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These are summarized results of the Media for Democracy Monitor – Edition 2021. After selecting a country, you will be presented with the assessment of its performance in each indicator, to which research members assigned values from 0 to 3. Alternatively, you can also compare the performance of all countries.
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Overall points (max. 90):
49
Freedom / Information
Due to Australia’s geography and population distribution, regional areas are less well-served than the metropolitan centres, where all media are available. Regional newspapers have significantly contracted, and this accelerated with Covid-19.
The Australian citizen is well supplied with news from different sources. However, the print media sector, already highly concentrated, is also in structural decline.
The Australian newspaper industry (print and online) is highly concentrated, impacting the availability of diverse news voices.
There are no written rules for newsroom democracy in the Australian media.
Media proprietors have long been dominant figures, also in newsroom decisions.
The strong position of Australian media proprietors protects the newsroom from external influence.
Although no formal rules on how to select and process news exist, informal rules are followed in the news selection and processing.
After decades of reforms and changed policies, women remain less paid, less promoted, and harassed.
Women in sports has seen greater coverage than ever, but there is room to expand how and how much the media is covering women and their concerns.
Misinformation is spreading aggressively on social media, and its impacts are reverberating in current crises.
Online harassment has become a mainstay of being a journalist online. Despite its implications for journalists, little has been done to stem the tide.
Equality / Interest Mediation
Australia has a high media ownership concentration on a national level for offline media, which tends to be repeated online.
Australia’s demographic distribution and resulting economy of scale have led to a high media ownership concentration on a regional level.
News and information formats are under pressure.
Australia offers an abundance of broadcast and print media in languages other than English.
Media are readily affordable in Australia but there is still a reluctance by some demographics to pay for news.
Australia has a number of monitoring instruments, but largely of a self-regulatory or co-regulatory nature.
The journalists’ code of ethics is well-known in the print industry but needs to be updated to better suit new online environments.
While the self-regulatory system is far from perfect, a fair attempt is made to implement it.
Though there is an ongoing level of interaction between journalists and the public, there is no formal participation mechanism in the news process.
There is evidence of internal diversity but little of internal pluralism.
Control / Watchdog
Australia has a number of independent observers of the news media.
Legal instruments to guarantee greater independence from powerholders are relatively new. However, defamation law continues to be used as another pathway by the rich and powerful to silence critics.
Data on media are rarely a topic of debate.
Most journalists receive professional training.
It is difficult to provide job security for journalists in this time of change.
The law provides access to public information, but practical problems persist.
Australia’s media sees itself as a watchdog.
Some mid-career training is on offer.
Commitment to investigative journalism is the Australian media’s way to brand themselves.
Overall points (max. 90):
57
Freedom / Information
A wide and stable variety of news media is available to Austrian citizens. There is a small regional bias between rural areas and the Vienna-region. The distribution of news media remains variable concerning media types.
Newspapers and public service television remain the prime sources of information concerning political issues. Among the younger population, the digital internet platforms increase their news relevance. Overall, the interest in news is high, but gaps are widening between soft and hard news followers.
Editors-in-chief and journalists emphasized the predominant role of the journalistic research over news agency and public relation material. National and international collaboration is increasing.
Newsroom democracy is established by editorial statutes, which are common in Austrian newsrooms. But journalists have limited influence on decisions hiring the editor-in-chief.
The separation of newsrooms from management is formally practiced by all media organizations in this media sample and can be interpreted as common in the Austrian media system.
Editors-in-chief strictly denied the direct influence of external parties on newsroom work and content, although such attempts were occasionally reported. The amount of public advertising compromises on editorial freedom for some leading news media.
Institutionalized means of criticizing journalistic working habits only exist in a few newsrooms and are not regularly practiced.
Employment conditions among male and female journalists are equal in terms of conditions and pay.
There is growing sensitivity among journalists for gender equality in media content, but no formal rules apply.
Misinformation on digital platforms is of minor relevance and importance so far, and defence mechanisms are not yet developed.
Journalists generally rely on support and protection by their employers in case of harassment.
Equality / Interest Mediation
Ownership concentration on a national level remains remarkably high as a few big media companies divide the market among them.
On a regional level ownership concentration is remaining remarkably high. In most Austrian regions one newspaper is dominant; the public service broadcaster still dominates the local radio market.
Austrian news media provide for a large variety of different news formats, from headline-news online to long-reads in newspapers and background features on radio and television. All different categories are covered, including local, national and international news as well as politics, economy, current affairs, culture and sport sections.
The availability and institutionalization of minority media depends on whether or not the minority is legally recognized. Overall, a wide range of minority media are available; however, their reach is limited.
All news media have moderate sales prices compared to the average income of Austrian households. Prices for cultural expenditures have remained stable or even been decreasing over the past 10 years.
Publicly available institutionalized and independent media monitoring instruments are rare in Austria.
The self-governed code of ethics for print media is well respected. For audiovisual and internet-based media no national code exists (only company rules).
Self-regulation occurs rather informally; institutionalized or modified rules and procedures are rare.
Audience participation happens by posting comments online in some web-editions of newspapers and by analog letters to the editor. Austrian newsrooms are not open to citizens’ participation.
Most Austrian newsrooms do not have codified rules on internal pluralism, public service television being the exception. Leading newsrooms are undertaking efforts to extend the range of voices represented by the media.
Control / Watchdog
Self-observation by journalists in the media and public debates about journalism has increased. But apart from some independent initiatives, no systematic media observation is done in Austria.
By law, journalists’ independence is protected, but ownership structures limit this freedom in practice.
Ownership structures are transparent online, but some important information on media and advertising markets is lacking.
The share of higher education among journalists is increasing, but time and resources for professional journalism, as well as job satisfaction, are on the retreat.
Journalists stay for a long time with their employers and are formally well protected by several laws. Economic pressures affect experienced journalists.
Although the Constitutions guarantees freedom of information, the absence of a freedom information act impedes access to public information and exacerbates journalistic work.
Significant value is attributed to the watchdog function of media in Austria.
Supply of further education is abundant in Austrian newsroom, but course attendance is not.
Austrian newsrooms are positive and try to provide resources for investigative reporting to the extent possible, but funds are strictly limited.
Overall points (max. 90):
53
Freedom / Information
All types of media are distributed and available throughout the whole of Flanders, with a broad variety of news offered by diverse media companies.
In general the interest in news is high, with a notable decline in interest in the younger generations. Although news consumption via traditional media is still popular, shifting to online media is on the rise.
In the news making process, news agencies are mostly used by the leading news media as a secondary or tertiary source. Internal content syndication is common practice.
Discussions between editors(-in-chief) and journalist take place on a daily basis. The majority of journalists stating they are heard in these discussions. Management elects new editors-in-chief, with journalist having no say in these decisions. A lack of guidelines and/or legislations to support and promote advancement of female journalists and journalists of minority groups remains.
The majority of Flemish journalists report a high degree of editorial idependence. However interviewees made mention of the sometimes ambivalent relationship between journalism and marketing. The lines between journalistic content and branded content seem to be blurring.
No interference from advertisers and sponsors in their daily news reporting was mentioned by Flemish journalist, but knowledge of income stream of their news brands is limited. Politicians trying to influence journalists, on the other hand, takes place regularly.
Every Flemish leading news media has their own procedures on news selection and news processing, with freedom to discuss strategies. Editors have the loudest voice and most of the times decide if an article is ready for publication.
Equal conditions of employment and benefits for both genders are ensured and even enshrined in regulations. However male journalists earn more and get promoted more often than their female colleagues.
No rules or guidelines regarding the promotion of gender equality in media content apply, with only the Flemish public broadcaster imposing gender quota. Our interviewees seemed to be aware of the underrepresentation of women in media, but none of them indicated the need for regulation or monitoring.
Concerns about misinformation is rising among Flemish journalists. Especially misinformation has become more prevalent on social media. Factchecking and double checking of information is seen as part of the job. A few Flemish organizations are specialized in factchecking.
Flemish journalists mention a rise of (online) harassment and intimidation, but knowledge on what to do against this and where to go to file complaints are limited.
Equality / Interest Mediation
Belgium as a whole has a very diverse multi-lingual media landscape, but with only very few overlap in brands and company ownership between notably the Dutch and French-language communities and media markets.
The Flemish media market is highly concentrated. In recent years, a wave of mergers and acquisitions led to the total number of leading media companies dropping from nine to just five.
Radio, television and newspaper news maintain a strong dominance in Flanders. Regular online news is catching up rapidly but is nearly all owned by legacy players. Online-only news media only operate in the fringes.
There are no news outlets directly targeting minority groups. Public broadcaster VRT does offer a portion of its online news offer also in English, French and German though.
The public broadcaster is funded directly through Flemish taxpayers’ money, whereas research has shown that Belgians pay considerably more for broadband access than their neighbours.
The Flemish government-owned media watchdog only assess the media market on economical parameters, but might soon be given the questionable task to assess the impartiality of the public broadcaster.
There is no code of ethics at the national, Belgian level, but rather at the Dutch and French speaking levels specifically. Journalists refer to these codes frequently and they are taught in journalism studies.
Most news media have their own editorial statutes, deontological codes, newsroom council ombudsmen or women. In case of unethical journalistic behaviour, citizens can file a complaint with the journalism councils in both regions.
Citizens cannot truly contribute to news reporting, and the option to comment on websites has been scaled back in favour of comments on social media.
There is a lack of designated rules and guidelines applicable to presenting opinions of journalists within the same newsroom. Overt diversity in viewpoints is most notable at the fringe online-only news media.
