Across the 15 largest Muslim media systems, ownership patterns vary in interesting ways. In many Western countries, there is less and less diversity in the ownership of media assets because these assets are being concentrated among fewer and fewer corporate actors. In some Muslim countries, media assets are also concentrated, but among state actors such as ministries of communications, government secretariats, or publically traded companies in which state agencies still hold controlling shares. In other Muslim countries, there is modest competition among the state and private owners of television stations, radio stations, mobile phone service providers, newspapers, and internet service providers. (more…)
The 2007 WIA Report analyzed the websites of political parties in over 50 Muslim countries. An overwhelming number of the political parties online were secular and represented the diverse ideological spectrum of political parties found in many other countries around the world. This year the sample includes 74 nations with significant Muslim populations. Political parties are assessed for the volume of content they have online and how internally complex they are. (more…)
Unfortunately, one way to assess the political importance of blogging around the world is through the growing number of blogger arrests. Since 2003, 64 citizens unaffiliated with news organizations have been arrested for their blogging activities. (more…)
Although the world’s most dense global cities are often packed with commercial internet access points, in many countries the cost of an hour of internet use is higher in primary cities than it is in secondary cities. (more…)
Almost every city in the world offers cyber cafés or other commercial Internet
access, but they cost average people in a developing city two times as much of their daily income as average residents in a developed city.
In many parts of the world, the best developed information infrastructure is
supported by libraries. A country’s national library typically houses information on legislation, historical archives, patents and sometimes court and tax records. University libraries store information on research and are often a gateway to international information services. But not all library portals are created equal. (more…)