This study based on a content analysis and a nationwide survey examines Taiwan's suicide coverage... more This study based on a content analysis and a nationwide survey examines Taiwan's suicide coverage and general public evaluations of the World Health Organization media guidelines, alongside the copycat effect. Key findings show the daily newspaper Apple Daily essentially failed to follow the guidance, and survey respondents who perceived a strong copycat effect downplayed its sensationalism. The study discusses the implications of the findings for policymaking, public health advocacy, and journalistic practices in how to promote compliance with the WHO guidance.
This exploratory study analyses growing pressures on faculty in Central Asia to publish research ... more This exploratory study analyses growing pressures on faculty in Central Asia to publish research in high-quality international journals and how faculty attempt to meet publishing mandates from institutions and ministries motivated to join world rankings. This is important because of the scarcity of Central Asian scholarship in peer-reviewed journalism and mass communication (J&MC) journals due to the exceptional challenges faculty face publishing their work internationally. This study, the first of its kind for international J&MC scholarship, draws on a survey and qualitative interviews with faculty who presented research on J&MC topics at one or more Central Eurasian Studies Society (CESS) conferences from 2015 to 2019. The study selected CESS because it is one of the few academic and international venues focused on the region. It found that a third of conference papers were subsequently published. Among paper authors who did not publish, many cite heavy teaching and administrative...
Journalism faces a series of ethics crises, particularly in Central Asia because journalism is ma... more Journalism faces a series of ethics crises, particularly in Central Asia because journalism is marked by wide ethical misbehavior including lack of balance and impartiality, using multiple fake names, selling and/or buying news, bribing journalists and others. This study analyzes professional ethical perspectives and practices of Central Asian journalists by examining and comparing the four former Soviet republics of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan Table 1. This study uses in-depth interviews with 24 journalists to examine their ethical ideals in the profession and how their ethical perspectives impact potential democracy. Its significance lies in revealing the gravity of ethical misbehavior where journalists call ethics a "Western luxury" and where public life was filled with falsehoods.
Applied Environmental Education & Communication, 2014
ABSTRACT Three former Soviet republics occupy Central Asia's Ferghana Valley, a region of... more ABSTRACT Three former Soviet republics occupy Central Asia's Ferghana Valley, a region of serious transborder environmental problems, especially ones that involve water and energy. Most news organizations in Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan provide little in-depth coverage of these issues. Journalists in one country usually do not seek news sources in the others. Journalists and media experts cite such reasons as avoidance of controversy, self-censorship, lack of access to information, little collaboration, inadequate professional skills, and weak minority-language media.
Uzbekistan faces severe ecological problems including the rapidly shrinking Aral Sea, desertifica... more Uzbekistan faces severe ecological problems including the rapidly shrinking Aral Sea, desertification, residues of biochemical weapons, and environmentally related respiratory disease. Even so, the country's print and broadcast media do little in-depth or analytical ...
Dissolution of the Soviet Union opened the door for each of its former Soviet socialist republics... more Dissolution of the Soviet Union opened the door for each of its former Soviet socialist republics to develop its own press system, including its own approach to media freedom. The Western hope was that despite decades of a largely monolithic press system designed in and controlled from Moscow, those fifteen press systems would individually and collectively reflect major elements of “democratic journalism.” In other words, Western journalists, funders, human rights advocates, and civil society-related nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) hoped for rapid transitions to democratic and transparent governance accompanied by protection of individual rights, including freedom of the press, media plurality, and freedom of speech. Experience since then illustrates that such liberal Western hopes proved largely illusory in most of the former Soviet Union. The exception has been in the three Baltic nations of Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia, all of which developed press systems similar to those...