Control / Watchdog
Different independent supervisors scrutinize the Flemish (news) media, each of them monitoring a different field in journalism. Most of these ‘controllers of the controllers’ publish their findings and elaborate reports on platforms freely accessible to the public. Self-regulation is also common on the level of media organizations and their brands, with a few media organizations even installing an independent ombudsman.
Flemish media organizations enjoy editorial independence, as set out in the Belgian Constitution and the media decree. Journalists declare being satisfied with the level of autonomy of their redaction, nevertheless politicians trying to influence the press is common practice.
Data on leading news media are easily accessible online, only difficulty sometimes is unravelling the complex power structures and revenue streams.
The majority of Flemish journalist acquired a degree of higher education. However less time and resources for professional journalism are available. This contributes to a decline in general job satisfaction.
A lot of Flemish journalists worry about job security, eventhough professional journalists are protected by law. Due to the financial pressure journalists are more and more forced to work as freelancers, lacking protection measures. Older journalists fear being sacked because of their higher wages.
According to the Belgian Constitution and media decree, every Flemish citizen can request information from commitees or boards under the jurisdiction of the Flemish Government. However, Flemish journalists rarely make use of this feature, due to impracticalities and lack of usefulness of acquired information.
Flemish journalists declare being the watchdog of democracy is of utmost importance, with media organizations welcoming and supporting investigative journalism. However resources and time invested in investigative journalism is declining.
Additional training and education is offered by almost all media organizations. However they are not obliged to offer this and journalists cannot be forced to partake.
Resources for investigative journalism have substantially declined. Every leading news media trie to do investigative journalism, but the majority doesn’t have journalists working fulltime on longterm projects.
Overall points (max. 90):
63
Freedom / Information
Because of Canada’s immense landmass and population distribution, large northern and rural parts of Canada’s regional areas are not well served by the news media when compared to the country’s large urban areas where considerable news media is available in both digital and analogue forms.
Despite challenges in smaller markets, Canadians have access to a wealth of news sources.
Canada’s English audiences have a wide — national and international —array of news sources. French-speaking Canadians have less. All Canadian news organizations have scaled back their foreign correspondents. Moreover, critics charge — and many of the journalists interviewed for this study concede — that Canada’s news media tends to index too much of its coverage to elite (non-diverse) sources.
There are no written rules for newsroom democracy in Canada’s media system.
The influence of media proprietors is more subtle than direct in newsroom decisions.
A fluid and divergent process of news selection does not lend itself to formal rules in Canadian newsrooms.
A fluid and divergent process of news selection does not lend itself to formal rules in Canadian newsrooms.
The challenge of addressing gender equality in a structural way in Canada’s news media remains a challenge.
Acknowledging gender inequalities in media content is not enough. Canadian news organizations need to approach the problem of promoting free expression and the inclusion of diverse voices in a more meaningful and structural way.
While Canadian newsrooms are worried about disinformation and misinformation, there are few recent examples of coordinated efforts to misinform the population.
No specific laws protect Canadian journalists against online harassment. News organizations apply an ad hoc approach to helping their journalists when they become the target of online trolls.
Equality / Interest Mediation
The issue of news concentration has been the subject of successive government studies for 50 years, with very little change. The digital environment has provided a wealth of viewpoints, which can introduce new problems.
Local media continues to struggle but does not suffer from the same ownership concentration as the national news services.
There is great diversity of formats for Canadian news.
Efforts have been made to establish minority/alternative media sector within the wider news system.
Prices vary, but Canadians can access news.
There is no formal monitoring.
While most news organizations have a code of ethics or set of journalistic standards of practice during their work, there is no national code of ethics in Canada.
An established broadcasting self-regulator for private broadcasters.
While some avenues remain open, others have closed to greater public contributions.
A wide variety of rules and practices exist when it comes to ensuring that news organizations include a wide variety of perspectives.
Control / Watchdog
Several independent observers scrutinize Canada’s news media.
Legal instruments, democratic traditions and journalistic standards and practices protect the Canadian news media’s independence.
There is little discussion about media system transparency.
Most Canadian journalists receive professional training.
Job security is elusive in Canada’s news media.
While laws offer access to public information, problems with Canada’s freedom of information laws persist. Moreover, Canadian officials and the legal system often blunts journalists’ efforts to obtain information.
Canadian journalists see themselves as a watchdog.
Most media organizations offer some sort of training.
While many news organizations say they are committed to enterprising and investigative journalism, fewer resources are making it harder to produce good journalism.
Overall points (max. 90):
47
Freedom / Information
There is a large variety of media and access to them for the citizens in the country. Nationwide media coexists with regional media.
The protests that erupted in Chile emphasized the tendency that had been amassing for a frequent consumption of news, but tainted with distrust, especially online and via television, with a small readership of printed newspapers, and leaving the radio as the most credible medium.
Daily journalism includes mostly official sources, with nuances between each publication outlet, being TV the one that introduces more diversity with citizen sources. The daily agenda, work rhythm, and the part/counterpart logic, influence in the lack of deep reflection on source selection.
Media structure in Chile is hierarchical. Journalists can participate in the discussion of contents and may advance in their careers, but the editors and directors have the power to make decisions.
Internal pressure exists between management boards and editors-in-chief and directors, but it does not reach directly the journalists, who confirm the free exercise of their work. The protests in 2019 implied an exceptional internal pressure within the different media.
Chilean media depends highly on advertising, which has led to scenarios of low revenue implying firing journalists and editors. Even so, journalists defend their autonomy from the commercial areas.
Routine is the main element when selecting news, with relatively small space for reflection. Decisions are taken mainly in editorial meetings and the conversations between journalists and editors during the day.
There is a notorious gap in participation in higher positions, where women face larger work difficulties than men. There is also a difference in the salaries between genders.
The difference in sources and roles assigned to men and women is noticeable in Chile. This issue concerns academia and several entities. Despite the available guidelines is still not apparent in the journalistic profession.
Having teams dedicated to fact checking is still an emerging process within the Chilean journalistic routine. The social protests of 2019 promoted and accelerated the establishment of these practices.
The protection of journalists is irregular, depending on each individual employer and on the context.
Equality / Interest Mediation
There is one company dominating in newspapers, but ownership of media is diversified in the regional level.
A media landscape that achieves innovation, but it is still at an early stage as for the variety of formats and consolidation of the same.
There are media and initiatives for several specific communities, but usually they are born out of those same groups and tend to be niche.
Subscriptions to the main printed and digital newspapers are expensive for the average salary, but the rest of the media are affordable for the people.
There is more than one external instance, which functions in a case by case manner, but media do not self-monitor permanently for the citizenship.
There is more than one entity in charge of media ethics; however, they are not relevant referents for the daily exercise of journalism.
Internal self-regulation exists associated to a culture shared by journalists and editors within a medium, with clear dogmas, but are rarely written down.
There are limited instances for citizen participation in media and editors are critical of the quality of the discussion provided by the audiences.
There are no rules for internal pluralism, but there are opportunities for deliberation. In any case, in a polarized scenario, the issue of inner pluralism generates tension.
Control / Watchdog
There are different instances to oversee whether the media fulfills their journalistic function.
The industrial view that encompasses the Chilean media system has led to its property becoming mainly corporate. However, there are views about politics and society that reach the people in charge of the newsrooms.
By law, every media publishes information about their ownership, but only a few give more details.
Professional education is high at the university level. The work scenario is precarious, therefore, offers little time and resources for journalists to improve their skills.
Academics describe work conditions as “precarious”. Wages are low. The crisis faced by this industry has enhanced this situation.
There is a law for freedom of information, but its positive evaluation is still under 50% by journalists. Specific knowledge is required to use it effectively.
There is a certain notion about the watchdog role of journalism, but tends to be relegated to specialized units or specific practices within daily coverage, where other roles are more dominant.
There is a large offer for journalists, but their work conditions do not allow them to specialize as much as they would want to.
There are some media that produce investigative journalism, but they have decreased for economic reasons.
Overall points (max. 90):
71
Freedom / Information
A wide variety of news media are broadly available all over Denmark.
Public service television and online newspapers remain the prime sources of news and information in Denmark. Some age gaps in media use exist, particularly with regard to Danes under 25, who continue to consume news, but prefer to receive their news through social media.
Diversity of news sources is relatively high but limited by reliance on a single national news agency and a decreasing number of foreign correspondents.
Newsroom democracy in Denmark is well established. However, it is informal and carried out more in the professional culture rather than written down in formal, internal rules.
The degree of independence of Danish newsrooms is high; editorial decisions remain in the domain of the editorial staff, but there is increasing collaboration between editorial and commercial departments.
Danish newsrooms are well shielded from external commercial influence. The increasing relevance of native advertising does, however, pose a potential gateway for increasing external influence.
Most news media have formal procedures for news processing. For news selection, however, the formal procedures are far less detailed.
Gender differences in terms of salary and positions persist, albeit to a lower degree than in other sectors and in other countries. There is relatively little emphasis on achieving gender equality through formal rules and initiatives, but in recent years, awareness has increased and large media organisations are beginning to explicitly articulate their goals on internal gender equality.
Danish news media has no codified rules securing gender equality in media content, but an increased awareness of the issue exists.
There is high awareness on the issue of misinformation on digital platforms in Denmark; the actual amount of fake news and disinformation campaigns on social media appears, however, to be comparatively low. Defence mechanisms are in place, but they mostly rely on established journalistic fact-checking, while algorithmic and data-driven solutions are only slowly being tested by few media.
There is increasing awareness for the issue of online harassment, and internal policies to address the issue are in place – although not always well implemented in practice. The trade union provides an ample level of assistance and guidance.
