Dear OURMedia list,
I'm sending you the most recent newsletter of the Center for Media and 
Communication Studies (CMCS) at Central European University (CEU) in 
Budapest. It includes information on our recent summer school (which was 
attended by several community media scholars) and our recent workshop on 
the challenges and opportunities of digitalisation for community radio. 
If any of you would like to receive this newsletter regularly (4 times a 
year), just send me a brief email.
In a separate mail, I will send an announcement for a conference in 
Budapest next year. This conference could be interesting particularly 
for OURMedia members from Europe, and we could think about organising an 
OURMedia event around that conference.
Best,
Arne

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Dear CMCS friends and supporters,
Dear ladies and gentlemen,


We would like to share with you the latest information about recent 
activities of the Center for Media and Communication Studies (CMCS) at 
the Central European University (CEU) in Budapest. Over the past months 
CMCS has been immersed in a number of exciting research projects, and 
has hosted several engaging events. If you would like to find out more, 
or if you have any general feedback, feel free to contact us at 
[log in to unmask] If you no longer wish to receive this quarterly newsletter, 
just send an email to the same address.


CMCS newsletter 2/2008

Contents:

1. Summer School on "Media, Democratization and Civil Society"
2. Exploratory Workshop on community radio and access to digital 
infrastructures
3. Media Pluralism Study: First interim report submitted
4. Jordanian study tour of Hungarian media
5. "East of West" in Sarajevo
6. "Mapping Global Media Policy": Workshop in Venice
7. Past public lectures at CEU
8. Successful CEU graduates
9. CMCS Visiting Fellows
10. Upcoming Course Innovation Workshop on Audiovisual Mass Media: 
Between Politics and Regulation
11. Conference plans: "Beyond East and West"
12. CMCS book alert
13. CMCS out and about


1. Summer School on "Media, Democratization and Civil Society"

Thirty-three international students, young and senior scholars, and 
civil society experts met in Budapest this June for the summer school 
"Media, Democratization and Civil Society". Over two weeks they 
discussed the role of media and civil society in democratization 
processes as well as the democratization of media and communications. 
They explored the involvement of civil society in policy processes, the 
role of grassroots, citizen-based and community media, analyzed 
challenges around media pluralism and political as well as economic 
pressures on media, and compared the situation in Central/Eastern Europe 
with other regions in transition.

The school was hosted by the CMCS, the Annenberg School for 
Communication at the University of Pennsylvania and the COST research 
network "East of West". Faculty included international scholars such as 
Monroe Price, Michael Delli Carpini, Karol Jakubowicz, Beata 
Klimkiewicz, Hakan Seckinelgin, Nick Jankowski. Core organizers of the 
summer school were Miklos Sükösd, Kate Coyer, Laura Ranca and Arne Hintz 
from CMCS. Participants came from a wide variety of countries and 
regions, including India, Russia, China, Pakistan, Mexico, the US, 
Western and Eastern Europe, and represented leading universities, NGOs 
and international institutions.

Summer school participants and faculty plan to publish an edited book 
emerging from the topics of lectures and discussions. Look for details 
in future newsletters! Preparations are also starting for a summer 
school on "Media and Development" in summer 2009.


2. European Science Foundation (ESF) Exploratory Workshop on community 
radio and access to digital infrastructures

Thirty international experts on community media, radio and spectrum 
policy participated in the workshop "Access to communication and 
democratic media structures in the digital environment" which took place 
at CEU on 13-15 May. They discussed the opportunities and challenges of 
the current digitalization of broadcasting, particularly for small, 
community and citizen-based radios, explored innovative forms of 
connecting 'old' broadcasting platforms with new media, and developed 
cornerstones of appropriate policy frameworks for digital transitions. 
Workshop participants produced a policy paper and explored ideas for 
further research collaborations.

The event was funded by a grant from the European Science Foundation 
(ESF) as part of its 'Exploratory Workshops' program. The workshop 
brought together academics with policy-makers, technical experts and 
civil society activists and thus continued CMCS' quest for creating 
multi-stakeholder connections. Participants included the Presidents of 
the World Association of Community Broadcasters (AMARC) and the 
Community Media Forum Europe (CMFE), representatives from national 
regulators and from the European Commission, as well as renowned 
academics. The workshop served to deepen CMCS' work in the fields of 
community media, new technologies and media policy, and it connected 
with current policy debates in Europe surrounding community media, 
minority media and digitalization.