Summary and Conclusions This wide range of contemporary mass media research illustrates how Centr... more Summary and Conclusions This wide range of contemporary mass media research illustrates how Central Asia press outletsremain tightly controlled and manipulated, first under the czars, then under the Soviets, and now un-der authoritarian regimes. Over the past two decades, the press systems have not achieved even min-imal democratization and independence by international standards. Perhaps the Internet and othertechnologies will have a better chance of circumventing censors and the economic obstacles that denythe great mass of Central Asians the ability to participate in a useful dialog leading to more transpar-ent and participatory governance.Several overarching observations emerge from this synthesized examination of recent research.The five separate press systems that replaced the single Soviet system share many commonalities,although significant differences also exist. These studies indicate varying but not decisive degrees ofexternal influences from multi-governmental entities, media-building foundations, and promoters ofcivil society; such influences on Central Asian media development originate with mostly Western-based journalism and mass media trainers.Another observation concerns regimes’ use and abuse of laws to control information about pub-lic affairs and public issues. That pattern evident from several studies reflects a disconnect betweenconstitutional and statutory guarantees of press freedom on one side and actual threats to those guar-antees on the other side due to libel and “honor and dignity” suits, criminal prosecutions, and tighten-ing regulation of the Internet.Examined collectively, these studies suggest the following obstacles to democratic and independ-ent media development in Central Asia: strict governmental and extra-governmental restraints on the press, regardless of the type ofmedium—print, broadcast, or Internet; inadequate professional training, leadership, resources, financial incentives, and ethical stand-ards for journalists and prospective journalists; limitations on the ability of domestic and international press and human rights defenders tocompel changes in policies and laws; insufficient market resources to create and sustain independent news organizations; and a resulting lack of credibility and public trust in the press.Important lessons relevant to the future of Central Asia press systems emerge. First, the virtual-ly complete absence of independent media is a significant barrier to democratic institutions and hu-man rights protections. Press freedom is not an end to itself, but a cornerstone of civil society and therule of law.
... at Google Indexer on June 25, 2010 jou.sagepub.com Downloaded from Page 6. Freedman Kyrgyzsta... more ... at Google Indexer on June 25, 2010 jou.sagepub.com Downloaded from Page 6. Freedman Kyrgyzstan press restraints and press freedoms 847 Khaldarova wrote that before the revolution, the media had been 'almost fully controlled by the government. ...
From Czarism and Bolshevism to the current post-communist era, the media in Central Asia has been... more From Czarism and Bolshevism to the current post-communist era, the media in Central Asia has been tightly constrained. Though the governments in the region assert that a free press is permitted to operate, research has shown this to be untrue. In all five former Soviet republics of Central Asia, the media has been controlled, suppressed, punished, and often outlawed. This enlightening collection of essays investigates the reasons why these countries have failed to develop independent and sustainable press systems. It documents the complex relationship between the press and governance, nation-building, national identity, and public policy. In this book, scholars explore the numerous and broad-reaching implications of media control in a variety of contexts, touching on topics such as Internet regulation and censorship, press rights abuses, professional journalism standards and self-censorship,
Independence for the former Soviet republics of Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan in Central Asia has not... more Independence for the former Soviet republics of Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan in Central Asia has not led to press freedom, solutions to pressing environmental problems, or development of effective grassroots nongovernmental organizations. This article examines relations between journalists and environmental nongovernmental organizations, and it identifies barriers to in-depth, balanced, and accurate news coverage of environmental issues and events.
Despite major ecological challenges and a pluralistic, partly free press system, news organizatio... more Despite major ecological challenges and a pluralistic, partly free press system, news organizations in the Republic of Georgia generally provide little environmental coverage to their audiences. Interviews with journalists, media experts, and eco-NGO leaders identified four major reasons for the sparsity of coverage: shortcomings of journalists and news organizations; access to information and news sources; lack of priority; and lack of public demand.
In October 2016, a World Wildlife Fund report warned that about two-thirds of the planet’s wildli... more In October 2016, a World Wildlife Fund report warned that about two-thirds of the planet’s wildlife could disappear by 2020. The report received considerable media coverage, and although it has been challenged as overstatement, its fi ndings mostly align with much of the scientifi c research confi rming the dramatic impact of human activities on biodiversity loss ( Ceballos et al., 2015 ). Species extinction has always been of interest to various publics, but in the twenty-fi rst century, the impacts of people on extinctions are unprecedented. Some scientists refer to this sixth extinction as an event “as extensive and rapid as fi ve previous mass extinction events in the last 600 million years when 65 percent to 95 percent of marine animals previously known from fossil records disappeared” ( Stork, 2009 : 58). The current era, referred to as the Anthropocene ( Young et al., 2016 ), raises questions about how modern society approaches the problem. One way to understand societal atti...