Equality / Interest Mediation
The level of media ownership concentration in Denmark is relatively high and primarily the result of Denmark being a small media market (as Danish is only spoken in Denmark).
There is a relatively high degree of media ownership concentration at the regional level in Denmark after a period of market consolidation in the last decade.
There is strong diversity in news formats in Denmark on all platforms and in both privately owned and public service media.
The only officially recognised minority group in Denmark, the Germans, have their own media. Other minorities are less visible and represented in the Danish media landscape.
Public service media are relatively affordable. Newspapers – both print and online – are relatively expensive.
Content monitoring instruments are not widely implemented in the Danish media industry.
National media have high ethical standards and procedures on a formal as well as informal level.
The level of self-regulation is high in Denmark and part of a professional newsroom culture.
News media in Denmark invite participation from the public and value comments, tips, and letters to the editor.
The internal pluralism in Denmark is based more on practices than rules and most often discussed in relation to professional journalistic values.
Control / Watchdog
Media performance is often publicly discussed in media, and media themselves are a topic for critical journalistic coverage in special magazines and sometimes very rarely in media scandals.
No formal or ownership-related influence looms over leading news media houses, but political parallelism is a factor for newspapers.
Some data is published regularly, but not everything is easily accessible. Transparency requires data collection from several different sources, and it does not provide a uniform basis of comparison for all the leading news media.
The journalism professionalism in Denmark is high with strong professional ethos.
Journalists’ job security in Denmark is generally high compared with other countries. However, the older generations have more secure job positions and privileges than their younger counterparts.
Traditionally, Danish news media have enjoyed a relatively high widespread access to public information. However, a revision of the law in 2013 led to several restrictions that, despite debate and criticism, are still in place today.
All leading news media refer to the watchdog role and work to exercise it.
Continuous “knowledge” training for journalists in news media are available and are usually funded by the employer.
Leading news media give high priority to well-funded investigative journalism
Overall points (max. 90):
68
Freedom / Information
Despite significant changes in the delivery of news, the mainstream news media are accessible throughout the country without any major regional divides.
Consumption of traditional media and supply of news content are slowly declining, but the mainstream news media still reach a high proportion of the population in Finland. News is more highly valued in times of crisis.
The role of syndicated content from the national news agency is diminishing, while the influence of PR material and recycled content from other media outlets is increasing.
Finnish journalists seem to have a relatively high level of autonomy in their daily work, but any formal structures or practices supporting internal democracy are not too common.
The autonomy and independence of the newsroom remains a central value in the Finnish journalistic culture.
Direct influence by external parties on newsroom decisions is still not seen as a major problem.
Despite radical reforms of strategy for news production and distribution, the ways of processing and selecting the news have not been revolutionized.
In 1906, the Grand Duchy of Finland was the first country in Europe to also grant women the right to vote in national elections. 80 years later, a special legislation on equality between women and men (609/1986) came into force – and yet there is still lots of work to do towards perfect gender equality […]
The leading newspaper in Finland, Helsingin Sanomat has been monitoring the gender balance of its website content since late 2017. (Yläjärvi & Ubaud 2018) Public service media company Yle followed its example in January 2018 as part of the internal gender equality program of the company. In 2020, altogether 17 newspapers as well as Yle […]
Finnish news media experienced an exceptional period of hybrid information warfare in the aftermath of the annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation. Fake social media accounts had been spreading misinformation supporting Vladimir Putin’s government and the state of Russia already for a while, but in 2014 a new platform, MV-lehti was established by right-wing […]
All the largest news media in Finland have their own internal protocols and guidelines for protecting their journalists against external interference and harassment and freelancers may get help from a special fund. Online harassment is also going to be criminalized.
Equality / Interest Mediation
The national media market is relatively concentrated with a handful of companies dividing the market in each sector. Since 2010, mergers and acquisitions within the industry have continued, but the overall concentration ratios have remained stable.
Apart from newspapers, the leading news media in Finland are nationally oriented. There are no significant regional or local television channels. Dominant regional newspapers generally face no direct competition in their own market area.
Most major news formats are widely available in Finland, with new formats being generated online by both legacy and online-only outlets.
The supply of media in Swedish and Sámi languages is extensive in relation to the size of the population in Finland, but other minority and alternative media are limited.
The prices of media services in relation to household income remain affordable.
There have been some content monitoring initiatives by the media themselves, universities or public bodies, but they are mostly irregular and non-systematic. In some regards, the data basis for systematic monitoring has eroded in recent years.
All leading news media in Finland have committed to the common code of ethics, overseen by the Council for Mass Media.
The common code of ethics overseen by the Council for Mass Media are the backbone for self-regulation in all leading news media. Beyond these national guidelines, the existence of additional internal guidelines and self-regulation instruments varies from media to media.
News media have generally shifted from from anonymous and open commenting to moderated comments sections. Social media has also increased dialogue between journalists and audiences.
Internal pluralism is encouraged and valued, but aside from general professional guidelines and values, there are few formal rules.
Control / Watchdog
Independent media criticism in Finland is weakly institutionalized.
Independence of the Finnish news media from power holders is generally strong, but it is increasingly tested.
Relevant information about the media system is publicly available, but it is difficult to find.
The news media are characterized by strong professional ethos and a high level of unionization.
There are few specific legal provisions that apply only to journalists; general legal provisions and labor contracts give journalists relatively strong occupational protection.
The existing law provides open access to public information, but problems remain in practice.
The significance of the watchdog role is widely recognized by Finnish media organizations.
The importance of continuous professional training is broadly acknowledged, but journalists do not have opportunities enough to participate in it.
While the watchdog function is seen crucially important, resources for investigative critical journalism are scarce.
Overall points (max. 90):
66
Freedom / Information
The multiplicity of news sources is widely available all over the country.
The German citizen is well supplied with news from different sources.
The variety of sources in news-production is restricted in that sense, that non-elite discourse and diversity of the social and cultural heterogeneity of society are less reflected. Some news agencies dominate the market. Investigation is mostly conducted in special units, that nonetheless clusters and hence narrows investigation to flagships.
Newsroom democracy is established by editorial statutes, which are common in German newsrooms. But journalists have limited influence on decisions hiring the editor-in-chief.
Newsroom journalists enjoy independence on editorial decisions. The management, sales department and newsrooms are separated most of the time. Although there was one severe case of political influence in public service media, this was healed by a constitutional court proceeding.
Leading news media in Germany receive their income from diverse sources. There is no single large advertiser.
Internal debate on news stuff is practiced more than once every day and is part of journalistic routines.
Media organizations are more aware of gender inequalities than a decade ago. However, systematic measures to even-out gender imbalances like support of female talent or fighting gender pay gap, remain. However, informal efforts to eliminate them, and has already succeeded so some respect.
German media became increasingly sensitive to gender and diversity issues, but no formal or legal regulations are in force.
In leading German news media, control by specially trained experts is in place in most cases, using also algorithm-based tools only in some, as the traditional means of fact checking are estimated more valuable.
Journalists can rely on their employers in such cases, but the news media organizations decide on the individual case, if they like to provide assistance.
Equality / Interest Mediation
The TV audience market is extremely concentrated with a strong counterweight of the public service broadcasters. Print and radio markets are not very highly concentrated.
On a regional level ownership concentration is remaining remarkably high. In most German regions one newspaper is dominant; the public service broadcaster still dominates the local radio market.
News formats are abundantly available and citizens can choose out of a very long list of news formats in all media sectors. Popular news formats offer snackable and mobile news with special apps. News formats are of high quality in which a majority is trusting in.
Large and midsize minority groups are increasingly recognized by existing media, but – compared to the diversity of society – minority media are rather a niche-phenomenon and only a few large and powerful minorities operate their own media.
All news media are quite cheap compared to the average income of a German household.
Continuous content monitoring is provided and published by independent organisations, scholars and media organisations on a regular basis.
A code is implemented and frequently used by all leading news media.
Leading news media have self-regulation instruments in place, but do use them only occasionally.
After a period of openness, newsrooms tend to close commentary functions again after masses of inappropriate or outright hateful user comments. Selected news items are still open for comments by citizens, but under supervision of a moderator.
No internal formal rules in place, but newsroom meetings are a regular practice to discuss and check for pluralism.
Control / Watchdog
Media performance and content is publicly discussed in the media. During the last decade initiatives, online fora and journalistic enterprises of critical journalists became a force to be reckoned with a watchdog position.
Independence from power holders is guaranteed by law and widely respected, though there was one important case of influence of power holders.
Transparency of large parts of the media system is given and available online for the public.
German journalists have a high level of education and a prevailing professional ethos, and resources are still sufficient in leading news media.
Journalists job security depends on economic situations. Once employed, journalists normally remain employed for a long time. However, fixed and long-term contracts are thinning out and freelancers increase - who then have to bear the brunt of economic disruptions.
Public information is accessible by law, but not in reality. Journalists need to spend time and effort to get access.
Investigative and watchdog journalism is in most cases part of the self-conception of leading news media. Austerity measures and the economic situation of the media, however, often don’t leave enough resources for journalists to exercise it.
In Germany there are sufficient opportunities for journalism training. Journalists in well-established and economic sound news media are better off than their colleagues in the weaker media.
Journalistic investigation is perceived as more important than a decade ago, but resources are rare. Investigative journalism tends to be outsourced into special units. The number in investigations is clearly limited by financial means and focused on those topics that guarantee high attention values.
Overall points (max. 90):
42
Freedom / Information
In Greek media market supply often supersedes existing demand. It is a media landscape characterized by high level of public access. Newspapers are mostly located in Athens, being national in scope, however some regions still prefer, either as a first or a secondary choice, the local press. There are radio stations, regional or local ones. The most influential radio stations are located in Athens and in Thessaloniki. Television is available through terrestrial, satellite or digital (broadband) transmission. Most of the media content, albeit not in its entirety, is offered free of charge.
