[FoME] Book: Media Assistance in the Western Balkans

[Christoph Dietz]

Media Constrained by Context: International Assistance and the
Transition to Democratic Media in the Western Balkans
Edited by Kristina Irion and Tarik  Jusić
Central European University Press, 2018, 360 p.
ISBN: 978-963-386-259-9

>From the publishers' website:

This book compares the results of twenty years of international media
assistance in the five countries of the western Balkans. It asks what
happens to imported models when they are applied to newly evolving media
systems in societies in transition.

Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Kosovo, Macedonia, and Serbia undertook a
range of media reforms to conform with accession requirements of the
European Union and the standards of the Council of Europe, among others.
The essays explore the nexus between the democratic transformation of
the media and international media assistance in these countries. The
cross-national analysis concludes that the effects of international
assistance are highly constrained by local contexts. In hindsight it
becomes clear that escalating media assistance does not necessarily
improve outcomes. In the western Balkans imported solutions have not
been sensitive to local conditions, and international strategies have
tended to be schematic, without strategic approaches to promote media
policy stability, credible media reform or implementation.

Chapter 1: International Assistance and Media Democratization in the
Western Balkans: A Theoretical Framework 
Kristina Irion and Tarik Jusić

Chapter 2: Limited Assistance for Limited Impact—International Media
Assistance in Albania 
Ilda Londo

Chapter 3: Media Reform through Intervention: International Media
Assistance in Bosnia and Herzegovina 
Tarik Jusić and Nidžara Ahmetašević

Chapter 4: Starting from Scratch: The Role of Media Assistance in the
Establishment of Independent Media Institutions in Kosovo 
Naser Miftari

Chapter 5: Assisting Media Democratization after Low-Intensity
Conflict: The Case of Macedonia 
Tamara Dimitrijevska-Markoski and Zhidas Daskalovski

Chapter 6: Media Reforms in Turbulent Times: The Role of Media
Assistance in the Establishment of Independent Media Institutions in
Serbia 
Davor Marko

Chapter 7: Looking for Shortcuts? Assistance to—and Development
of—Public Service Broadcasting in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Serbia, Kosovo,
Macedonia, and Albania 
Mark Thompson

Chapter 8: The Uncertain Future: Centers for Investigative Journalism
in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia 
Nevena Ršumović

Chapter 9: Building Media Systems in the Western Balkans: Lost between
Models and Realities 
Katrin Voltmer

Chapter 10: Conclusions: A Cross-National Comparison of International
Assistance and Media Democratization in the Western Balkans 
Kristina Irion and Tarik Jusić

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Dr. Christoph Dietz
CAMECO
Postfach 10 21 04 
D-52021 Aachen, Germany
Tel.: 0049 - 241 - 70 13 12 14
Fax: 0049 - 241 - 70 13 12 33
christoph.dietz at cameco.org 
http://www.cameco.org