Mf index presentation en

04-05.10.2013, Chisinau

MEDIA FREEDOM INDEX IN EASTERN PARTNERSHIP COUNTRIES

A z e r b a i j a nB e l a r u sA r m e n i aG e o r g i aM o l d o v a U k r a i n e This Project is financed by the EC

The Project is initiated by Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum

Точки зору, виражені в цій публікації, не обов'язково відображають погляди і думки Європейського Союзу

ENP East Media Freedom Watch ProjectGeneral information about the Project

The Project was initiated by the Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum (WG 1, sub-group “Media”) as a follow-up to the previous cooperation in the framework of “Eastern Partnership Media Landscapes”.

It covers countries of the Eastern Partnership (ENP East): Azerbaijan, Belarus, Armenia, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine.

The Project is implemented by IPO Internews Ukraine under financial support of the EU and in cooperation with leading media NGOs: Journalist union “Yeni Nesil” (Azerbaijan) Yerevan Press Club (Armenia) Association “Green Wave” (Georgia) Independent Journalism Centre (Moldova) partners in Belarus

Period of implementation: March 2013-February 2015

The content of the Index does not reflect the official position of the European Union


ENP East Media Freedom Watch ProjectENP East Media Freedom Watch ProjectObjectives

Overall objective of the Project:To protect freedom of media and expression in the ENP East region through raising the regional and international awareness of the situation with media freedom and journalists’ rights in six states of the region.

Specific objectives: to create and develop the transnational network of media NGOs in the six

ENP East countries; to develop a multi-country web-resource (http://mediafreedomwatch.org),

which will serve as a concentrated source of information on the Media Freedom in the ENP East region;

to inform the international community (especially the EU institutions) on the state of Media Freedom and journalists’ rights protection;

to identify common challenges for journalists and media in the six countries through a large-scale expert survey and to look for common solutions which require region-wide efforts.


http://mediafreedomwatch.org/


ENP East Media Freedom Watch ProjectENP East Media Freedom Watch ProjectTarget groups and beneficiaries

Target groups at the local level: government officials and MPs, journalists, media experts, media outlets and civil society organizations.

Target groups at the international level: EU officials, representatives of the Council of Europe and other international organizations, media experts, media lawyers, human rights organizations, international media NGOs and professional associations.

Beneficiaries: journalists of the six ENP East countries.



ENP East Media Freedom Watch ProjectENP East Media Freedom Watch ProjectMain activities

1) Establishment of the network of the media NGOs;

2) Development and maintenance of the bilingual resource http://mediafreedomwatch.org, covering six countries of the ENP East region;

3) Development of the methodology to calculate “Media Freedom Index”, which will measure the level of Media Freedom in the ENP region;

4) Dissemination of monthly informational digests;

5) Preparation of quarterly reports on Media Freedom developments in the six ENP countries (in Russian and English languages). Reports and results of analysis (Media Freedom Index) will be presented on the press conferences, conducted in each target country;

6) Preparation of interim and Final publications “ENP East Media Freedom Landscape”.


http://mediafreedomwatch.org/


ENP East Media Freedom Watch ProjectMethodology of the Media Freedom Index research

The subject and the form of research (1)

This research measures the level of Media Freedom – the ability of the media and journalists to exercise their rights and freedoms without control and pressure from the side of public authorities as well as other governmental institutions.

Such rights allow the Mass Media and journalists to report on all political processes, without limitations, whereas freedoms help them to access to the information, express own attitude and position regarding any issue, even if their opinion contradict to the views of the majority.

Research evaluates not only compliance with the principles declared by public authorities, international norms and standards in the sphere of Media Freedom, but also real opportunity to practice such rights and freedoms according to assigned principles for media and journalists.




The subject and the form of research (2)

The research considers not only the role of the government in the provision of such rights and freedoms, but also the authorities’ response on cases of illegal limitations by particular organizations, non-governmental agencies, groups and forces.

Methodology of the research is based on norms of political rights and civil liberties, which are set by relevant international documents.

These standards are the same for all countries, regardless of geographic location, ethnic or religious affiliation, the level of economic development or cultural traditions in the areas of research.

Considerable research experience of organizations like “Reporters without Borders”, Freedom House, etc., is also taken into account.