Although there is an abundance of choices, media consumption remains low, compared to the rest of Europe, and uneven within the population. Greek media mostly reach the elites, while significant minority segments of the population experience deep inequalities of representation and access to the media.
Research so far on the issue of sources, used by the leading news media in Greece, as well as the findings from the interviews conducted with journalists and chief editors reveal a uniform use of sources, albeit with some room for further investigation by the journalists. Moreover, the findings reveal differences among media outlets on how dependent they are on source material and as to the level of investigation that they engage in.
In Greek newsrooms internal democratic practices are applied in rudimentary way with journalists merely having the opportunity to be heard at best and in most of the cases being deprived of any engagement in the decision-making processes. The appointment of editors-in-chief and other managerial positions is a decision pertaining to the discretion of the media organization’s managers and owners. Moreover, Greek journalists’ voices have no tangible impact on how news topics are ultimately framed.
In Greek media organizations although newsroom, management and sales department are being separated, internal manipulation is exerted through unspoken pressures that lead journalists to self-censorship, which implies a subconscious adoption of the editorial stance preferred by the ownership. Pressures from the advertising department are far less considerable with most journalists being unaware of the main advertising sponsors in most of the cases.
Leading media companies in Greece, either for reasons of political and ideological standpoints or for reasons of journalistic integrity and professionalization, have the potential to resist outside pressures. However, there have been cases where media have experienced boycott or pressures because of their reporting. Most journalists are unaware of the main sources of advertising income with the very small Greek advertising market having shrunk during and after the economic crisis, leading to dependencies on fewer advertising sponsors.
Leading news media follow informal rules and procedures, consisting of meetings between the editors-in-chief when selecting news topics. The primary factor in this selection seems to be the political stance of the organization. In managing news derived from social media there are processes of verification taking place, however nearly all media outlets lack a fact-checking department.
The Greek media do not acknowledge the existence of gender issues and therefore there are no rules applied to address them. According to male journalists, all news employees enjoy the same treatment irrespective of gender. However, women journalists’ accounts reflect an image of income inequalities based on gender as well as of female difficulties in climbing the positions ladder within a media organization.
In leading news media there is a lack of culture as to the safeguarding of gender equalities in media content. This is reflected in the lack of rules regarding gender balance or parity in reporting, a phenomenon stemming from the lack of awareness that gender sensitivity in reporting is crucial in order to make media reflect the plurality of society’s voices.
There is no common approach applying to all the Greek media regarding the issue of misinformation. The process of careful cross-checking is the typical action of Greek journalists in order to deal with misinformation. Most media organizations do not have fact-checking departments nor have they established official collaboration with external fact-checking organizations.
In case of harassment the main type of support offered to journalists from their media organizations is legal support. However, not all journalists feel adequately protected or there are cases where they felt no level of support towards them, especially in cases of women journalists.
Equality / Interest Mediation
Despite the fact that Greece has more media outlets than the market can sustain, the level of ownership concentration is dangerously high. The main reason for this development is the vulnerable media legislation whose limitation on horizontal concentration in broadcast media and newspapers permits a specific modus operandi of the market.
Following the media market deregulation and the abolition of the state monopoly on broadcasting, regional TV stations entered the media field in the early 1990s without receiving official licenses, as was also the case for the national television stations. Later on, indicative of the harsh crisis that afflicted the media market is the fact that more than 50 TV regional stations closed down over the period of the economic recession.
Deprived of substantial investments on innovative ventures, the news media of Greece are characterized by conventional news formats. The transition to online environment has been slow, clumsy and in some cases questionably user friendly.
Since the early nineties, various attempts have been made to establish news representation media outlets for minority groups. However, governmental policies of no-recognition and counterfeit representation of ethnic groups by traditional media leaves a lot to be desired.
Prices of services are relatively low, while the majority of news content is offered free of charge. However, the cost of news media is still relatively high for an average household.
The National Council for Radio and Television (NCRTV) is the monitoring body for broadcasting media, a regulating entity independent from but supervised by the government. Thematic observatories as well as university departments focusing on media and communication studies also conduct relevant monitoring procedures and research projects regarding news media content.
In Greece there are five journalism associations, which compose the Pan-Hellenic Federation of Journalists’ Association, covering geographically the whole country and representing both newspapers and electronic media. There is also the Internet Publishers Association (ENED in Greek) representing the publishing companies of primary digital content. Each of them has issued its own Code of Ethics, however they mostly share common norms on how journalism should be exercised. Despite journalists’ declarations of loyalty and adherence to the journalistic Code of Ethics, research has shown that they are less sincere than it is thought. In leading news media there are many cases where loose interpretation of the Ethics Code proves to be a common practice among journalists, showing disrespect towards ethical standards.
In leading news media of Greece there seems to be no standard procedures or formal internal rules reflecting a typical self-regulation system. What is reported by interviewed journalists is the dominance of an “oral culture” in newsrooms based on self-censorship and informal self-regulation practices. In this context media organizations enforce their ideological orientation to which journalists have to conform. Conflicting narratives and controversial topics are often settled through collective consensus in the newsroom.
In Greece the transition to online journalism does not necessarily mean a rise in the interaction between the audience members and the newsrooms. The trend is that news online platforms under the fear of legal actions close off the comments section. Radio seems to remain the sole medium where audience members can participate without having their voices or comments being edited or filtered.
Plurality is the default practice in theory for the public service broadcaster ERT. On the other hand, commercial broadcasters are mostly tied to a specific political orientation presenting a mono-dimensional policy in terms of internal pluralism; thus, plurality in media is achieved through quantity of partisan perspectives rather than through diversity of opinions inside a single medium.
Control / Watchdog
In Greece the most prevalent institutionalized mechanism to control the performance and role of the news media is the National Council for Radio and Television (NCRTV), which occasionally has been regarded as ineffective. Although media performance is often discussed in the media or in online forums, this discussion is often merely descriptive or is based on the subjective perception of the criticizer leading to unfocused or unsystematic critique lacking in depth. The most usual context where media performance is investigated and discussed comprehensively and systematically is the academic one.
Leading news media in Greece are owned by powerful entrepreneurs, coming from other sectors of the economy, who use media companies as an effective instrument of serving their business interests.
Transparency of data on leading news media in terms of their operational status and ownership identity is undermined by a type of regulation favouring the concealment of their funding flow and their ownership status. Therefore, citizens retain a blurred image of the media field. The release of relevant reports, available to the general public, is not compulsory and therefore transparency of information depends on the discretion of the media outlet.
Journalism professionalism in Greece has been distorted by the financial crisis and the subsequent and bigger crisis distressing the media industry. Interventions in editorial decisions on the part of politics and media owners is a long-lasting malpractice hindering the development of journalism professionalism.
Opposed to the past, journalism profession, due to the sharp decline in media revenues, is characterized by non-permanent or occasional contact positions, which is a shared working regime between genders. At the same time, on the juridical level there are no special legal measures or tools protecting journalists against dismissal.
Although in theory public information is accessible by law, in actual practice this is not the case, given that the access to public documents presents considerable problems or difficulties. These restrictions affect the quality of investigative journalism, which at times is not truly revealing or is ad hoc or partially revealing.
The mission statements of the leading news media organisations in Greece contain no particular or separate references to investigative journalism or watchdog performance of journalists against the abuse of power and corruption. They just incorporate the conventional rules of journalistic ethics, as defined by the Journalists’ Union of Athens Daily Newspapers (JUADN), which is a professional association of daily newspapers and broadcasting journalists based in Athens.
In Greece the need for continuous and systematic professional training on watchdog and investigative journalism or on big data analysis is not embedded within leading news media organizations’ culture. Therefore, there is a lack of internally institutionalized means permitting training courses or training networks. Although there some exceptions to this prevalent trend, the issue of training is a matter of personal decision on the part of journalists disconnected to the media outlet’s policy.
In leading news media of Greece although investigative journalism is recognized as a task of great importance, reflecting the essence of journalistic profession, the financial resources, being on the decrease since the period of financial recession, have minimized the potential of the newsroom to perform their watchdog function systematically.
Overall points (max. 90):
48
Freedom / Information
Hong Kongers are kept informed by a wide variety of news media. High levels of public access and the efficient use of technology to gather and distribute news and information characterise the news media.
90 per cent of the Hong Kong population consume news every day, with online and television being the main news media. Demographic factors contributed to different news consumption patterns.
The respondents stressed that they performed independent research on publicity materials and did not rely on news agencies over local news sources. However, there were serious issues relating to political censorship, especially through the selection or omission of sources, among some media organisations.
Democratic practices in newsrooms varied between different media organisations. Generally speaking, newsroom journalists did not have a say in appointing the editor-in-chief or other positions. However, some newsroom journalists had a greater role in portraying and framing political issues than others.
The separation of newsrooms from management is not practiced by any of the media organisations sampled, and there is a diversity of relationships between media owners and the newsroom. In Hong Kong, generally speaking, newsrooms are totally separated from the advertising department.
The external influence on newsrooms varies among news media organisations. Some respondents reported no direct influence of external parties on their newsroom work and content, although advertising boycotts due to political concerns have affected revenues.
Only a few media organisations have formal rules or training on news selection and news processing. Most of the respondents emphasised that new journalists learn through experience and by following the newsroom practices of senior staff.
Employment conditions, including salaries, are equal for male and female journalists.
Past research has found that media construction of gender stereotypes remained prevalent in Hong Kong. The respondents accepted the importance of gender equality, but they did not see it as a serious concern and were not particularly aware of gender equality when reporting news.
