CMCS has served as a platform for academic work on a broad range of media and communication issues. The center has developed particular expertise in the following areas:
Media and communication policy: Regulations, governance, policy and information economies across media sectors and platforms;
Media and civil society: Community, alternative and civic media, civil society engagement with policy processes, participation in public discourse;
New media and technology: New technologies, social media and advocacy, the transformation of broadcasting and journalism in the digital era, convergence, and mobile communications;
Fundamental communication rights: Freedom of expression, freedom of the media, access to information and the right to privacy in the information society;
Media in transition: Media development and democratization in Central and Eastern Europe and beyond.
Research projects
The CMCS has participated and taken a lead role in collaborative projects with academic institutions and civil society partners across Europe and the US, and is continuously developing new research projects and networks. Major, recent research projects the CMCS has conducted or participated in include:
Hungarian Media Laws in Europe: An Assessment of the Consistency of Hungary's Media Laws with European Practices and Norms
A 20 country comparative study directed by CMCS, funded by the Open Society Institute
European Privacy and Human Rights (EPHR)
A Europe-wide study of privacy laws and recent trends and developments related to the right to privacy, conducted by Privacy International, the Electronic Privacy Information Center and the CMCS, funded under the European Commission special Fundamental Rights and Citizenship program
Developing indicators for the independence and efficient functioning of audiovisual media services regulatory bodies (INDIREG)
A study for the European Commission's Information Society and Media Directorate-General, conducted by the Hans-Bredow-Institut (Germany), the CMCS, the University of Leuven (Belgium), Cullen Int. (Belgium) and Perspective Associates (UK)
Broadening the Range of Awareness in Data Protection (BROAD)
A research project with the Eötvös Károly Public Policy Institute (EKINT) and the Tilburg Institute for Law, Technology, and Society (TILT) at the Law Faculty of Tilburg University, funded under the European Commission special Fundamental Rights and Citizenship program
East of West: Setting a New Central and Eastern European Media Research Agenda
The CMCS coordinated this 4-year collaborative research network, funded as a European COST initiative by the European Science Foundation, which brought together more than 40 scholars from 20 European countries and culminated in the three-day conference Beyond East & West – Two Decades of Media Transformation after the Fall of Communism.
Indicators for Media Pluralism – Towards a Risk-Based Approach
This study, undertaken for the European Commisson by a consortium of the CMCS, the University of Leuven, Ernst & Young Belgium and Jönköping International Business School, had as goal to create an effective monitoring tool to help the European Commission, national policy makers and other stakeholders to assess media pluralism within the EU.
CivicWeb: Young People, the Internet and Civic Participation
Research project as part of the EU Framework Program 6
Impact of international aid on media development: a comparative study
Bosnia Herzegovina case study for part of seven country study for Internews Network
Community Media Research Hub: Networking community media research on policy, practice, impact and sustainability
In development with OSI and the Community Media Forum Europe
Comparing Media Labs Across Cultures, Industries and Organizational Boundaries: Case Studies of Six Media Labs in Europe, North America and Asia
Study commissioned by Magyar Telekom