CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2009
| Author | Mazhidova, Nargiza |
|---|---|
| Title | Online Participatory Journalism in Central Asia: Is There More Press Freedom? |
| Summary | The notion of participatory journalism emerged in democratic states of the West, where it contributes to the idea of press freedom by encompassing the use of Internet and involvement of ordinary citizens. In authoritarian states, however, these features of the notion are viewed as an opportunity to speak out without fear of persecution. The paper studies the features of participatory journalism in authoritarian states of Central Asia. Departing from the fact that press freedom indices assign Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan low scores, the research argues that their measurement of the Internet freedom in these indices is ambiguous. Therefore, it conducts content analysis of the news and blogging web-sites, attempting to identify whether ordinary people feel free to express different opinions and direct criticisms online. The findings of the research suggest that Central Asian online public sphere is diverse and unconstrained. Hence, the study offers a new perspective on the issue of press freedom in authoritarian states and calls for further studies of the notion of participatory journalism in relation to press freedom in non-democratic societies. |
| Supervisor | Sukosd, Miklos |
| Department | Political Science MA |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2009/mazhidova_nargiza.pdf |
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