There are no formal defence mechanisms or regular training for defeating fake news, although all of the respondents admitted that misinformation on digital platforms is a serious problem, particularly in times of social unrest and the Covid-19 pandemic.
Journalists generally rely on the support and protection of their employers in cases of harassment. The HKJA and other news worker groups have made a joint declaration against police harassment of journalists.
Equality / Interest Mediation
Hong Kong is a city; therefore, this indicator is not applicable.
The Hong Kong government has a restrictive licensing policy that results in a broadcasting oligopoly in Hong Kong. TVB has long held a virtual monopoly on the free-television market. Across all media organisations, there is no major concentration of ownership under a single giant media conglomerate. However, there is another form of ownership concentration, that of a small number of businessmen with vested interests in mainland China. They have operated across the news media with the same political and economic constraints, although the situation is currently in the process of being challenged by the rise of online and alternative media.
Hong Kong has a large variety of different news formats covering different regions of focus, including local news, Chinese and Asian news, and world news, as well as all news sectors, such as politics, finance, culture, entertainment, and sports. With regard to news formats, other than traditional long-form and feature stories, many new media formats are now emerging in what is becoming a small and competitive market. These include animated news, virtual-reality news, and live-streamed news broadcasting.
Minority ethnicities are generally under-represented and negatively portrayed in Hong Kong. The sole public service broadcaster has worked on programmes for the purposes of cultural diversity and produced programmes for ethnic minorities. The rise of the Internet provides an opportunity for ethnic media and for platforms on which minorities can interact.
Newspapers, online news outlets, and television broadcast news can be accessed at low prices in relation to the average monthly income. In fact, most media outlets’ news content is freely available online, and Hong Kong has very high Internet and mobile phone penetration rates.
Independent media monitoring instruments and institutionalised regulation of media are rare in Hong Kong.
There exists a self-governed code of ethics, yet not all media organisations adhere to it. Interviewees stressed that they respect the code of ethics, although its details generally escaped them.
Self-regulation occurs rather informally; institutionalised or codified rules and procedures are rare.
Hong Kong newsrooms are not open to participation by the general public. Audience participation in the newsroom is very limited.
Some Hong Kong newsrooms, including public service broadcasting stations, have codified rules on internal pluralism, but they do not necessarily follow the rules. A large majority of leading newsrooms are making efforts to extend the range of voices represented by the media. However, a third of respondents suggested that their companies engaged in self-censorship and did not give experts from all sides equal chances to present their case.
Control / Watchdog
There are no institutionalised mechanisms for scrutinising the performance of leading news media, although universities, media bloggers, and professional journalists’ bodies serve as independent observers monitoring their performance, especially in terms of self-censorship and news credibility. The performance of the media is always subject to debate.
By law, the freedom of the press is protected, but press freedom continually deteriorates because of political pressure.
Not all news media outlets have disclosed their ownership structures, circulation information, and advertising revenues. Only the media organisations listed on the stock market have disclosed this information under the Securities and Future Ordinance.
Reporters generally have strong educational backgrounds and hold similar professional ethics and principles. About half of the interviewees believed that their companies allot satisfactory time and resources for investigative research.
Journalists tend to work for their employers briefly, and the main reason is low wages.
Article 27 of the Basic Law guarantees Hong Kong residents freedom of speech, the press, and publication. It is becoming more difficult for journalists to access public information. There are significant differences between promises and practices.
The mission statements of news organisations do not contain provisions for acting as watchdogs. However, Hong Kong newsrooms value the watchdog function of media.
Most of the newsrooms in Hong Kong have not institutionalised continuing professional education. Most newsrooms neither regularly provide training nor request that their journalists take courses.
Over half of the interviewees stated that their media companies have provided specific and sufficient resources for performing investigative journalism.
Overall points (max. 90):
56
Freedom / Information
The mainstream news media are accessible throughout the country and there are no major regional differences. The number of news media available to Icelandic citizens is though somewhat limited, due to the smallness of the country and hence its media market.
Online news and TV news are the prime sources of news for Icelanders. Interest in news is high, irrespective of gender and in all age groups. There is a considerable age difference in platforms used and among the 18-24 years social media is the most popular source of news.
Editors-in-chief and journalists emphasized the predominant role of journalistic research over news agency and public relation material. National and international collaboration is increasing.
Journalists have much say concerning how issues are framed, they seldom have any influence on decisions on hiring the editor-in-chief.
Newsroom journalists mostly enjoy editorial independence, and the advertising departments and the newsrooms are usually clearly separated.
Main news media all have rules thwarting the direct influence of external parties on newsroom work and content and editors and journalists alike strictly deny such influence. No advertisers can be said to have dominance in leading news media.
Internal debate is mostly limited to daily news meetings and the procedures concerning news selection and news processing are usually informal and not based on formalised rules.
Employment conditions among male and female journalists are mostly equal in terms of conditions and pay. Women are underrepresented in decision-making positions in media companies.
Journalists agree that gender equality in media content is important but no formal rules apply except at the public broadcasting. Women are underrepresented as news subjects.
Misinformation on digital platforms is of minor relevance and importance so far, and defence mechanisms are not developed and not seen as a priority.
Journalists can usually rely on support and protection by their employers in case of harassment, but guidelines are often lacking.
Equality / Interest Mediation
Competition is limited in the small Icelandic media market, and four big media companies are overall dominant in all news media sectors. There is however no cross-ownership to speak of in the media sector.
In most Icelandic regions there is one dominant media outlet, and in many areas only one outlet published. The national media is instrumental for people getting news in general.
Icelandic news media provide for a large variety of different news formats, from headline-news online to long-reads in newspapers and background features on radio and television. All different categories are covered, including local, national and international news as well as politics, economy, current affairs, culture and sport sections.
There is no minority media to speak of in Iceland. A few news media outlets have news in English or Polish to cater for the country´s growing immigration populations.
All news media can be considered affordable for the average household in Iceland. The price of a “basic package” of the most common media outlets can be considered low measured by average spending power.
Publicly available institutionalized and independent media monitoring instruments are rare in Iceland.
A code of ethics exists at the national level and is respected by most news media outlets.
Self-regulation occurs rather informally with the public service media a notable exception.
Audience participation in news mostly consists of posting comments online through social media and letters to the editor.
Icelandic newsrooms do not have codified rules on internal pluralism, but journalists try to make sure that there is diversity in the range of voices represented.
Control / Watchdog
Self-observation by journalists in the media and public debates about journalism are not frequent, but sometime occurred in relation to specific issues. No systematic news media observation is done in Iceland.
Journalists’ independence is protected by law and internal rules, but ownership structures indicate that political and economic interests still play a big role in some leading news media.
Information about media ownership are transparent online. Important data on the media market is however often lacking.
Information about media ownership are transparent online. Important data on the media market is however often lacking.
Economic pressures mean that many experienced journalists have been laid off. Job security is low and short-term contracts common.
Public information is accessible by law, but not always in reality. Journalists often need to spend time and effort to get access.
The watchdog function of media in Iceland has grown significantly in recent years and some outlets and programs have investigative journalism as their brand. Investigative journalism is however expensive and the media outlets are grappling with resource constraints.
There are not many further education opportunities in Iceland for journalists, and course attendance is low.
News media in Iceland lack resources to conduct quality in-depth reporting and analysis on their daily reporting and investigative reporting is seriously hampered for lack of time and finance.
Overall points (max. 90):
56
Freedom / Information
A wide and stable variety of news media is available to Italian citizens. Some parts of the country are not served by local/regional news media. The distribution of news media remains variable concerning media types.
Almost all the Italian population accesses the media in order to be informed and over 80% of citizens access information regularly. Only a niche of Italians (about 5%) is not informed at all. Television is the medium with the greatest informative value.
Within the Italian news media system approximately 7 out of 10 news stories are based on just one source. Government sources enjoy a considerable relevance; and personal contacts constitute one of the most used sources. Also news agencies and press releases are often referred to.
Across the Italian news media sector there national and internal rules are in place that guarantee equality, impartiality, objectivity and internal democratic practices in the newsroom.
Management, sales department and newsrooms are formally separated but there are occasions when they come into contact and situations where pressure is exercised from owners or sponsors.
Newsrooms depend on few large advertisers or sponsors. The Department of Information and Publishing of the Presidency of the Italian Prime Minister's Office supports, through direct contributions, the editorial activity of newspapers and periodicals. Politics remains the main "external" factor influencing the quality of the journalistic product.
Italian journalism does not include procedure or media accountability instruments. There is an almost overabundance of codes of ethics; nevertheless these codes are not compulsory, nor widely respected. When violated, there are no strict sanctions on journalists.
The situation of journalism in Italy shows that gender inequalities are still widely present and that, in most cases, there is still a lack of awareness amongst professionals.
Italian news media are increasingly presented and produced by female journalists. Notwthstanding, it is still mostly men that ‘make the news’ as subjects, while women continue to be marginalised from the news agenda. In most comparative studies Italy still scores below the European and global average, yet some positive developments can be found in the past few years.
Italian leading news media have not developed particular expertise and practices to identify misinformation and avoid spreading fake news. Among the newsrooms examined, the most common habit is to address the problem at the individual level. Outside news media organisations several actors and agencies are involved in projects aimed at fighting misinformation.
Italy features as the first country in Europe where journalists’ safety is threatened, through online harassment, personal assaults, but most of all intimidation, often connected to reporting activities on mafia issues. No specific protection mechanisms have been adopted by the newsrooms against online harassment or threats apart from the legal guardianship in the exercise of the journalistic profession.