3. Media Pluralism Study: First interim report submitted

In May, the research consortium conducting the study "Indicators for 
media pluralism in the Member States - towards a risk-based approach" 
submitted its first interim report to the European Commission. The 
report included a broad range of proposed indicators which will be 
condensed and connected towards a practical risk assessment framework in 
the next work phase. The outcome of the study will help monitor, assess 
and advance media pluralism in Europe.

The study commenced in January 2008 and will conclude in spring 2009. 
CMCS/CEU is leading one of four research teams to develop social 
indicators, with other teams focusing on legal and economic indicators. 
CMCS' team includes researchers from Jagellonian University, Poland; 
Peace Institute, Slovenia; Ljubljana University, Slovenia; Corvinus 
University, Budapest; and CEU. Team leader is Miklos Sükösd from CMCS, 
overall project leader is the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven.


4. Jordanian study tour of Hungarian media

A delegation of media professionals from Jordan visited Budapest in the 
first two weeks of April. The study tour, entitled "Media Systems in a 
Comparative Perspective", helped delegates explore a wide variety of 
issues related to the liberalization of the media sector in Central and 
Eastern Europe with a special emphasis on Hungary. Through meetings with 
relevant stakeholders and visits of core institutions, the delegation 
studied media regulation, industries, and practices. Participants 
included two newspaper journalists, a commercial radio director, a media 
regulator, a scholar and a human rights activist.

The tour was part of a multi-year USAID-funded Jordan Media 
Strengthening Program lead by CMCS Chair Professor Monroe Price and the 
Center for Global Communication Studies at the Annenberg School for 
Communication. The delegation was hosted by the CMCS and coordinated by 
CMCS Research Fellow Kate Coyer.


5. "East of West" in Sarajevo

Fourty European media scholars met in Sarajevo, Bosnia-Hercegovina in 
June for the bi-annual management and working group meetings of the COST 
A30 Action "East of West: Setting a New Central Eastern European Media 
Research Agenda". "East of West" is a network of leading European 
researchers from more than 20 countries, funded by the European Science 
Foundation as part of its COST program and coordinated by the CMCS. The 
Sarajevo meeting allowed for scholarly exchange on current research in 
the fields of media policy, democratic performance of the media, and new 
media developments. Entering its final year of collaborative work under 
this Action, the network took stock of its achievements and developed 
plans for several publications. Local host of the meeting was the 
Mediacenter Sarajevo.


6. "Mapping Global Media Policy": Workshop in Venice

CMCS members Kate Coyer and Arne Hintz participated in an expert Meeting 
"Mapping Global Media Policy: concepts, frameworks, methods", organized 
by the University of Padova in collaboration with McGill University, 
Montreal, University of Trento and the Global Media Policy Working Group 
of the International Association of Media and Communication Research 
(IAMCR). The workshop served as a space for dialogue among scholars 
involved in research activities on media policy, and specifically, to 
develop plans for a collaborative project that will map policy processes 
on a global level with the aim of creating an important resource for 
both scholars and policy-makers.


7. Public lectures

CMCS has continued its successful series of public lectures at CEU. 
Recent events included the following talks by distinguished media scholars:
- Professor Monroe E. Price, Annenberg School for Communication and 
Chair of CMCS: "Satellite Signals in a World of New Information Borders"
- Professor Colin Bennett, University of Victoria, Canada: ”The Privacy 
Advocates: Resisting the Spread of Surveillance”
- Professor Tudor Vlad, Associate Director of the James M. Cox Jr. 
Center for International Mass Communication Training &
Research at University of Georgia, US: "Media Freedom on a Scale from 0 
to Democracy? Rationales and Policy Implications of Measuring Press 
Freedom"


8. Successful CEU graduates

19 June marked the graduation ceremonies at CEU. Speakers including 
George Soros and Kofi Annan congratulated the new graduates for their 
achievements and encouraged them to apply their knowledge for positive 
global change. Five students received the Certificate in Political 
Communication as part of their MA in Political Science, and another five 
are about to complete the “Media, Information and Communications Policy 
Stream” as part of their MA in Public Policy . Both programs are 
media-related specializations that the CMCS offers in collaboration with 
the respective CEU departments.


9. CMCS Visiting Fellows

Andreas Masouras, PhD candidate at University of Brighton, spent one 
month at CMCS (April-May) as a Visiting Fellow to work on his PhD thesis 
on media diversity. Amy Sapan, PhD student at the Benjamin N. Cardozo 
School of Law, started a one-month visiting fellowship at CMCS on 30 
June to research digital libraries.

