AI in Content Curation and Media Pluralism

This part focuses on the use of AI in content curation, addressing the impact of data-driven content recommender systems on diversity and media pluralism. This part and the next one highlighting shortcomings of AI-based content curation and targeted advertising provide human rights-centred recommendations to prevent the negative impact of AI tools in content curation on the right to freedom of opinion and expression

Who’s Afraid of the Past: The Role of Archives in Shaping the Future of PSBs

The focus of this paper is on the role of audiovisual archives for PSBs with regards to their function as democratic and inclusive institutions. We discuss the importance of audiovisual archives as integrated parts of PSBs, argue that accessibility of archives is a universal service and as such, a fundamental factor for PSBs to fulfil their democratic functions in the 21st century. We investigate structural, legal and institutional factors that impact on the state of archives using empirical evidence from four archives of PSBs and focus on four key elements of accessibility, namely equality, cross-border access, media literacy and contextualisation, and archives awareness. Our research highlights some of the struggles and contradictions that PSBs find themselves into as a result of pressures and tensions between institutions, the market and the citizens

Very long baseline interferometry observations of the high-redshift blazar candidate J0141–5427

Active galactic nuclei (AGN) have been observed as far as redshift z∼7 . They are crucial in investigating the early Universe as well as the growth of supermassive black holes at their centres. Radio-loud AGN with their jets seen at a small viewing angle are called blazars and show relativistic boosting of their emission. Thus, their apparently brighter jets are easier to detect in the high-redshift Universe. DES J014132.4–542749.9 is a radio-luminous but X-ray weak blazar candidate at z=5 . We conducted high-resolution radio interferometric observations of this source with the Australian Long Baseline Array at 1.7 and 8.5 GHz. A single, compact radio-emitting feature was detected at both frequencies with a flat radio spectrum. We derived the milliarcsecond-level accurate position of the object. The frequency dependence of its brightness temperature is similar to that of blazar sources observed at lower redshifts. Based on our observations, we can confirm its blazar nature. We compared its radio properties with those of two other similarly X-ray-weak and radio-bright AGN, and found that they show very different relativistic boosting characteristics

Very long baseline interferometry observations of the high-redshift blazar candidate J0141–5427

Active galactic nuclei (AGN) have been observed as far as redshift z∼7 . They are crucial in investigating the early Universe as well as the growth of supermassive black holes at their centres. Radio-loud AGN with their jets seen at a small viewing angle are called blazars and show relativistic boosting of their emission. Thus, their apparently brighter jets are easier to detect in the high-redshift Universe. DES J014132.4–542749.9 is a radio-luminous but X-ray weak blazar candidate at z=5 . We conducted high-resolution radio interferometric observations of this source with the Australian Long Baseline Array at 1.7 and 8.5 GHz. A single, compact radio-emitting feature was detected at both frequencies with a flat radio spectrum. We derived the milliarcsecond-level accurate position of the object. The frequency dependence of its brightness temperature is similar to that of blazar sources observed at lower redshifts. Based on our observations, we can confirm its blazar nature. We compared its radio properties with those of two other similarly X-ray-weak and radio-bright AGN, and found that they show very different relativistic boosting characteristics.Astrodynamics & Space Mission

The independence of media regulatory authorities in Europe

This IRIS Special focuses on the independence of regulatory authorities and bodies in the broadcasting and audiovisual media sector in Europe. These entities have proliferated according to the different legal traditions of the respective countries they belong to. They do not, therefore, conform one, single model. Nonetheless, they reflect a common approach of sorts with regard to the institutional set-up of regulatory governance. The independence of these entities is particularly important because it contributes to the broader objective of media independence, which is in itself an essential component of democracy. The creation, status and functioning of these regulatory authorities and bodies were shaped pursuant to the constitutional requirements and/or administrative practices of the countries that established them. As a result, each has distinct characteristics and levels of independence that differ according to where they are located. But when is an authority to be considered independent? The measurement of an entity's independence requires careful analysis of the legal texts setting it up, but also of the practices that are rooted in reality and reflect the sensitivities of the societies in question. This IRIS Special aims to enlighten the reader on the definition of the independence of a regulatory authority or body, on the criteria used to assess its independence, and on the legal framework embodying this independence at the European level, as well as provide analysis of the status and functioning of regulatory authorities and bodies in a selection of nine European countries: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Spain, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Sweden, and Slovenia. This sample reflects the different levels of independence that can be found across Europe. © European Audiovisual Observatory (Council of Europe), Strasbourg, September 201

Spotlight on Artificial Intelligence and freedom of expression : a policy manual

Published online: 22 January 2022Abstract extract from the forewordThe year 2022 marks the 25th anniversary of the mandate of the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media. In 1997, the year this institution was established, only 1.7 percent of the global population was online, and digital technologies supporting online communication were novel and virtuously optimistic. Twenty-five years on, the number of people who access the internet has risen to more than 80 percent across the OSCE region. This monumental expansion has been profoundly beneficial for freedom of expression, the free flow of information and the ability to seek, receive and impart information and ideas of all kinds across borders, and across the globe. This has been crucial for economic, public and political participation, for democratization, for education and health, for holding power to account, and for shedding light on war crimes and other human rights violations. At the same time, it has also given rise to mass surveillance as well as cybercrimes, and the spread of illegal and harmful content online