Equality / Interest Mediation
The italian landscape shows a moderate media ownership concentration, with some market dominant positions by large companies.
The italian scenario of national and local news media is rather difficult to analyseand it is quite hard disentangling the distinction between local and national.
The diversity of news formats in Italy is rich. A certain degree of abundance characterises different media sectors, with a positive results for democracy.
The minority / alternative media play an important role in the italian news media market, particularly in relation to linguistic minority groups.
The affordable price of news media can be considered as one of the indicators of democratic equality. In Italy, the price represents an entrance barrier for few households in terms of access to information.
Existing monitoring instruments for media content in the Italian landscape are quite numerous and diversified. In this scenario, we underline the presence of the independent Authority for Communications Guarantees (AGCOM), which works to protect the pluralism.
Code of ethics defines journalistic practices. In Italy the professional deontology is characterised by a meaningful number of existing codes, which are seldom known nor explicitly considered as guidelines in newsrooms practice.
Though the Italian legislation does not explicitly require the adoption of self-regulatory mechanisms, several leading media newsrooms adopt internal codes of ethics.
The collaboration between the information professionals and the public is the ground for more transparent journalism. However, the italian leading news media seem not to be actually accessible to the public.
The pluralism of point of views is regularly controlled by the Authority for Communications Guarantees (AGCOM). Private television broadcasters respect the ‘par condicio’ during the election periods; the Public Service is obliged to allocate air time proportionally to all the political forces in Parliament.
Control / Watchdog
Controlling the (media) controllers has no specific tradition in Italy nor the scientific debate on watchdog journalism and its contributes to raise the issue within the Italian media landscape.
Independence of news media is a critical aspect in Italian journalism, which evolved out of longstanding relations with political and economic powers.
Data on leading news media are in general available, but in some cases incomplete and not easily accessible for citizens.
The requirements to access the newsrooms are selective although the professionalisation of Italian journalists is generally low and mostly not related to an education background.
Job security varies a lot among the different categories of journalists, as well as in relation to where in the country where the profession is exercised. Many gaps are found in terms of payments and protection schemes.
Despite the premises of ‘open government’, access to information presents numerous shortcoming. During the COVID-19, even the possibility to monitor the Public Administration acts was reduced.
Investigative journalism contributes to the media role of watchdog of power. Nevertheless, media formats and daily news agenda relegates it to a marginal position into the newsrooms’ work.
Professional training is mostly provided by the Order of Journalists; while media companies differ widely in terms of their investment in courses and training.
Investigative journalism is considered important and valued, including by the professionals themselves. However, the scarce available financial and organisational resources constraint it into a niche component of editorial routines.
Overall points (max. 90):
54
Freedom / Information
Relevant news media are generally available to all citizens.
Consumption of news is less important than entertainment or fiction, especially given the overwhelming presence of television. Acceding to news through social media is an increasing trend.
There is little diversity of news sources, with a high dependency on a single national agency. Some investigative journalism is made, but not on a large scale.
Several laws and mechanisms for journalists’ democratic participation exist, but they are not always followed in practice.
The degree of independence of the newsroom against ownership is high in the leading media, but weak in small news outlets
Although news media generally receive revenues from a multitude of advertisers, they are increasingly permeable to advertising formats that allow some confusion between the editorial and the commercial areas.
Rules and standards for news processing exist, but they are not always present in the day-by-day routines. The pressure of online breaking news and the dependence on “clicks” by the audience, as well as the permanent presence of social media, make almost no room for debates.
Employment conditions are basically equal between men and women, although there is still a lower presence of women journalists in senior managing positions, which causes some gender gap in what concerns pay.
There is an overwhelming dominance of male actors and protagonists in the news.
There are a number of fact-checking mechanisms in some newsrooms, as well as monitoring initiatives regarding “fake news” and disinformation. The need to deal carefully with social media is a major concern in most news media.
There have been no such situations in the country, it is not an issue (at least for now).
Equality / Interest Mediation
There are three or more competitors for every area. There is some concentration in a few media groups, but various relevant titles still exist outside those groups.
Ownership concentration at the regional level is very low, with many dozens of small newspapers belonging to different owners - 3 points
There is an increasing homogenization of formats, meaning less diversity – 1 point
Relatively little attention is paid to minorities in the mainstream media, and they have few media of their own.
Prices are decreasing and much free content is offered, but the cost of news media is still relatively high for an average household. In the sensitive area of telecommunications (cable TV, Internet access, mobile phone), princes are increasing, while they are decreasing in most European countries.
There are different monitoring instruments and they are publicly available, but some complaints about their inaction or passivity arise.
A national Code of Ethics exists, but not all leading media respect it.
Some self-regulation mechanisms exist on the level of the main news media, but their presence is less visible than in the past.
People are not particularly encouraged to participate in the news process, in spite of some improvements in the online context, where the possibility for commentaries is generally available.
Internal pluralism is fairly well promoted in the main news media.
Control / Watchdog
There are institutionalized mechanisms to control media performance as a watchdog, but these issues are not very present in the public debates - 2 points
Some independence is guaranteed by different laws, but the actual practice shows some difficulties.
Information on news media exists and is easily accessible, namely after the creation of a “Transparency Portal”.
The professional ethos is not too high in global terms, considering the heterogeneity of the professional group.
There is a relatively high level of job security in the legal framework, but the economic crisis and the weakness of media outlets make job security much more fragile in practical terms.
No legal barriers exist to accessing public information (on the contrary, there is a law guaranteeing access to public documents), but access is sometimes difficult in practice.
News media only indirectly refer to the watchdog function in their mission statements.
Little importance is given to journalists’ training, except for technical skills attached to the new ‘convergence’ efforts.
Investing in investigative journalism is more an exception than a rule in the main news media.
Overall points (max. 90):
59
Freedom / Information
Traditional news media are available nationwide. Backed by strong digital infrastructure, multiplatform delivery via online portal, Youtube podcasts and news outlet websites ensures widespread news media availability.
The changing media use patterns reflect the digital turn in the media industry of South Korea. With 92.3% of the adult population getting news from either television or internet portal, interesting patterns emerge between different age groups. Legacy media are in greater use among older population while internet-based media are major news source for the younger Population.
While there are a total of 24 news agencies in operation, few news agencies play dominant roles as news providers, and Yonhap News Agency (YNA) plays a key role as the national news agency. As mandated by law, YNA provides news, pictures and other data, domestic and overseas, to the State and other public institutions […]
Newsroom democracy ensures journalistic freedom and fosters fair and balanced reporting by opening up the discussion of news selection and coverage. There’s been an increasing awareness of the importance of internal freedom in the news industry as advertising and investments have come to have an increasing influence on news coverage in addition to the ownership […]
Independence from the owners and management is strongly supported. However, newsroom operation is not free from linked activities with advertising sales department. This link with advertising sales seems to be done at the level of senior desking staffs, while reporters claim that advertising sales department operation is separate from newsroom. With subscription dipping and the […]
Growth in revenue from online contents licensing stands out across the entire newspaper industry. Revenue from sources other than the online contents declined in comparison to the previous years, but advertisement remains a major source of income for many news media. Print newspapers, through the years of declining readership and subscription, have diversified their income […]
Informal rules rule, rather than formal rule books.The items are selected among reporters every week. They have to go through editorial meetings with senior desk staffs, but selections of the reporters’ meetings are rarely overturned. Current hot topics in this regards are how to report on what’s been debated in social media. Some have developed […]
Gender equality and women’s rights in workplace have been ongoing yet often overlooked issues in South Korea. Gender inequality and glass ceilings are not unique to the media industry, and the 2018 Global Gender Gap Report from World Economic Forum ranks South Korea 115th out of 149 countries for gender equality. Out of the four […]
The news industry in South Korea has come a long way in the past few decades on becoming more gender-inclusive in its workforce. Guidelines on providing a balanced, fair coverage regardless of gender, age or ethnicity are also widely accepted, and are included in the various codes of ethics adopted by different news media. Korea […]
The annual report on journalists’ reporting and working conditions shows that many of the news media have fact-checking system in place. In 2019, only 4.3% answered that there is absolutely no rule against misinformation in place, while 73.3% answered that at least some systematic measure is being taken. More than half of these respondents answered […]
Cyber stalkings have emerged as big problems in Korea. Especially violent news comments, sometimes with personal threats, are almost prevalent with polarized political environment. Journalists’ work emails are disclosed on the articles they author, and some receive emails with profanities for no evident reason. No specific law is in place to protect the journalists from […]
Equality / Interest Mediation
Some level of plurality of ownership is observed at a national level. While some believe the government is rather heavy-handed with subsidies and regulations that affect management and the government-owned news outlet is still fairly influential, the news industry has a free market. Ownership and major shareholders are disclosed in annual business reports, which are […]
The relatively small size of the country means that the news media are fairly centralized. News outlets available around the country are fairly uniform. In fact, all leading news media have their main offices located in the metropolitan area in or near Seoul, and local newspapers have far smaller market shares even within the local […]
A wide range of media is used to access news, and the shift to news consumption on mobile devices has also affected the way news is organized and presented. While the more traditional news formats of straight news, features and editorials in newspaper are still published, “card news” or the news presented in a series […]
Major news media companies still serve as the dominant source of news, but the rise in the internet news media companies has encouraged growth of a few “alternate” media. To offer some examples of alternate news media, Korea Center for Investigative Jouranlism (also known as Newstapa in Korean), was established in 2012 with funding from […]
The wide availability of both ethernet and wireless internet offers easy access to online news at no or little cost. Online news articles are free of charge on both the internet portals and the newspaper websites, and most TV news programs are also streamed free of charge on the broadcaster websites and Youtube. Since much […]