ABSTRACT A growing number of journalists across the world are in prison for practicing their prof... more ABSTRACT A growing number of journalists across the world are in prison for practicing their profession in ways that antagonise regimes, militaries, oligarchs, and other powerful interests. There have been studies by academics and press rights defenders of why journalists get imprisoned. In addition, human rights and press rights NGOs have investigated prison conditions for journalists. However, there is little published research about what journalists do after release. Do they resume their professional work, either in their home countries or in exile? How do prison experiences reshape their approach to journalism and relationships with news sources and colleagues? Based on in-depth interviews with eight formerly jailed journalists, with psychologists working with formerly jailed journalists, and with the executive director of a centre dealing with journalists’ trauma, this exploratory study identified several common but not universal themes, including their views on the journalistic mission and the psychological ramifications of incarceration. It examines whether, how, and why they returned to the profession, additional constraints they may work under, and problems with post-traumatic stress disorder and other psychological conditions.
Environmental impacts of steelmaking are felt in communities where steel is made and beyond, from... more Environmental impacts of steelmaking are felt in communities where steel is made and beyond, from dramatic changes in landscapes to smoke-darkened horizons to contaminated ponds. For photographers and other artists—painters, poets, songwriters—those impacts provide an opportunity to use their creative works to draw public attention to ecological conditions at operating and abandoned mills. This article explores how three American photographers—Masumi Hayashi, John Pfahl, and Ruth Dusseault—used their images to raise social consciousness of steel-related environmental problems. It finds that despite differences in their photographic techniques, each has created a potent marriage of aesthetics with social commentary and a public agenda through documenting unwelcome and welcome changes in communities affected by steelmaking.
This study based on a content analysis and a nationwide survey examines Taiwan's suicide coverage... more This study based on a content analysis and a nationwide survey examines Taiwan's suicide coverage and general public evaluations of the World Health Organization media guidelines, alongside the copycat effect. Key findings show the daily newspaper Apple Daily essentially failed to follow the guidance, and survey respondents who perceived a strong copycat effect downplayed its sensationalism. The study discusses the implications of the findings for policymaking, public health advocacy, and journalistic practices in how to promote compliance with the WHO guidance.
This exploratory study analyses growing pressures on faculty in Central Asia to publish research ... more This exploratory study analyses growing pressures on faculty in Central Asia to publish research in high-quality international journals and how faculty attempt to meet publishing mandates from institutions and ministries motivated to join world rankings. This is important because of the scarcity of Central Asian scholarship in peer-reviewed journalism and mass communication (J&MC) journals due to the exceptional challenges faculty face publishing their work internationally. This study, the first of its kind for international J&MC scholarship, draws on a survey and qualitative interviews with faculty who presented research on J&MC topics at one or more Central Eurasian Studies Society (CESS) conferences from 2015 to 2019. The study selected CESS because it is one of the few academic and international venues focused on the region. It found that a third of conference papers were subsequently published. Among paper authors who did not publish, many cite heavy teaching and administrative...
Journalism faces a series of ethics crises, particularly in Central Asia because journalism is ma... more Journalism faces a series of ethics crises, particularly in Central Asia because journalism is marked by wide ethical misbehavior including lack of balance and impartiality, using multiple fake names, selling and/or buying news, bribing journalists and others. This study analyzes professional ethical perspectives and practices of Central Asian journalists by examining and comparing the four former Soviet republics of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan Table 1. This study uses in-depth interviews with 24 journalists to examine their ethical ideals in the profession and how their ethical perspectives impact potential democracy. Its significance lies in revealing the gravity of ethical misbehavior where journalists call ethics a "Western luxury" and where public life was filled with falsehoods.
