Party Colonisation of the Media in Central and Eastern Europe

This book compares media and political systems in East-Central as well as in Western Europe in order to identify the reasons possibly responsible for the extensive and intensive party control over the media. This phenomenon is widely experienced in many of the former communist countries since the political transformation. The author argues that differences in media freedom and in the politicization of the news media are rooted in differences in party structures between old and new democracies, and, notably, the fact that young parties in the new members of the European Union are short of resources, which makes them more likely to take control of and to exploit media resources.

Table of Contents:
1. Political and Media Systems in Central and Eastern Europe1 1.1. Media Freedom in Central and Eastern Europe 1.2. Conditions for Media Freedom 1.3. Theories of Media Capture 1.4. Party Colonisation of the Media 1.5. Party Colonisation and Media Freedom 1.6. Further Specifications 1.7. Normative Implications 1.8. Methodological Notes 2. Hungary 2.1. The Political and Media Landscapes 2.2. Media Policy under the Horn Government 2.3. Media Policy under the Second Orbán Government 2.4. The Horn Government vs. the Second Orbán Government 3. Bulgaria 3.1. The Political and Media Landscapes 3.2. Media Policy under the Kostov Government 3.3. Media Policy under the Simeon Government 3.4. The Kostov vs. the Simeon Governments 4. Poland 4.1. The Political and Media Landscapes 4.2. The Media Policy of the Miller–Belka Governments 4.3. The Media Policy of the Marcinkiewicz–Kaczynski Governments 4.4. The Miller–Belka vs. the Marcinkiewicz–Kaczynski Governments 5. Romania 5.1. The Political and Media Landscapes 5.2. Media Policy under the Nastase Government 5.3. Media Policy under the Tariceanu Government 5.4. The Nastase vs. the Tariceanu Governments 6. Slovenia 6.1. The Political and Media Landscapes 6.2. Media Policy under the Second Drnovšek Government 6.3. Media Policy under the first Janša Government 6.4. The Second Drnovšek vs. the First Janša Government 7. Summary and Conclusions: Veto Points in the System Appendices Table 1. Freedom House press freedom indexes and ranking Table 2. List of interviewees Table 3. Composition of governments studied Table 4. Selected party systems indicators References Index of names and places

About the Author :
Péter Bajomi-Lázár is Head of the Institute of Social Sciences at the Budapest Business School. He worked between 2009 and 2013 as a Senior Research Fellow on Media and Democracy in Central and Eastern Europe, a European Research Council project based at Oxford University.