Richard Shafer

Comparing development journalism and public journalism as interventionist press models

This article presents a comparison of two journalism models: development journalism and public journalism. The experience of development journalism in the Philippines is critiqued in order to inform and make predictions about public journalism, which is swiftly evolving in the United States. The paper traces the history and efficacy of both models, and highlights the resistance by journalists towards either system. Also presented is the summary of a series of interviews conducted with Filipino journalists on their attitudes towards development journalism, conducted at a time when the practise of this model was at its height.

Obstacles to the Professionalization of Mass Media in Post-Soviet Central Asia: a case study of Uzbekistan

Uzbekistan is the most populous and economically significant of the five Central Asian republics of the former USSR. Although authoritarian, its government appears to recognize the need to train journalists in Western journalistic theory and practice. The observations and experiences of the authors, as recent Fulbright-sponsored journalism scholars in Central Asia, are combined with limited sources on mass media in the region, to discuss the most effective journalism education under current conditions in Central Asia.

Press constraints as obstacles to establishing civil societies in central asia: Developing a new model of analysis

More than a decade and a half after independence, none of the press systems in Central Asias five former Soviet republics are categorized as free, nor have any of these countries transitioned to democracy. The question becomes: Why have they failed to evolve into democratic nations after successfully rejecting Soviet domination and Russian colonialism? The Western-rooted development model assumes that democracy, media independence, free markets, and civil society can help establish the primary prerequisites for free and prosperous nations. However, the results of that assumption fall far short of expectations in Central Asia. Recent events provide little reason for optimism about prospects for such structural changes. This study discusses the interrelationship between press freedom and post-communist democratization. It proposes an exploratory matrix of external variables, including religion, that may help explain why press freedom has failed to materialize in Central Asia while democracy has become a reality in other parts of the former Soviet Union and in most former Warsaw Pact nations.

Advancing a Comprehensive Research Agenda for Central Asian Mass Media

In former Soviet Central Asia, independence in 1991 led to five distinctive press systems with authoritarian commonalities. Since then, scholars have barely scratched the surface in studying those press systems in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. This article identifies unexplored and under-explored topics, including questions related to journalistic practices and standards; governmental constraints; training and education; coverage of public affairs; access to information; public attitudes towards the press; social media; self-censorship and ethics; and the Internet. In addition, the article identifies obstacles to research in the region as well as the potential value of collaboration among scholars in and beyond the region. Many of these prospective areas of inquiry are also applicable for other post-communist and post-authoritarian countries in lessdeveloped regions of the world.

Protecting Journalists by Applying the Civic Journalism Model in Developing Countries: A Case Study of the Philippines

Civic journalism, the community-inclusive cooperative model that has faded in the United States, where it had first blossomed, has the potential to be re-purposed to provide security for journalists in areas where it can be dangerous to practise the traditional Western-objective model. The Philippines, where journalists in recent years have been killed at the highest rate in the world, provides an illustrative case study for this concept because of its Westernised, vigorous press and the violent insurgencies that have continued in some provincial areas. Recent experiments with civic journalism in the Philippines under corporate sponsorship suggest how adaptations of the model might help organise effective news reporting, supported by local citizens, to inform safer and more effective press practices in regions such as the island of Mindanao where journalists have been particularly endangered. Our discussion of experiments with civic journalism suggests that it might be more widely applied to organising popular support for journalists engaged in reporting on difficult topics that are important to resolving conflict and furthering development in underdeveloped and unstable regions.

Transplanting a Western-Style Journalism Education to the Central Asian Republics of the Former Soviet Union: Experiences and Challenges at the American University of Central Asia in Kyrgyzstan.

Western standards of journalism education, as well as western professional journalistic practices, have had difficulty taking root in the five independent countries of formerly Soviet Central Asia. This essay examines the experience of one university’s Department of Journalism and Mass Communication since 1997 and the challenges it faces, including curriculum reform, faculty retention, government regulation, and student career interests in the context of press systems that remain tightly controlled by regimes.

An Overview of Contemporary Central Asian Mass Media Research

Abstract This paper presents pioneering work focused on the press in Central Asia, specifically Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. Because these relatively new nations, all former republics of the Soviet Union, were under Russian czarist and Soviet colonial domination beginning in the 1860s, we begin with a brief overview of that colonial experience as it impacts current mass media conventions, ideology and controls in Central Asia, followed by an overview of some of the leading contemporary research on Central Asian mass media, including detailed evidence that obstacles to free and effective press systems in Central Asia are complex, diverse and profound. Based on this research, we conclude that substantive, meaningful improvements in Central Asian press systems and practices are unlikely to occur in the near future unless the obstacles identified are overcome. Because of the limited availability of contemporary research on media, this overview serves as an introduction to the macro-research problem of press development there and as a means to encourage and direct expanded media studies focused on the region. The authors of this paper include their own observations and commentary on the available research, based on more than a decade of journalism teaching and research there.