Applied Environmental Education & Communication, 2014
ABSTRACT Three former Soviet republics occupy Central Asia's Ferghana Valley, a region of... more ABSTRACT Three former Soviet republics occupy Central Asia's Ferghana Valley, a region of serious transborder environmental problems, especially ones that involve water and energy. Most news organizations in Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan provide little in-depth coverage of these issues. Journalists in one country usually do not seek news sources in the others. Journalists and media experts cite such reasons as avoidance of controversy, self-censorship, lack of access to information, little collaboration, inadequate professional skills, and weak minority-language media.
Uzbekistan faces severe ecological problems including the rapidly shrinking Aral Sea, desertifica... more Uzbekistan faces severe ecological problems including the rapidly shrinking Aral Sea, desertification, residues of biochemical weapons, and environmentally related respiratory disease. Even so, the country's print and broadcast media do little in-depth or analytical ...
Dissolution of the Soviet Union opened the door for each of its former Soviet socialist republics... more Dissolution of the Soviet Union opened the door for each of its former Soviet socialist republics to develop its own press system, including its own approach to media freedom. The Western hope was that despite decades of a largely monolithic press system designed in and controlled from Moscow, those fifteen press systems would individually and collectively reflect major elements of “democratic journalism.” In other words, Western journalists, funders, human rights advocates, and civil society-related nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) hoped for rapid transitions to democratic and transparent governance accompanied by protection of individual rights, including freedom of the press, media plurality, and freedom of speech. Experience since then illustrates that such liberal Western hopes proved largely illusory in most of the former Soviet Union. The exception has been in the three Baltic nations of Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia, all of which developed press systems similar to those...
Summary and Conclusions This wide range of contemporary mass media research illustrates how Centr... more Summary and Conclusions This wide range of contemporary mass media research illustrates how Central Asia press outletsremain tightly controlled and manipulated, first under the czars, then under the Soviets, and now un-der authoritarian regimes. Over the past two decades, the press systems have not achieved even min-imal democratization and independence by international standards. Perhaps the Internet and othertechnologies will have a better chance of circumventing censors and the economic obstacles that denythe great mass of Central Asians the ability to participate in a useful dialog leading to more transpar-ent and participatory governance.Several overarching observations emerge from this synthesized examination of recent research.The five separate press systems that replaced the single Soviet system share many commonalities,although significant differences also exist. These studies indicate varying but not decisive degrees ofexternal influences from multi-governmental entities, media-building foundations, and promoters ofcivil society; such influences on Central Asian media development originate with mostly Western-based journalism and mass media trainers.Another observation concerns regimes’ use and abuse of laws to control information about pub-lic affairs and public issues. That pattern evident from several studies reflects a disconnect betweenconstitutional and statutory guarantees of press freedom on one side and actual threats to those guar-antees on the other side due to libel and “honor and dignity” suits, criminal prosecutions, and tighten-ing regulation of the Internet.Examined collectively, these studies suggest the following obstacles to democratic and independ-ent media development in Central Asia: strict governmental and extra-governmental restraints on the press, regardless of the type ofmedium—print, broadcast, or Internet; inadequate professional training, leadership, resources, financial incentives, and ethical stand-ards for journalists and prospective journalists; limitations on the ability of domestic and international press and human rights defenders tocompel changes in policies and laws; insufficient market resources to create and sustain independent news organizations; and a resulting lack of credibility and public trust in the press.Important lessons relevant to the future of Central Asia press systems emerge. First, the virtual-ly complete absence of independent media is a significant barrier to democratic institutions and hu-man rights protections. Press freedom is not an end to itself, but a cornerstone of civil society and therule of law.
... at Google Indexer on June 25, 2010 jou.sagepub.com Downloaded from Page 6. Freedman Kyrgyzsta... more ... at Google Indexer on June 25, 2010 jou.sagepub.com Downloaded from Page 6. Freedman Kyrgyzstan press restraints and press freedoms 847 Khaldarova wrote that before the revolution, the media had been 'almost fully controlled by the government. ...
