Media Constrained by Context - New Book Edited by CMDS Fellows Kristina Irion and Tarik Jusic

Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Kosovo, Macedonia, and Serbia undertook a range of media reforms to conform with accession requirements of the European Union and the standards of the Council of Europe, among others. The essays explore the nexus between the democratic transformation of the media and international media assistance in these countries. The cross-national analysis concludes that the effects of international assistance are highly constrained by local contexts. In hindsight it becomes clear that escalating media assistance does not necessarily improve outcomes. In the western Balkans imported solutions have not been sensitive to local conditions, and international strategies have tended to be schematic, without strategic approaches to promote media policy stability, credible media reform or implementation.

The book offers valuable insights into the nature and effects of media assistance and the strategies of international aid agencies, local political forces, media professionals, civil society organizations and other actors.

Kristina Irion is assistant professor at the Institute for Information Law (IViR) at the University of Amsterdam and Postdoctoral Researcher to the project Personalised Communication. Previously, she was associate professor at the School of Public Policy of Central European University and she was a core faculty member at CMDS.

Tarik Jusic is executive director and head of the public communication program at the Center for Social Research Analitika. He holds a doctoral degree from the Institute for Media and Communication Studies, University of Vienna, Austria, and an MA degree in Political Science from Central European University, Budapest, Hungary.