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The purpose of this volume is to broadly discuss the media´s responsibility to provide discursive contributions to the ethical and moral challenges of our times. At the crossroads of intellectual progress and profit-orientation, concentration tendencies in the academic publishing industry pose a threat to the reputation and integrity of higher education. The actions of whistleblowers like Edward Snowden have radically changed our perception of privacy, stirring debates about the ethical and moral dilemma attached to the disclosures. Islam and religion continue to rank as urgent topics in the news - with the most influential contributions to the public discourse often belonging to ideologically influenced Western voices. One century after the Bolshevik revolution in 1917, Russia is still negotiating how to categorize these events - which have recently been pointed out in a controversial TV show. The example of Nigeria makes clear that insecurity and national development go hand in hand with responsible press coverage, while the low self-perception of the Belarusian film industry is due partly to its depiction in the country´s only cinematographic publication.

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Dr. Martin Abdel Matin Gansinger (born 1979 in Austria) studied Communication Science and Political Science at the University of Vienna and is Assistant Professor and Head of Department/Radio, TV & Cinema at Girne American University. He published works on social dimensions and extemporaneous aspects of Free Jazz and HipHop as well as traditional knowledge systems, conducting field research on the Bobo Shanti Rasta Mansion and the Naqshbandi Sufi Order in Ghana, Morocco and Cyprus.
Dr. Ayman Kole (born 1980, Sydney, Australia) is Assistant Professor and Head of Social Media department at Girne American University. He completed his BA and MA at the University of Sydney, and has a PhD from Charles Sturt University. He is the author of the Phoenix Journal finalist ´The Mirror´ and the historical novel ´Mark of the Crescent´. His fields include Literature, Media, Creative Writing, and Cultural studies of Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Turkey and Cyprus.

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