, both when considered in the abstract and when applied to the free speech value of democracy. The second, a rights-based argument, based on the notion that freedoms of speech and of the Press are distinguishable, can be based on either on Dworkin’s theory of rights as trumps or Raz’s theory of rights as interests. Raz’s account is preferable, as it complements the free speech values thesis in explaining the coherence of special treatment.