Reports

The Media Development Investment Fund (MDIF) commissioned CMDS to write a series of media case studies for a package of media business guides that they are publishing, targeted mostly at their investees, which include media outlets in over 70 countries all over the world. The first two case studies on implementing paywalls were written by Marius Dragomir, Dumitrita Holdis and Ian M. Cook, and they are already available online at this link or as a pdf below.

Ellen Hume, member of our advisory board and Susan Abbott, non-resident CMDS fellow have recently published their joint study researching the future of investigative journalism. The report paints a bright picture of the current state of investigative journalism, stating that "despite the dangers and uncertainties, it is an exciting time to be an investigative journalist, thanks to new collaborations and digital tools. These nonprofits are inventing a potent form of massive, cross border investigative reporting, supported by philanthropy.

The CAPTCHA project was a partnership of three community media organizations (Radio Corax, Germany; the Near Media Co-op, Ireland; Radio FRO, Austria) and the Center for Media, Data and Society. The project, which ran from September 2013 to August 2015, was supported by a grant from the Culture Programme of the European Union and it aimed to empower community media and programme makers to increase the online accessibility of their programmes.

The United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Belarus, CMDS fellow Miklós Haraszti, commended that protests against the perceived flaws of the presidential election in the country were not met with violence as in previous cases, but regretted that no progress was made in serving the Belarusians’ right to free and fair election.