Content of the media outlets is regularly monitored by the public monitoring bodies. Korea Press Ethics Commission permanently monitor news content and deliberate on the violation of the Newspaper Code of Ethics, issuing caution, private warning and public warning for print and online articles and advertisements. The deliberations and decisions statistics are available for the […]
Journalists Association of Korea has its code of ethics recognized at the national level. The items stipulated are freedom and independence of the press, fair and balanced reporting, journalists’ integrity, fair and transparent information gathering, fair use of information, protection of privacy, protection of the source, prohibition of discriminatory or instigative reporting, and restriction of […]
Most newspaper firms do have their own codes, guidebook, and internal committees. But understanding them as a firm rule is very loose at best. Per Broadcast Law, all TV news providers must have a viewer committees to advise on content and programming. YTN, for one, runs an ombudsman program titled YTN Citizens’ Desk, and Yonhap […]
One of the many advantages that South Koreans enjoy today is easy access to news and opinions online. Every major news outlet operates its own website while also partnering with online portals like Naver and Daum to have them pool news articles to service their news sections. Portals usually use the “inlink” method which embeds […]
The code of ethics and practice guidelines laid out by the Korea Press Ethics Commission and those adopted by the leading news media explicitly state journalists’ responsibility to reflect the opposing voice when presenting an article that is critical of an individual or organization, and to maintain impartiality in reporting. The guidelines also guarantee readers’ […]
Control / Watchdog
The press serves the crucial role of guarding against the political and economic powers in order to defend democracy. In South Korea, the news media’s ties with authoritarian regimes in the past, its function as a pseudo-government agency and the size and influence of media over public opinion, have given it the nickname of “the […]
News media’s close relationship with politics and business in South Korea puts the press under heavy influence of external power holders. Although no explicit statement of support is for a specific political party, most of the major news media are known to be either right- or left-wing, and in rare occasion, centrist. While some news […]
Information about the leading news media is easy to access and readily available online. Leading news media publish the ownership and contact information in their impressum whether they be print, broadcast or online media. Ownership structures, key business figures and management performance reports are published in the annual business report of the major news media, […]
While newspaper as business declines, professional ethos of journalists seems to become strong in Korea. You need a strong identity in order to hold the profession especially when financial reward is not as strong as before and social esteem for the profession is not as strong. Reporters’ communicative efficacy in the newsroom is solid, and […]
While the constitution ensures the freedom of press, no specific legal provisions are in place for internal democracy, or for protection of individual journalists when in conflict with the management. While the general level of job satisfaction improved in comparison to the 2017 survey, the average job satisfaction score in 2019 is still 2.85. In […]
While the outdated media law that included the rights to request public information is no longer in effect and the new media law does not explicitly state any equivalent rights to information, the 2019 Journalists’ survey shows that the journalists enjoy a fairly high level of freedom in the reporting process in South Korea. In […]
Some major news media has mission statement containing the watchdog role. And it is fair to say that it is a prevalent understanding for all the others as well. But there is constant lack of time to invest in investigative journalism. There is a generational gap among millennials and the above. Younger journalists have stronger […]
Continuous and ample training opportunities are provided by the Korea Press Foundation. And those who seek to participate in such training are usually given opportunities. The Journalists Survey in 2019 shows that the opportunity to develop expertise was the fourth most satisfactory factor in the journalists’ job, with an average score of 2.85 (out of […]
Some of the leading news media explicitly stipulate financial support for investigative journalism in their codes of ethics, but most do not. The need to increase investigative journalism is certainly accepted, but active investment is still long way to go. Overall industry cutback on overseas network has also decreased the number of already scarce foreign […]
Overall points (max. 90):
53
Freedom / Information
News media are widely available in all language regions of Switzerland with no major restrictions, despite strong horizontal press concentration since 2000.
The Swiss population still uses traditional media such as the press, television, and radio to inform about news, but the Internet and social media have become the main source of information, especially for young people.
The diversity of news sources has become smaller because of media concentration, especially since 2000.
The newsroom practices, especially of Swiss leading newspapers, are not guided by clear and explicit democratic structures. And journalists have only limited influence regarding the selection of the editor-in-chief.
The media representatives of the leading Swiss newspapers attach great importance to separating business-entrepreneurial decisions and journalistic work processes. In practice, this hardly ever succeeds, as business decisions have a major impact on the daily work of the editorial staff and editorial cultures.
There are at least some informal rules in media companies to deal with external advertising influences. At the same time, however, problematic forms of advertising, such as “native advertising”, have increased.
News selection and news framing became more audience oriented. But there is variation according to the type of media, for example, public versus private broadcast or elite versus popular versus free press.
Gender equality has improved significantly, but there are still more male journalists working in the politics department and especially in higher positions in newspapers.
Women have received more media coverage in the last decade, but men are still more prominent, especially in the political news sections of the Swiss media.
Misinformation and false information have been recognised, and most editorial offices defend themselves with special internal units or collaboration with external fact-checking organisations.
Online harassment of journalists became a problem in the last years, but Swiss journalists are protected by assistance, for example, by specialised internal (legal) centres.
Equality / Interest Mediation
Only a few media companies dominate the print media market in the four language regions, while the public service broadcaster SRG SSR leads the electronic sector in all language regions.
The strong concentration of newspapers at regional level has increased significantly. Moreover, almost all private regional radio and television stations are owned by the dominant media groups.
The diversity of different media products as well as different formats of news presentation is still sufficient. But there are clear tendencies towards a stronger orientation on reader interests, with more tabloidisation of news, especially in the print media.
Swiss linguistic minorities are well served by the Swiss mass media. The public broadcaster SRG SSR guarantees that all official languages and cultures are covered with information. And some alternative media exist as well. But there is still almost no special media for minorities with migrant backgrounds.
Switzerland is one of the richest countries in the world, and its mass media is relatively cheap and affordable for almost everybody. But “over-information” on the Internet is a factor for certain people, who don’t want to pay anymore for journalistic media products.
Efforts to monitor the media in Switzerland on a regular basis are institutionalised in OFCOM. Supervision is carried out on a regular basis, but of the broadcasting media.
Although there is a code of ethics formulated by the Swiss Press Council, it has only a limited effect in the everyday life of journalists.
Although there are many measures and instruments for corporate and editorial self-organisation, they contribute little to media accountability of companies and journalists.
As a consequence of social media, the leading Swiss news media created possibilities for feedback, but still hesitate to incorporate the participation of media users actively in the news process.
Media organisations strive for pluralism. Their editorial statutes should ensure that different views are brought to bear and reported from different perspectives. However, the diversity in newsrooms leaves much to be desired.
Control / Watchdog
There is no "external control of the controllers", at most individual ethical self-control. The rulings of the Press Council on the basis of the Code of Ethics are usually without consequences at both the corporate and editorial level. Media criticism through media journalism hardly exists anymore.
For the leading media, pressures from external stakeholders are part of the daily business. But regional and local media also have to deal with this challenge.
Detailed information on the ownership structure and decision-making processes of private commercial media organisations is not available. Only listed companies must meet minimum transparency requirements.
Journalists have a high level of education and professional skills, but many do not have enough direct experience, for example, of (local) politics. Journalism professionalism is being challenged as well by increased working pressure and decreased resources, for example, for investigations.
In the wake of the general media crisis and the Covid-19 crisis in spring 2020, job security was not guaranteed, and journalists lost their jobs. Such uncertainties are greater in commercial media than in public broadcasting.
Journalists in Switzerland generally have free access to most public information held by government and administration, but not to companies and associations. There are still restrictions and obstacles.
The mission statements or editorial statutes of the media contain hardly any reference to the role of the media as democratic “watchdogs” in the interests of civil society and are of little importance in the everyday work of media professionals.
Supply of professional training offerings in journalism is not a problem in Switzerland, but there are no specified or even obligatory strategies and concepts in most media and editorial offices. As a consequence, professional training is a discretionary matter and its attendant demand seems to be quite moderate.
For a long time, leading daily media were financially successful. For some time now, there has generally been less staff available for traditional reporting, but with the creation of research desks, there are now slightly more resources available for research and investigative journalism.
Overall points (max. 90):
66
Freedom / Information
A wide variety of news and information media is still available to all Dutch citizens, although several news outlets were shut down. Regional and local news coverage varies from region to region. The distribution of news media remains variable depending on the media types.
On average, eight out of ten Dutch are consulting news on a daily basis, varying from seven out of ten in the younger age group (18-34 years) to nine out of ten in the oldest age group (55+). Yet, print media have become less important in the last years. Online news, television and radio use remains flat. The public broadcaster is seen as an important news source both online and offline.
Editors-in-chief and journalists emphasize the crucial importance of checking news sources, especially in the case of social media. Exchange of information, be it international, national and regional, is increasing. Reflection of societal reality in the news is part of the mission of news media like the public broadcaster.
Newsroom democracy is established by editorial statutes, which are common in Dutch newsrooms. Journalists are represented via a newsroom council, which has influence in decisions such as hiring the editor-in-chief or news chiefs. Most new media platforms draw up an editorial statute.
Editorial by-laws endorse the chief editor’s final responsibility and protect the strict separation between editorial staff on the one hand, and management and shareholders on the other.
Direct influence of external parties on newsroom work and content is strictly denied, although advertisers occasionally attempt to have influence. Given their smaller markets, local, regional and niche news media are at higher risk for external influence.
In the absence of formal rules underlying the selection of news or documents outlining a definition of what is news and what is not, the meetings and discussions held by the editorial staff can be considered informal procedures for selection making.
Employment conditions among male and female journalists are equal in terms of conditions and pay.
