History of the media in Central and Eastern Europe

This chapter discusses the recent history of the media in four former communist countries (Bulgaria, Hungary, Lithuania, and Poland) in Central and Eastern Europe, with a focus on the transfer of media institutions and culture from “old” to “young” democracies. In line with theories of “multiple post-communisms,” it reveals major differences among these countries while also disclosing a number of similarities, including the political instrumentalization of media, party capture of public service broadcasters, partisan journalism, and excessive commercializationViešosios komunikacijos katedraVytauto Didžiojo universiteta

The Crisis, Economic Patriotism in Central Europe and EU Law

This contribution examines rising economic patriotism in Central and Eastern Europe, mainly in Hungary and Poland, after the global financial and economic crisis. A closer look at patriotism in these EU Member States seems warranted given the global shift towards more inward-looking national policies and the challenging of neo-liberal ideas of free trade and competition, where these ideas were taken on board by local elites rather keenly. Our overview and analysis do not claim to be exhaustive; we touch upon selected issues to give a fuller picture of the state of the European Union and its Single Market sixty years after the Treaty of Rome was signed, 28 years after the onset of post-communist transition, and more than thirteen years since Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries joined the EU. Space does not permit a complete comparative overview of economic policy developments in the entire CEE region. We focus instead on the two problem countries, which in the past years have been on a collision course with the EU institutions and other Member States