Where CMDS Goes Next

The Center for Media, Data and Society has launched its 2017-2019 strategy, which addresses major challenges to media freedom through applied research, knowledge sharing and public policy engagement. Populism, waves of confusion, propaganda and fake news are contributing to a new power dynamic that is fundamentally changing the role of media and journalism in society and politics. Media freedom faces enormous key challenges such as media capture, unaccountable corporate power, devaluation of public service provision, shrinking contestation space in parallel with growing anti-liberal clout and policy disconnect. Now, more than ever, grasping key shifts in power relationships is central to understanding and influencing the policy-making process, empowering civil society and improving the environment in which journalists work. Read more about our strategy here.

Apply to Our Legal Training Course

European Journalism in the Digital Age (EJDA) is a unique, ‘hybrid’-style online and offline training program designed to provide journalists, civil society advocates and lawyers with the fundamentals of media and freedom of expression law in the digital age and practical solutions for combatting threats from litigants, hackers, and hostile governments. The course features an intensive two-day workshop in Belgrade on the weekend of May 20-21, 2017, followed by nine weeks of top-level online instruction. Tuition for the 10-week course is free. All expenses will be paid by the program. Read more about the application process here.

New Public Media Speakers Series

Shrinking platforms for public debate and diminishing support for media as a public good are challenges that CMDS is currently addressing. The Public Media Speakers Series launched in March 2017 is part of these efforts. The series addresses issues that include management and governance, policy, and journalism in public service media, as well as strategies to advocate for the protection of public service media from political pressures. CMDS is running this series in cooperation with RIPE@GLOBAL, an influential global network of academic researchers and strategic managers with expertise in every relevant dimension of public service media. Read about the speakers series here.

Telecoms & Internet: The Good, the Bad & the Ugly

On March 23, 2017, CMDS presents the launch of the Ranking Digital Rights (RDR) Corporate Accountability Index, which ranks of 22 of the world’s most powerful telecommunications, internet, and mobile companies on their commitments and disclosed policies affecting users’ freedom of expression and privacy. The 2017 Index follows the inaugural 2015 Ranking Digital Rights Corporate Accountability Index which found widespread failure by companies to disclose key information about their policies and practices affecting freedom of expression and privacy.

New CMDS Fellows

Highlights from the Web

About the Center for Media, Data and Society

The Center for Media, Data and Society (CMDS) is a research center for the study of media, communication, and information policy and its impact on society and practice. Founded in 2004 as the Center for Media and Communication Studies, CMDS is part of CEU’s School of Public Policy and serves as a focal point for an international network of acclaimed scholars, research institutions and activists. In support of promoting the values of an open society CMDS produces scholarly and practice-oriented research addressing academic, policy and civil society needs, coordinates course offerings at CEU, provides trainings and consulting services and organizes scholarly exchanges through workshops, lectures and conferences on current developments in the field.

Connect with our
team and fellows

Marius Dragomir
Director of CMDS

Jenna Althoff
CMDS Fellow

Cameran Ashraf
Core Faculty Member at SPP

Attila Bátorfy
CMDS Fellow

Eva Bognar
Senior Program Officer & Researcher

Amy Brouillette
CMDS Fellow

Ian Cook
CMDS Fellow

Kate Coyer
Director of the Center's Civil Society and Technology Project

Dumitrita Holdis
Program Coordinator

Miklos Haraszti
CMDS Fellow

Jessie Labov
CMDS Fellow

Anna Orosz
Program Assistant for Outreach

Sejal Parmar
Core faculty member at CEU

Dean Starkman
CMDS Fellow

Sahana Udupa
Core Faculty Member at SPP

The CMDS Medialogue

Where CMDS Goes Next

Apply to Our Legal Training Course

New CMDS Fellows

Highlights from the Web

More stories at cmds.ceu.edu