Public Media and Political Independence: Lessons for the Future of Journalism From Around the World

Profiles how fourteen nations fund and protect the autonomy of public media via multiyear funding, public-linked funding structures, charters, laws, and agencies or boards designed to limit political influence and ensure spending in the public interest

Towards more balanced news access? A study on the impact of cost-cutting and Web 2.0 on the mediated public sphere

In order to assess the impact of cost-cutting and digitalization on the expansion or contraction of the mediated public sphere, we developed a quantitative and longitudinal content analysis focused on sourcing practices for foreign news reporting in four Belgian newspapers (1995-2010). The results show little to no shift in the news access of different types of sources. Political sources dominate foreign news output, but ordinary citizens also play a significant role. Although it becomes clear that Belgian journalists often do not explicitly mention their use of news agency copy, recycled news articles or PR material, our findings indicate that concerns about cost-cutting in newsrooms or sanguinity about the democratic potential of Web 2.0 seem fairly exaggerated, at least in the Belgian context

Interning Dissent: The Law of Large Political Events

1968 är ett mytomspunnet år. Håller man sig till 1900-talet är det få årtal som kan konkurrera med 1968 i fråga om symbolisk laddning och dragningskraft. Denna dragningskraft utövar det även på omkringliggande årtal: i dag står 1968 mer för en epok än ett årtal. När denna epok börjar och slutar är oklart, men att den kulminerade 1968 råder det, så vitt jag kan bedöma, stor enighet om. 1968 betraktas allmänt som kulmen på en våg av ungdomsprotester, kravaller, mobilisering, livsstilsexperiment, en politisk vänstervåg, galna upptåg och framväxten av ett specifikt generationsmedvetande. Det är framför allt som generationsmarkör 1968 har skrivit in sig i historie

Development Through Empowerment: Delivering Effective Public Services - A Literature Review

This paper reviews the channels through which empowerment may improve the efficiency and quality of public service delivery, particularly in developing Asia. Departing from a macro perspective, we focus and revisit microeconomic evidence for three broad measures aimed at empowering the poor: empowerment through voice, empowerment through exit, and empowerment through information

Mapping digital media: digital television, the public interest, and European regulation

Discussion of digital television has focused on switch-over dates, set-top boxes and the technical and economic implications of switch-over. This paper, by contrast, focusses on public interest obligations and citizenship values such as freedom, access, universality, political pluralism and content diversity. Petros Iosifidis distinguishes broadly between public interest priorities as understood in western Europe, and in central and eastern Europe. After assessing some obvious benefits of digital TV (extra channels, converged communications, enhanced interactivity and mobility), he argues that the public interest outcomes from the introduction of new technologies like the internet and digital TV will depend on how people use them, for new technology is only a vehicle by means of which public interest goals can be achieved. He then considers digital TV penetration data from across Europe, as well as the status of national digital switch-over plans, stressing that northern Europe is much more advanced in this regard than southern and eastern-central Europe. Outlining the pros and cons of digital switch-over for the public, Dr Iosifidis contends that universality and accessibility can best be ensured by maintaining public service media, which have been—and should continue to be—important conveyors of freely accessible and reliable information. Countries where television has been dominated by state broadcasters should use the new technology and in particular digital switch-over to create independent non-profit channels at both local and national levels, to foster a competitive environment and political pluralism

In the Battle for Reality: Social Documentaries in the U.S.

Provides an overview of documentaries that address social justice and democracy issues, and includes case studies of successful strategic uses of social documentaries

The Law and Poor People’s Access to Health Care

Many companies today, in different fields of operations and sizes, have access to a vast amount of data which was not available only a couple of years ago. This situation gives rise to questions regarding how to organize and use the data in the best way possible. In this thesis a large database of pricing data for products within various market segments is analysed. The pricing data is from both external and internal sources and is therefore confidential. Because of the confidentiality, the labels from the database are in this thesis substituted with generic ones and the company is not referred to by name, but the analysis is carried out on the real data set. The data is from the beginning unstructured and difficult to overlook. Therefore, it is first classified. This is performed by feeding some manual training data into an algorithm which builds a decision tree. The decision tree is used to divide the rest of the products in the database into classes. Then, for each class, a multivariate time series model is built and each product’s future price within the class can be predicted. In order to interact with the classification and price prediction, a front end is also developed. The results show that the classification algorithm both is fast enough to operate in real time and performs well. The time series analysis shows that it is possible to use the information within each class to do predictions, and a simple vector autoregressive model used to perform it shows good predictive results

Navigating the Confluence: Sources of Reconciliation Flowing Between the Human Right to Water and Economic Efficiency

The purpose of this research is to identify the confluence of the law and economics disciplines, using these distinct channels of scholarship not as an empirical vessel to determine the “value” or “valueless” nature of water, but rather as a means to reconcile externalities among interested parties and to identify management strategies that embrace sentiments of economic efficiency throughout the arena of global hydrocommerce. The various perspectives on water, particularly with regards to an increasing global population and demand for freshwater, elicits an intricate mosaic of tensions concerning the availability, accessibility, provision, and protection of this fundamental natural resource. Billions of individuals around the world lack access to basic water and sanitation services. Despite the prevalence of these atrocities, access to water is both an individual human right and necessary for human survival. The legal basis for the human right to water, in terms of availability, quality, and accessibility, was adopted by the U.N. in its General Comment No. 15. Despite recognition by the U.N., more than 1.1 billion people do not have sufficient access to clean water, while 2.6 billion people have no provision for sanitation. Against this tragic and inexcusable backdrop, the public sector either lacks the financial resources to provide water or continues to operate water distribution schemes with undesirable inefficiency. From a pragmatic standpoint—and to ensure that citizens have access to clean water—there exist circumstances, both in reality and in the text of the General Comment, whereupon governments should be compelled, or at least be encouraged, to solicit capital investment from the private sector in order to construct adequate water infrastructure and manage water distribution services. Researchers estimate that over the next twenty years almost $22 trillion (USD) will be necessary to fully modernize global water delivery and wastewater systems. Water scarcity, an individual’s lack of access to clean water, arises due to economic and physical constraints, while being influenced by managerial, institutional, and political factors. At its core, the primary challenge for nations concerning their respective water distribution schemes is a lack of adequate financial resources. In developing countries, an estimated ninety-seven percent of all water distribution is managed by public-sector suppliers. The inept realities concerning these water distribution systems in developing countries, and the fact that over a billion people still lack access to this essential resource, suggests that governments retain at least some responsibility in the persistence of the global water crisis. Reconciliation is the next step in the human right to water argument—from its theoretical origins to its pragmatic implementation—and may be realized through a law and economics analysis in support of private-sector participation in the delivery of water and funding for the provision of adequate infrastructure. Much like distinct tributaries to a mighty river, the legal and economic disciplines maintain differences in methodology, scientific approach, and objectives; but as these disciplines converge, their tributaries form the river’s main stem, with potential to influence an entire watershed of jurisprudence