Structure of the Report

Each country report consists of the following chapters:

• Brief review (analysis of overall political and economic situation, legislation in the sphere of Mass Media;

• Main events (description of the main events of the quarter/year);

• Media Freedom Index (assessment of the current state of the freedom of expression and Media Freedom; identification of the country rating);

• “Map of Developments” (specific recommendations to improve the situation of media freedom and freedom of expression).

General report contains additional chapter Comparative Analysis (comparison of the situation in 6 countries, where leaders and outsiders are named for each evaluation criteria).




How the rating is determined?

Country rating is developed on the basis of:

• rating, set by each expert regarding the state of Media Freedom in their country;

• summing up of rates by specific criteria, determined by the methodology.




Experts’ status:

• 10 experts are engaged at the research in each country (60 experts in total). They are selected among journalists, human-rights defenders, lawyers, sociologists, and civic activists;

• Experts have more than 5 years of working experience in the sphere;

• They have tight relation to Media;

• Experts are not members of political parties and they are not represented in the public authorities.




Assessment criteria (1)

• There are the same criteria for all countries of the research, assessing the current status of the Media Freedom level.

• The criteria assess only the status of Freedom of Speech and Media, and not the quality of journalism.

• Each criterion is assessed by experts on the scale from 0 to 3 points, where 0 indicates the lowest level of the Freedom, and 3 corresponds to the highest level of Freedom.




Assessment criteria (2)

The criteria are divided into 4 sections:

• Politics (the level of rights and freedoms for the Mass Media/journalists, granted by constitution and the laws of the country, how they correspond to international norms and standards; presence of the official censorship, etc.)

• Reality (the role of the state in ensuring the rights and freedoms of the Mass Media/ journalists; reaction of the government on cases of illicit restrictions of freedom) This section consists of 6 parts:

Actual attacks, threats, detentions; Prosecutions; Access to the information; Censorship and self-censorship; State monopoly; Economic conditions.

• Broadcasting (the level of broadcasting freedom, access to the broadcasting, etc.)• The Internet (the level of the Internet freedom, access to the Internet, etc.)



ENP East Media Freedom Watch Project

Media Freedom Index results in the ENP East countries (March-June 2013)

Country Rating The number of points Index

Georgia 1 1222 6Moldova 2 1111 5Armenia 3 912 4Ukraine 4 797 4Azerbaijan 5 523 3Belarus 6 414 2

Media Freedom Index

The Index shows distribution of countries in terms of the Freedom of Media.It is calculated in points from 0 (the worst score) to 7 (the best score).




Політика

0 50 100 150 200 250

194 (6)

177 (6)

175 (6)

144 (5)

120 (4)

69 (2)Білорусь

Азербайджан

Україна

Молдова

Вірменія

Грузія

Be-larusAzerbaijan

Ukraine

Moldova

Armenia

Georgia

Politics


Media Freedom Index


Section: Politics

(8 criteria, maximum 240 points)

Defines the level of rights and freedoms for the Media/journalists, granted by the constitution and laws of the country, their correspondence to the international norms and standards, presence of official censorship, etc.



Практика

0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900

808 (6)

715 (5)

557 (4)

503 (4)

320 (2)



Україна

Вірменія

Молдова

Грузія

Be-larus

Azerbaijan

Ukraine

Moldova

Armenia

Georgia


Media Freedom Index


Section: Reality


Defines the role of the state in ensuring rights and freedoms of the Mass Media/ journalists; reaction of the government on cases of illicit restrictions of freedom). The section consists of 6 parts: Actual attacks, threats, detentions; Prosecutions; Access to the information; Censorship and self-censorship; State monopoly; Economic conditions

Reality



Телерадіомовлення

0 20 40 60 80 100 120

103 (5)

103 (5)

61 (3)

48 (2)

40 (2)



Україна

Вірменія

Молдова

Грузія

Ukraine

Belarus

Azerbaijan

Armenia

Georgia

Broadcasting


Media Freedom Index


Section: Broadcasting


Defines the level of broadcasting freedom, access to the broadcasting, etc.

Moldova



Інтернет / Нові медіа

0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140

118 (6)

117 (6)

115 (6)

102 (5)

43 (2)



Україна

Молдова

Вірменія

Грузія

Ukraine

Be-larus

Azerbaijan

Moldova

Armenia


Media Freedom Index


Section: The Internet and New Media


Defines the level of the Internet freedom, access to the Internet, etc.

Georgia

The Internet/New Media



[email protected]


http://www.mediafreedomwatch.org/

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