CMCS is expanding its Visiting Fellows program which allows PhD students 
and young scholars to conduct research on innovative fields in media and 
communication. In the first three months of this year, CMCS already 
hosted Visiting Fellows working on online privacy, digital broadcasting, 
and the role of mass media in processes of transformation. If you are 
interested in applying for the program, please contact us on email and 
send us your research proposal and CV.


10. Upcoming Course Innovation Workshop on Audiovisual Mass Media: 
Between Politics and Regulation

CMCS, the Department of Political Science, the Department of Public 
Policy and the CEU Curriculum Resource Center will host a workshop for 
young faculty with teaching interests in the audiovisual sector in the 
context of political communications and media policy. The workshop is 
thematically located at the intersection of politics and public policy 
of the media sector. It will compare policy objectives, instruments and 
outcomes with a focus on Central and Eastern Europe, discuss the role of 
stakeholders in shaping media policy, look at the agendas of a variety 
of social, political and economic forces, and put a particular spotlight 
on debates around media pluralism. The objective of the course is to 
develop curricula around these subjects. The course will take place 
13-17 October, deadline for applications is 1 September 2008. For 
further information
on eligibility and funding please visit 
http://web.ceu.hu/crc/crc_visit_upc.html.


11. Conference plans: "Beyond East and West"

CMCS, the COST A30 network "East of West: Setting a New Central and 
Eastern European Media Research Agenda" and the International 
Communications Association (ICA) will co-organize a conference on the 
development of media and communications in Central/Eastern Europe within 
the past 20 years and on likely future trajectories, entitled "Beyond 
East and West: Two Decades of Media Transformation After the Fall of 
Communism".

The conference was announced at the recent ICA convention in Montreal as 
an official regional ICA conference. A call for papers will be published 
shortly. Deadline for abstract submission will be 15 November, the 
conference dates will be 25-27 June 2009.


12. CMCS book alert

"Finding the Right Place on the Map: Central and Eastern European Media 
Change in a Global Perspective", edited by Karol Jakubowicz and Miklos 
Sükösd, is an international comparison of the media systems and 
democratic performance of the media in post-communist countries. It 
highlights current trends and problems surrounding international media. 
The volume is an outcome of the COST A30 action "East of West" and is 
published by intellect books.


13. CMCS out and about

CMCS Senior Research Fellow Peter Molnar has been teaching a course on 
freedom of information (FOI) and freedom of speech as a Fulbright Fellow 
at Cardozo School of Law where he also co-organized a public discussion 
on freedom of speech in Rwanda. Molnar gave talks at numerous 
conferences in New York, Philadelphia and Washington, and he gave a
lecture at the Communication, Culture and Technology Program of 
Georgetown University.

Monroe Price, Kate Coyer and Arne Hintz represented CMCS at the annual 
convention of the International Communications Association (ICA) in 
Montreal, 22-26 May, and at several ICA pre-conferences. They discussed 
plans for future activities with ICA members and leadership, including 
the ICA regional conference in Budapest in June 2009 (see above). Monroe 
Price and Arne Hintz are also part of the ICA Communications Policy Task 
Force. Kate Coyer presented a paper based on her ongoing research 
related to community broadcasting policy and practice.

CEU Assistant Professor Kristina Irion has been teaching at the 2008 
Annenberg / Oxford Summer Institute on Global Media Policy "Technology 
and New Themes in Media Regulation" which is taking place 30 June 30 to 
11 July. The goal of this program is to help broaden and expand the pool 
of talented young scholars committed to careers in media, law and other 
disciplines.

CMCS Researcher Eva Bognar presented the paper "Web 2.0 enabled 
inclusion for minorities or just another segregated space?: a case study 
of 'Zhoriben'" at the international conference "Politics: Web 2.0" in 
London, 17-18 April. She participated in a panel introducing the 
EU-funded collaborative research project "Civicweb: Young People, the 
Internet and Civic Participation" in which CMCS is a partner.

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CMCS is a center of excellence for promoting media and communication 
studies throughout the Central and Eastern European region. Based at the 
Central European University (CEU) in Budapest, it conducts cutting-edge 
practice-oriented research, organizes workshops, lectures and 
conferences on current developments in the field, and operates within an 
international network of acclaimed scholars and academic institutions. 
More information on these and other activities is available on the 
center's website http://cmcs.ceu.hu.