Hot Topic - Media in the Western Balkans

Birds Of A Feather Or A Fish Rots: A Phrase For All Seasons - November 26, 2018
The Western Balkan states have suffered from democratic deficiencies for decades. As a result, arguably, media serving the region has a spotty reputation. Little improvements are met with precipitous declines. Leadership is often the biggest challenge; that fish-head phrase coming to mind.

Beware, Crusading Newspapers: Punishment Comes - September 25, 2017
The closing of a newspaper does not attract much attention these days. Economics are unforgiving, we’ve learned. And no media platform can escape. There are other pressures, equally powerful, ready to crush.

For Usual Suspects Declining Independent Media Part Of The Plan - June 26, 2017
An article of faith among adherents to democratic principles is the significance of an independent public broadcasting service. Even commercial competitors, broadcasting and otherwise, accept, however tepidly, that public broadcasters lift the media market creatively and economically. None of that matters to the recently risen illiberal dictators and oligarchs. The consequence has unleashed a return to State broadcasting, easier on the populist ears and eyes.

Not Even Rich People Feel Safe In The Media Business - June 19, 2017
For media outlets in fledgling democracies getting ahead of the curve, so to speak, is difficult. Agents of media development, largely from the outside, will do only so much, particularly as results depend on factors unseen and unexpected. Local owners and operators see only hard decisions. Those on the front-line are left to their own wit and wisdom.

The Future Is At Hand – State Broadcasting Returns - May 30, 2016
Public broadcasters working under constrained independence, administrative and financial, risk default to State broadcasting. Those separated barely a generation from dogmatic control face stiff resistance to new and open practice. Authorities always prefer a pliant mouthpiece.

Market Development Struggles Between Waiting And Wanting - November 3, 2014
The health of a media market can be measured by one particular vital sign, the radio sector. Listeners are engaged by stories and songs, dialects and sounds making radio stations part of the local conversation. Reliable and accessible yet always changing radio is the perfect bridge to the new media environment. Advertisers benefit from this and, in turn, make radio broadcasting a good business. That is, in theory, the way it’s supposed to work.

Better Out Of Control Than Out Of Business - November 18, 2013
Self-regulation bodies that set standards in the media sphere are widely seen as good things, a mature approach to proscribing bad practices. The distasteful alternatives range from irresponsible chaos – yelling fire in a crowded theater – to legislated regulation – government censorship. The printed media has, more or less, adopted self-regulation as a means of keeping politicians out of their newsrooms while keeping a watchful eye on the politicians.

Record Low As Media Follows Bad Examples - February 4, 2013
Ranking the attributes of any country’s media sector is acceptably subjective. There is the obvious, not so obvious and uncovered. As in physics, the act of observing changes things. Physics also reminds us that objects at rest tend to fall apart.

See also...

Western Balkans - The Struggle For Order And Independence

ftm reporting explores media development and investment in Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia / Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia and Albania. Emerging from conflict broadcasters, publishers and governments face ghosts of the past to forge a new future. Includes Resources, 78 pages PDF (February 2013)

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