media

Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, media coverage of the country has increased significantly. Interpreting and commenting on events, putting them in the news and shaping the debate about Ukraine's future prospects in relation to European integration has thus become an important part of the responsibility of most mainstream media. However, as the war drags on, the V4 citizens' awareness of the conflict has diverged. At different times, some topics have been given more emphasis than others, making the quality of coverage often incomplete or unconvincing. Some countries emphasise the autonomy of reporting, which in turn allows for broad and in-depth coverage, while there are regimes that narrow the information and use the topic of war to produce stories for domestic purposes. In the final report on the EUROPEUM Institute project, Oszkár Roginer-Hofmeister and others write.

How is media created today? Do they interest the younger generation? And do the traditional ones have a chance to survive the 21st century - or will other platforms replace them? Come and discuss with our guests on the live Café Evropa podcast and celebrate 35 years of freedom of speech, so pop by Korzo Národní for the celebrations!

The European Union has passed major legislation to try and secure media freedom and independence in recent years. However, for the state of media pluralism in certain Member States, these efforts have come too late. In the Hungarian context, a pro-ruling party media ecosystem stands well-entrenched in the private and public media sector. Writes our researcher, Henry Barrett, a Fulbright-Schuman Grantee.

The project aims to equip civil society organisations in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia with comprehensive knowledge of media pluralism, media freedoms, and access to information necessary in the digital transition of the news media sector.

Our junior researcher Tatiana Mindeková conducted an analysis of the narratives around the Green Deal in the Czech and Slovak information scene. What kind of misinformation about the EU climate policy is being voiced in mainstream and alternative media? Tatiana Mindeková commented on the results of her research for iDNES.cz.

In September 2022, the European Commission put forward a proposal for a new media regulator - the European Media Freedom Act. Slovenia is one of the most struggling EU countries in terms of media freedom and independence. In the summer of 2020, the Janša government proposed a media-focused law that would increase the state's influence over Slovenia's national press agency and limit its funding of the public broadcaster RTV. Has Slovenia's new law put the European Commission ahead of the game? That is what our intern Klára Landová discusses in her blog.

The European Green Deal is the core of the current climate strategy of the European Union, which has set the goal of making Europe a carbon-neutral continent by 2050. In an effort to monitor and counter disinformation narratives about the deal, IRI's Beacon project launched an initiative called the “European Green Deal: Mapping perceptions in Central and Eastern Europe,” in which six partner organizations studied how the deal is perceived in Bulgaria, Czechia, Poland, Romania, and Slovakia. Our project manager and juniour researcher, Tatiana Mindeková, analyzed narratives spread about the Green Deal and the EU’s green policies through Czech chain emails as well as through selected mainstream media and websites known for spreading disinformation.

In her blog, our intern Leonor Tavares focuses on the new European media freedom act. Independent media as a means of freedom of expression is under threat in some EU member states and is being used for political propaganda or is being shut down altogether. The new law should ensure that public service media provide a plurality of information in an impartial manner, while regulating their funding and the acquisition and protection of journalistic sources.

We would like to invite you to a conference on the protection of information space, free media and their role in strengthening the rule of law, which will take place on 3 June at 13:45 at the European House in Prague.

Slovenia is beginning to resemble Hungary in many ways. The European Parliament's attention has been drawn, among other things, to pressure on journalists and independent institutions. Žiga Faktor, head of the Brussels office of the Institute for European Policy, commented on the state of the rule of law in Slovenia for Aktuálně.

We are delighted to announce the launch of a project focused on support for independent Serbian journalists reporting on Serbia’s EU integration process, its obstacles in the field of democratic governance, and the rule of law and fundamental rights and freedoms, including the freedom of media. The project is supported by the Transition Promotion Program of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic and implemented together with the Centre for Contemporary Politics from Serbia.

Márk Szábó is writing in his blog about "Just how much impact does the media have on elections?"