The Media In Europe S Small Nations

Small nations are growing in prominence. In 1950, there were 22 sovereign European states with a population below 18 million. Today there are 36 – not to mention many more stateless nations. What are the particular characteristics of the media in small nations? What challenges do broadcasters and other media institutions in these countries face, how can these be overcome, and are there advantages to operating in a small national context? How are small nations represented on screen, and how do audiences in small nations engage with the media? Bringing together perspectives from across Europe, including case-studies on Catalonia, the Basque Country, Wales, Scotland, Iceland, Portugal, Slovenia and Macedonia, this collection answers these questions. At the same time, it provides readers with insights into broader issues of media policy, representation, national identity, transnationalism, audience reception and media research methods. With European media institutions and practitioners coming to terms with the changes brought about by digitisation and globalisation against a backdrop of financial uncertainty, this collection offers a timely contribution to debates about the media in Europe. Contributors include: Steve Blandford, John Newbigin, Sally Broughton Micova, Josep Àngel Guimerà, Ana Fernández Viso, Agnes Schindler, Dilys Jones, Trish Reid, Jacqui Cochrane, Anabela de Sousa Lopes and Merris Griffiths.

Introduces the geographical, historical and ethno-linguistic framework of the Caucasus, focusing on the Russian incorporation of the region, the root most conflicts; analyses individual conflicts, from their origins to the attempts at resolving them; analyses the role of the three regional powers (Turkey, Iran and Russia); and sets out a synthesis of the Caucasian conflicts and a conclusion on the place of the Caucasus in world affairs.

Essay from the year 2009 in the subject Communications - Media and Politics, Politic Communications, grade: 4,0 => 2,0 (s. Anm.), University of Helsinki (Communications), course: European Media and Communication Policies, language: English, abstract: Europe can be defined and its countries linked together in several ways and its borders aren’t completely clear. Geography and history join us and with the start of the EU also political and more defined economical reasons. Several areas of Europe share a similar culture. But there are as many (or maybe even more) differences as similarities. E.g. Switzerland is not part of the EU, but part of Europe and inside the country itself there are 4 languages and at least as many cultures. So how could a big area like Europe have something in common if it’s not even possible in a small country like Switzerland? Media is traditionally a strong part of culture: The culture media is produced in defines its characteristics and simultaneously the media influences the culture. Regional or national radio and television seem to be a very important tool to define identity and culture. In the EU the focus lies more on economics than on building a common culture and identity. But for the EU to be accepted and therefore to function a bonding element has to exist. A shared culture and value community must be created (cf. Habermas:2001:4) and pan-European media could play a crucial role in that. It might show people living in a wide, diverse area called “Europe” that this region could be a community that actually exists and is not only machinery publishing policies and dealing with economy. The shared currency, the Euro, could have been and maybe is a step into that direction but not every EU country has the Euro (e.g. Sweden, UK) and not every country in the European area is a member of the EU (e.g. Norway, Switzerland).Commercial media companies already walk the way towards pan-European companies and media. (cf. IBM News) Why would they do it if they wouldn’t see profit in it? So even if former projects like Eurikon (cf. Euronews) have failed in the 1980’ies it seems to be worth to invest in pan-European Media both from an economical and cultural point of view. It is a challenge for national protectionism as well as for cultural and social diversity but building a community has involved the same challenges for ages.

"The pages of history recall scarcely any parallel episode at once so romantic in character and so extensive in scale." -- Winston S. Churchill In 1917, two empires that had dominated much of Europe and Asia teetered on the edge of the abyss, exhausted by the ruinous cost in blood and treasure of the First World War. As Imperial Russia and Habsburg-ruled Austria-Hungary began to succumb, a small group of Czech and Slovak combat veterans stranded in Siberia saw an opportunity to realize their long-held dream of independence. While their plan was audacious and complex, and involved moving their 50,000-strong army by land and sea across three-quarters of the earth's expanse, their commitment to fight for the Allies on the Western Front riveted the attention of Allied London, Paris, and Washington. On their journey across Siberia, a brawl erupted at a remote Trans-Siberian rail station that sparked a wholesale rebellion. The marauding Czecho-Slovak Legion seized control of the Trans-Siberian Railroad, and with it Siberia. In the end, this small band of POWs and deserters, whose strength was seen by Leon Trotsky as the chief threat to Soviet rule, helped destroy the Austro-Hungarian Empire and found Czecho-Slovakia. British prime minister David Lloyd George called their adventure "one of the greatest epics of history," and former US president Teddy Roosevelt declared that their accomplishments were "unparalleled, so far as I know, in ancient or modern warfare."

The most detailed and wide-ranging comparative study to date of how European literatures written in less well known languages try, through translation, to reach the wider world, rejecting the predominant narrative of tragic marginalization with case studies of endeavour and innovation from nineteenth-century Swedish women’s writing to twenty-first-century Polish fantasy.

This is an open access book. Media industry research and EU policymaking are predominantly tailored to large (and, in the latter case, Western) European markets. This open access book addresses the specific qualities of smaller media markets, highlighting their vulnerability to global digital competition and outlining survival strategies for them. New online distribution models and new trends in the consumption of audiovisual content are limited by, and pose new challenges for, existing audiovisual business models and their legal framework in the EU. The European Commission’s Digital Single Market (DSM) strategy, which was intended e.g. to remove obstacles to the cross-border distribution of audiovisual content, has triggered a heated debate on the transformation of the existing ecosystem for European screen industries. While most current discussions focus on the United States, Western Europe, and the multinational giants, this book approaches these industry trends and policy questions from the perspective of relatively small and peripheral (in terms of their population, language, cross-border cultural flows, and financial and/or symbolic capital) media markets.

'Colomer's book is a stimulating read, certainly for anyone willing to entertain nonconventional observations that hold up well in what is happening in the world. His most important argument is that global public services, such as security, a trading system, an international monetary regime, and communication networks provided by large democratic entities such as the United States and the European Union provide opportunities for small countries and regions to prosper. The successful smaller units – like Ireland or Catalonia – trade more in proportion to their economies than large ones, are generally more democratic, and have more multilingual populations. I expect this book to be widely read and greatly admired.’ – Sidney Weintraub, William E. Simon Chair in Political Economy, Centre for Strategic and International Studies, Washington DC, USA