The Woodrow Wilson Center Press
Entangled Evolutions: Media and Democratization in Eastern Europe
The Woodrow Wilson Press has by published Entangled Evolutions: Media and Democratization in Eastern Europe by former East European Studies scholar Peter Gross.
After the European revolutions of 1989, many observers expected that the post-revolutionary media would lead the liberated societies in establishing and embracing democratic political cultures—an idea that journalism professor Peter Gross finds utopian. These countries' media professionals had all learned their jobs under the communist regimes and could not instantly transform themselves. Moreover, newcomers to the media world, even those who were notable literary figures, viewed themselves as social and political leaders rather than mere informers and reporters. The news media remain highly politicized and partisan.
Entangled Evolutions studies privatization of the media, journalists' relations to political figures, institutional structures such as media laws, professional journalistic culture, and the media's relation to their market.
What People are Saying
"This is a very well researched and highly successful effort to assess the role of the media in Eastern Europe's transitions from authoritarian, Leninist regimes to open societies. The book adds significantly to the current understanding of the post-Communist political cultures as hybrid phenomena, including elements of democratic participation and emerging pluralism, but also residual forms of Communist and pre-Communist mentalities."--Vladimir Tismaneanu, Professor of Government and Politics, University of Maryland
Chapter List
Preface
1 Political Culture, Civil Society, the Media, and Democracy
2 The Media and the New Political World
3 State, Government, Laws, and the Media
4 The Media as an Institution
5 The Media, Civil Society, Political Democracy, and the Market
6 Conclusion: The Media, Journalism, and Democratization
Notes
Index