International Media Handbook

International Media Handbook — the Fundamental Work on Worldwide Media Development Legal and organisational foundations – most important protagonists – offerings and usage – status of convergence – in 40 European countries and 43 more states worldwide – data, background and analyses on over 1,300 pages Hans-Bredow-Institut (ed.): Internationales Handbuch Medien. [International Media Handbook] Baden-Baden: Nomos, 28th edition 2009, 1.308 pp., hardcover, 128,– EUR, contents as pdf-document (German), order information Since 1957, the International Media Handbook (IMH) of the Hans-Bredow-Institut has informed about media systems and markets all over the world and thereby allows for the classification of current events. The science council has emphasised the handbook as “internationally unrivalled“. Although information about the countries in the world and also about their media can be accessed more and more easily through the Internet, this does not satisfy the need for reliable, topical and expertly construed information on the respective media systems. The high demand for the International Media Handbook shows that this need rather increases in science as well as in journalism and politics, especially with regard to comparably structured data for different countries. The International Media Handbook responds to this demand with a combination of general analyses and country-specific contributions which are exceptional in their coverage (79 articles from all continents) and their content range for all relevant media worldwide As usual, the new edition of the IMH provides comprehensive information on the most important current developments in the areas of print media, broadcasting and online services worldwide. Part A presents with across the board contributions, general surveys and analyses transnational and general lines of development, more closely examining individual aspects of legal and economical developments and the growth of offerings in the areas of print media, broadcasting and online services. In parts B and C (Media in Europe, Media outside of Europe) the developments of media in individual states are described, now extending the reporting to countries as yet not covered, above all in Africa and Asia. Articles have been added on Ethiopia, Bangladesh, Ghana, Kenya, Laos, Lebanon, Mongolia, Mozambique, Nigeria, and Peru. The authors of the reports on countries, experts from the respective countries or persons knowledgeable about the national media systems, describe for each of the three areas of print media, broadcasting and online the following dimensions: legal and historical groundings, organisation and financing of providers, offerings and usage, recent developments. Their articles are complemented by an analysis on the status of developments in convergence with their consequences for the three areas named, through citing of contact addresses for the most important media institutions and agencies, references to literature and pertinent links to further information. In order to improve the comparability of the particular country information, it has been attempted in the new edition to include standardised tables in the individual reports – an endeavour which has in practice run into difficulties due to the very disparate conditions of data. As other comparative surveys have shown, the available information on media systems in countries differ from each other so much that standardisation is very limited. Even in highly developed countries, e.g. USA or France, some data are not available or not being published. In some places, the Handbook benefits from the fact that the experts and authors of the articles have access to non-public data sources. Not least due to the new structure, which increases the user value of the Handbook, there has been a break between the release of the last Handbook and the new edition. A work so elaborate and substantial with over 1,300 pages requires an extended production process as well as a lot of patience and effort from the authors. The articles of this new edition were written in 2007/2008 and in most cases updated in the beginning of 2009. But the temporal gap in the publishing series is also accounted for by the discussion about the future publication of the Handbook as well as the funding of the related work and resources which has not yet been concluded. As the Nomos-Verlag only carries the cost of production as well as a portion of the authors’ fees and costs for translation, the major load of conceptual and, above all, editorial work rests with the Hans-Bredow-Institut in financial terms as well. This service is, however, no longer tenable for the Institute alone, thus new ways of fund raising, attracting sponsorships and also the possibility of a pure English-language publication have been, and are still being, considered and pursued. Available through Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft, Waldseestr. 3-5, D-76530 Baden-Baden, Tel.: +49 7221 2104-0 - Fax: +49 7221 2104-27, E-Mail: nomos@nomos.de Contents, Structure and Authors In the first part of the International Media Handbook (overviews and analyses of media development), future developments across countries and in general are presented. Thereby some aspects are examined more closely in cross-section analyses, e.g. regarding legal bases of international media systems, strategies of the largest media corporations or media usage by international comparison. Further, the Handbook describes the media developments of individual European and non-European states. Each country article separately examines for the areas of broadcasting, print media and online-services legal and historical foundations, organisation and financing of providers (e.g. the largest daily newspaper and magazine publishers or broadcasting and online providers, market share, regional circulation), offerings and usage, recent developments, status of developments in convergence, bibliography and contact addresses of the most important protagonists ensure quick access to further information. The Hans-Bredow-Institut is the editor of this book and also responsible for content and concept. The multidisciplinary editorial staff of the Institute is supported by a team of authors with over 80 renowned experts from media research and practice in the respective countries or persons knowledgeable about the national media systems. For the 28th edition, the following countries were considered: In Europe: Albania Austria Belarus Belgium Bosnia-Herzegovina Bulgaria Croatia Czechia Denmark Estonia Finland France Greece Hungary Ireland Iceland Italy Latvia Liechtenstein Lithuania Luxembourg Malta Macedonia Moldova Montenegro Netherlands Norway Poland Portugal Romania Russia Sweden Switzerland Serbia Slovakia Slovenia Spain Turkey Ukraine United Kingdom Outside Europe: Algeria Argentina Armenia Azerbaijan Australia Bangladesh Bahrain Brazil Canada Chile China Costa Rica Egypt El Salvador Ethiopia Ghana India Indonesia Iran Israel Japan Kenya Korea Kuwait Laos Lebanon Malaysia Morocco Mexico Mongolia Mozambique New Zealand Nigeria Oman Pakistan Peru Qatar Saudi-Arabia Senegal Singapore South Africa Tunisia United Arab Emirates USA Uzbekistan