There is a growing sensitivity among journalists for gender equality in media content, but no formal rules apply.
Misinformation is a crucial issue of concern in Dutch newsrooms. Algorithmic tools are only used by some news media to check online comments. Sufficient training is provided.
(Online) harassment is an increasing problem in the Netherlands. Persveilig.nl is launched as a contact point to address problems. In general, journalists are supported and protected by the legal departments of their media company.
Equality / Interest Mediation
Ownership concentration on a national level is remarkably high with five big media companies dividing the market among them.
The same two big players dominate both the national and regional newspaper market. By contrast, concentration in the regional radio and television market is considerably lower.
Dutch news media range across a wide array of different news formats, from headline news online to longreads in newspapers and discussion programs on radio and television.
The public broadcaster aims at inclusive broadcasting. Minority groups, among them ethnic minorities, can have their voice heard. Some media are doing better than others. Change is slow.
News media have moderate sales prices compared to the average income of Dutch households.
The Dutch Media Authority publishes the Media Monitor, an annual report analyzing the ownership relations and markets with a specific focus on pluralism in news media.
Most media conform to the Guidelines of the Press Council and the Code of the Association of Editors-in-chief and/or observe a behavioral code of their own.
The Press Council, examining complaints about media coverage, is a self-regulatory organization. Self-regulation can also be found in the open debate culture on fairness, balance and impartiality in the newsrooms.
Audience participation happens by posting comments in some online newspaper editions or via Facebook pages, and by emails to the editor-in-chief or the ombudsperson.
Most news media enjoy a culture of openness with room for discussion on internal pluralism, although this is still a matter of individual interests of journalists. No formal rules are implemented.
Control / Watchdog
There is no systematic media performance monitoring independent institution, although the website denieuwsreporter.nl and Foundation Media-ombudsman are inviting citizens and media professionals to think about the watchdog role of media.
The Dutch news media enjoy relative independence from power-holders. In the last decade, media ownership concentration has increased, resulting in more media titles in the hands of a single owner instead of different owners.
On its website mediamonitor.nl, the Media Authority describes the current media ownership relations.
The Dutch newsrooms are highly professionalized over the past decade or two. Self-reflection of the work is regular on editorial meetings, although it occurs mostly on an ad hoc basis.
In general, the Association of Journalists controls the basic working conditions of professional journalists in the Netherlands.
Government information is one of the most important sources, for which Dutch legislation on the public nature of government records is the primary tool, as it gives citizens (and journalists) the right to access government data. The way in which the law functions as well as the lengthy procedures involved are strongly criticized.
The media themselves decide on the basis of their distinctive characteristics to what extent they play their role as watchdog seriously.
Training courses are offered by NVJ (Dutch Association of Journalists) and VVOJ (Association of Investigative Journalists). Some media (companies) have their own training opportunities. Training possibilities depend on the news medium.
Dutch newsrooms are trying to provide resources for investigative reporting to the extent possible, but funds are strictly limited.
Overall points (max. 90):
68
Freedom / Information
News media are widely available throughout the four nations of the United Kingdom in broadcast, print and online form. While the local newspaper industry is under pressure, there are few areas where dedicated local coverage is not available to citizens.News media are widely available throughout the four nations of the United Kingdom in broadcast, print and online form. While the local newspaper industry is under pressure, there are few areas where dedicated local coverage is not available to citizens.
News consumption remains high, with varied and diverging patterns of media use among different age groups. Decline in consumption of print journalism in the past decade has been significant, though the growth of online audiences offsets this to a degree.
News agencies are widely used by UK journalists, and there has been consistent evidence of the infiltration of public relations material into journalism, but journalists and editors have a high degree of autonomy in the pursuit of stories and Sources.
Newsrooms in the UK continue on average to be hierarchical, with editorial coordination concentrated among senior roles at the expense of ordinary journalists. The appointments of editors-in-chief rarely involve journalists.
Newsrooms and management are generally separate, though changing business practices in UK newspapers is leading to a more porous boundary between the editorial and commercial arms of media companies.
Broadcast news in the UK is largely insulated from commercial pressures, although political interference in public service broadcasters has grown in the past decade. Commercial news outlets have a wide range of advertising partners, though there is some evidence of editorial favourability to certain industries.
Broadcast news in the UK is governed by a series of regular procedures on new selection and processing. Newspapers also supply detailed guidelines to journalists on newsgathering and verification.
Despite recent improvements in the representation of women in the very top editing and managerial roles, women continue to be underrepresented in managerial roles and a substantial gender pay gap remains.
There is an imbalance in the frequency of female voices as expert sources in UK news coverage, and in the portrayal of women in certain outlets, though several news organizations, particularly broadcasters, have engaged in policy reviews and have introduced new policies and procedures to address the problem.
Journalists demonstrate a high regard for the need for social media verification in their work. While print media do not publicise guidelines for social media verification, broadcast newsrooms tend to have detailed procedures in place, particularly for international Coverage.
UK journalists with formal contracts enjoy a range of support mechanisms relating to abuse and harassment online. Legal protections also apply in some cases. Freelance journalists, however, report little or no access to support networks.
Equality / Interest Mediation
Ownership concentration in the newspaper industry has increased in recent years, and commercial radio is dominated by a small number of companies. The BBC, while publicly-owned, is dominant in broadcasting overall, and broadcast news provision is almost entirely provided by the BBC, ITN and Sky News.
The UK local press has become more concentrated over the past 20 years but a significant ‘long tail’ of smaller publishers still exists. Broadcast news, as at the national level, is dominated by the BBC and Sky News though the local radio and hyperlocal sector has a wide variety of providers.
The UK news landscape is characterized by a wide range of news formats across all platforms.
The BBC devotes significant funding to minority-language news in Scotland and Wales, and the BBC Asian Network is also aimed at minority audiences. Commercial minority media covering many language groups and communities are licenced by Ofcom and several are available in print and online.
News in the UK (across all platforms) is generally affordable compared to average household income. Online output by several national and most regional outlets is free to access online.
The UK has no public media monitor, though piecemeal monitoring is conducted by NGOs and academic units, some self-monitoring mechanisms are operated by broadcasters and there are some transparency obligations on regulated media that comprise informal monitoring instruments.
UK news media are variously covered by five separate codes of ethics that apply nationwide. Broadcast news provision is underpinned by legislation.
The UK print and online news media are subject to self-regulation. Broadcast regulation is managed by a statutory corporation that is not directly controlled by the state, though its guidelines are underpinned by statute.
Different news organisations in the UK offer different avenues of participation for audiences. Many comments sections have been scaled back or removed due to difficulties in moderating abuse.
UK broadcast news is subject to strict rules on impartiality and the representation of views on any programming dealing with controversial or political matters. Newspapers are free to be partisan but usually provide at least some space for opposing voices or views.
Control / Watchdog
Though UK news outlets have in the past been criticised for a reluctance to investigate or scrutinise their peers, several publications and broadcast channels have dedicated media beats, including indirect scrutiny through news review programmes.
UK broadcasters are broadly insulated from interference, despite recent government pressure on the BBC. Commercial news organizations are owned by media companies and there is no recent tradition of party, church or industry-owned news organizations.
Information on media companies, including accounts, ownership and Board composition, is compiled by the government and available to view online. Publicly-traded companies and some broadcasters publish detailed revenue information annually, and Ofcom provides several annual market reports.
Journalism qualifications are now widely held, and training, including ethics training, is freely available and used by a majority of journalists. Some journalists report increasing newsroom pressures as exerting a detrimental effect on their quality of work.
Journalists are more likely than not to be in stable employment, but economic pressures, particularly at the local level, have led to recent cuts and made many jobs precarious. Journalists generally enjoy contractual protections and whistleblowing channels if pressured to breach professional ethics codes.
Detailed access to information legislation is in place in the UK and open to all citizens. There are some restrictions on availability and evidence shows that certain government departments in practice tend to withhold requested information, initially at least.
UK broadcasters are obliged to perform certain functions fulfilling the watchdog role of journalism and devote significant resources to investigative journalism. Many newspapers specify their watchdog functions in mission statements or adhere to standards codes that emphasise the importance of the public interest in their work.
Professional training is generally available to UK journalists, and the majority who do undertake training are funded by their employers when doing so. Larger news organizations such as the BBC operate their own internal training schemes.
While broadcast newsrooms continue to have significant resources to devote to investigative journalism, economic pressures are limiting the capacity of some – but not all – commercial news organizations to engage in costly investigative or international journalism.
Overall points (max. 90):
72
Freedom / Information
A more crowded and competitive media landscape.
Changing and more fragmented news consumption
General awareness, but still elite dominance
Journalists have influence on editorial matters
Management and newsroom separated most of the time.
Less pressure as subscriptions become single most important revenue
Newsroom practices in line with formal rules
More women in top positions and newsrooms
Accepted principles are not always practiced
Doubtful information normally checked
Better security for all staff
Equality / Interest Mediation
Oligopoly situation remains
Regional media empires emerge
Abundance of news formats of different type
Minority and alternative reach a limited audience
Non-news media take the money
Content monitoring is done occasionally
Code is implemented and frequently used
Self-regulation instruments are in place
Participation only sometimes welcome
No formal rules, but regular debate
Control / Watchdog
Media performance often discussed
Private and public news media well protected
Information available online
High degree of professionalization
Good conditions, but fewer permanent positions
Old traditions still work
Watchdog journalism exists where possible
Training applauded, but less practiced
Increased differences between national and regional/local media
The Media for Democracy Monitor (MDM) is a research project from The Euromedia Research Group. This is a network of researchers that collects and exchanges information that help to describe and analyse developments in media structure and policy in Europe.
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