From Czarism and Bolshevism to the current post-communist era, the media in Central Asia has been... more From Czarism and Bolshevism to the current post-communist era, the media in Central Asia has been tightly constrained. Though the governments in the region assert that a free press is permitted to operate, research has shown this to be untrue. In all five former Soviet republics of Central Asia, the media has been controlled, suppressed, punished, and often outlawed. This enlightening collection of essays investigates the reasons why these countries have failed to develop independent and sustainable press systems. It documents the complex relationship between the press and governance, nation-building, national identity, and public policy. In this book, scholars explore the numerous and broad-reaching implications of media control in a variety of contexts, touching on topics such as Internet regulation and censorship, press rights abuses, professional journalism standards and self-censorship,
Independence for the former Soviet republics of Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan in Central Asia has not... more Independence for the former Soviet republics of Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan in Central Asia has not led to press freedom, solutions to pressing environmental problems, or development of effective grassroots nongovernmental organizations. This article examines relations between journalists and environmental nongovernmental organizations, and it identifies barriers to in-depth, balanced, and accurate news coverage of environmental issues and events.
Despite major ecological challenges and a pluralistic, partly free press system, news organizatio... more Despite major ecological challenges and a pluralistic, partly free press system, news organizations in the Republic of Georgia generally provide little environmental coverage to their audiences. Interviews with journalists, media experts, and eco-NGO leaders identified four major reasons for the sparsity of coverage: shortcomings of journalists and news organizations; access to information and news sources; lack of priority; and lack of public demand.
In October 2016, a World Wildlife Fund report warned that about two-thirds of the planet’s wildli... more In October 2016, a World Wildlife Fund report warned that about two-thirds of the planet’s wildlife could disappear by 2020. The report received considerable media coverage, and although it has been challenged as overstatement, its fi ndings mostly align with much of the scientifi c research confi rming the dramatic impact of human activities on biodiversity loss ( Ceballos et al., 2015 ). Species extinction has always been of interest to various publics, but in the twenty-fi rst century, the impacts of people on extinctions are unprecedented. Some scientists refer to this sixth extinction as an event “as extensive and rapid as fi ve previous mass extinction events in the last 600 million years when 65 percent to 95 percent of marine animals previously known from fossil records disappeared” ( Stork, 2009 : 58). The current era, referred to as the Anthropocene ( Young et al., 2016 ), raises questions about how modern society approaches the problem. One way to understand societal atti...
ABSTRACT A growing number of journalists across the world are in prison for practicing their prof... more ABSTRACT A growing number of journalists across the world are in prison for practicing their profession in ways that antagonise regimes, militaries, oligarchs, and other powerful interests. There have been studies by academics and press rights defenders of why journalists get imprisoned. In addition, human rights and press rights NGOs have investigated prison conditions for journalists. However, there is little published research about what journalists do after release. Do they resume their professional work, either in their home countries or in exile? How do prison experiences reshape their approach to journalism and relationships with news sources and colleagues? Based on in-depth interviews with eight formerly jailed journalists, with psychologists working with formerly jailed journalists, and with the executive director of a centre dealing with journalists’ trauma, this exploratory study identified several common but not universal themes, including their views on the journalistic mission and the psychological ramifications of incarceration. It examines whether, how, and why they returned to the profession, additional constraints they may work under, and problems with post-traumatic stress disorder and other psychological conditions.
Environmental impacts of steelmaking are felt in communities where steel is made and beyond, from... more Environmental impacts of steelmaking are felt in communities where steel is made and beyond, from dramatic changes in landscapes to smoke-darkened horizons to contaminated ponds. For photographers and other artists—painters, poets, songwriters—those impacts provide an opportunity to use their creative works to draw public attention to ecological conditions at operating and abandoned mills. This article explores how three American photographers—Masumi Hayashi, John Pfahl, and Ruth Dusseault—used their images to raise social consciousness of steel-related environmental problems. It finds that despite differences in their photographic techniques, each has created a potent marriage of aesthetics with social commentary and a public agenda through documenting unwelcome and welcome changes in communities affected by steelmaking.
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Papers by Eric Freedman