Polity's Global Media and Communication Series

Polity Press has just published (2011) three excellent overviews of media systems and policy abroad.

European media : structures, policies and identity / Stylianos Papathanassopoulos and Ralph Negrine.

Indian media : global approaches / Adrian Athique.

Arab media : globalization and emerging media industries / Noha Mellor, Muhammad Ayish, Nabil Dajani, and Khali Rinnawi.

All three books are aimed at both students without prior knowledge of the media landscape of these areas as well as more seasoned readers who want to make sure they have good perspective on the the whole picture. These books are interdisciplinary and combine facts with theoretical insight.

All three titles are available at both Annenberg Reference and Van Pelt.

Introducing EUscreen

EUscreen, is an ambitious audiovisual, mostly television, archive project whose aim is to bring together in one digital space millions of items from libraries, archives and museums from all over Europe (20 countries). The selection policy is currently three-pronged.  Items are selected either to inform 14 historical topics, as part of a virtual exhibition on themes that content providers select themselves, or as part of exhibitions on comparative themes across the region. Topics are broad: Arts and culture, Being European, Disasters, Education, Environment and Nature, Health, History of  Euroropean Television, Lifestyle and Consumerism, National holidays, festivals..., Politics and Economics, Religion and Belief, Society and Social Issues, Special Collections, The Media, Transportation, Science and Technology, War and Conflict, and Work and Production.  Genres are: Advertisements, Drama/Fictions, Entertainment and Performing Arts, Factual, Interstitials and Trailers, News, and Sport. 15 languages are represented. These video, audio, image and text materials range from the early 1900s to the present day.

In early 2012 EUscreen will launch an eJournal dedicated to the history of European television.  The journal will live on the EUscreen site.  Besides the searchable database of materials, the site will showcase curated exhibitions from member archives.  

EUscreen is currently in beta but it is up and available.  Keep an eye on it in the coming year as it goes into full breakout mode.

Central European Journal of Communication

The Annenberg Library now subscribes to the Central European Journal of Communication, the official Journal of the Polish Communication Association. The first issue (2008) was the "result of the International Media and Communication Conference 'Comparing Media Systems: West Meets East' (Wrocław, Kliczków Castle, 23-25 April, 2007)" from which ten articles were selected for the maiden issue. The second issue (2009), focused on the "Impact of European Integration and EU Entry on the Media and Media Policy in 'New Europe.'" "Political Campaign Communication in Different Media Systems"(2010), is the subject of the most recent issue which the library should be receiving any day now.

Note this journal is not available electronically. That will probably change at some point but for now it's a paper only title. It's also currently not indexed in Communication Abstracts or Communication and Mass Media Complete so you'll have to go out of your way a little to keep track of it (check ASC shelves or website for information on current and forthcoming issues).

Media Sustainability Indexes from IREX

IREX currently publishes two indexes on the conditions for independent media to thrive in 38 countries across Europe, Eurasia, the Middle East, and North Africa. Since 2000 it has focused on Eurasian MSI but since 2006 it has taken on the Middle East and North Africa. In addition, an MSI for Africa is due out this year. The MSI is designed to analyze key elements of each country’s media system and highlight where intervention can be most effective in promoting sustainable and professional media systems.

MSI Europe & Eurasia 2006/07, the sixth MSI for this region, focuses on 21 countries.
MSI Middle East and North Africa (MENA) analyzes 18 countries in the region. Both are available in full online.

IREX (International Research and Exchange Board), is an international nonprofit organization that describes its mission as "providing leadership and innovative programs to improve the quality of education, strengthen independent media, and foster pluralistic civil society development."

Tooling around the site I also ran into this: The Internet in Russia: On The Eve of Great Changes, an IREX Internet project for Russia that chronicles the dramatic changes in the growth of the Internet in Russia from 1990-1999. This online history includes information collected from more than 200 sources and site addresses of leading commercial, educational, and noncommercial organizations. As explained at the IREX site, "Vast distances, compounded by the deteriorating infrastructure of existing mail, telephone, fax, and other traditional means of communication, make the Internet an ideal medium to overcome the historical isolation of Soviet scholars, students, and business people and increase communication among the emerging civil society."