Media in Europe have undergone profound transformations. These changes involve structural transformation (global trends, the role of politics, EU, etc.); sectoral transformation (e.g., deriving from within the media domain); and the role of particular individuals (such as media moguls). In this respect, there is a lack of comparative studies which systematically explore the relations between these three dimensions in European transformative processes. To add new insights to existing knowledge about media systems across parts of Northern, Eastern and Central Europe, the purpose is to compare understandings of media transformation during the last two decades from a structural, sectoral and individual perspective. Eighty interviews were conducted with media experts from Austria, Bulgaria, Czechia, Latvia and Sweden. The results demonstrate detailed examples of not only an emerging commonality, with similar changes across Europe, but also consistent differences concerning areas such as the role of history, the pandemic and geopolitical tensions.
BraunVClarkeV (2006) Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qualitative Research in Psychology3(2): 77–101.
7.
BrüggemannMEngesserSBüchelF, et al. (2014) Hallin and Mancini revisited: Four empirical types of western media systems. Journal of Communication64(6): 1037–1065.
8.
BunceVMcFaulMStoner-WeissK (eds) (2009) Democracy and Authoritarianism in the Postcommunist World. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
9.
CareyJ (1989) Communication as Culture: Essays on Media and Society. London: Unwin Hyman.
10.
ChadwickA (2017) The Hybrid Media System: Politics and Power. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
11.
Dobek-OstrowskaB (2019) How the media systems work in Central and Eastern Europe. In: PołońskaEBeckettC (eds) Public Service Broadcasting and Media Systems in Troubled European Democracies. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan, 259–278.
12.
Dobek-OstrowskaBGłowackiMJakubowiczKSükösdM (eds) (2010) Comparative Media Systems: European and Global Perspectives. Budapest: CEU Press.
13.
DowneyJMiheljS (eds) (2012) Central and Eastern European Media in Comparative Perspective: Politics, Economy and Culture. Farnham and Burlington: Ashgate.
14.
Economist Intelligence Unit (2024) Democracy Index 2023: Age of Conflict. London etc.: Economist Intelligence.
15.
el-IssawiF (2012) Tunisian Media in Transition. Washington: Carnegie Papers.
FinkKSchudsonM (2014) The rise of contextual journalism, 1950s-2000s. Journalism15(1): 3–20.
20.
FlewTWaisbordS (2015) The ongoing significance of national media systems in the context of media globalization. Media, Culture & Society37(4): 620–636.
21.
GrossGJakubowiczK (eds) (2012) Media Transformations in the Post-Communist World: Eastern Europe’s Tortured Path to Change. Lanham, MD: Lexington.
22.
HaimsonO (2018) Social media as social transition machinery. Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction2(63): 1–21.
23.
HallinDCManciniP (2004) Comparing Media Systems: Three Models of Media and Politics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
24.
HallinDCManciniP (eds) (2012) Comparing Media Systems Beyond the Western World. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
HumprechtECastro HerreroLBlassnigS, et al. (2022) Media systems in the digital age: An empirical comparison of 30 countries. Journal of Communication72(2): 145–164.
27.
JakubowiczKSükösdM (eds) (2008) Finding the Right Place on the Map: Central and Eastern European Media Change in a Global Perspective. Bristol: Intellect.
28.
KleinsteuberHJ (2010) Comparing west and east: A comparative approach to transformation. In: Dobek-OstrowskaBGłowackiMJakubowiczKSükösdM (eds) Comparative Media Systems: European and Global Perspectives. Budapest: CEU Press, 23–40.
29.
Koc-MihalskaKLillekerDBadenC, et al. (eds) (2025) Citizens, Participation and Media in Central and Eastern European Nations. New York: Routledge.
30.
KosickiPKunakhovichK (2019) The Long 1989: Decades of Global Revolution. Budapest: CEU Press.
31.
MachinDMayrA (2012) How to do Critical Discourse Analysis: A Multimodal Introduction. London: Sage.
32.
ManciniP (2020) Comparing media systems and the digital age. International Journal of Communication14: 5761–5774.
33.
MańkoRSulikowskiATacikPCerceC (eds) (2023) Law, Populism, and the Political in Central and Eastern Europe. New York, NY: Birkbeck Law Press.
34.
MarquesPJVosTP (2023) Advancing comparative studies in political communication research: What factors explain the transformation of media systems?International Communication Gazette86(7): 521–540.
35.
Mediadelcom (2022a) Studies on national media research capability as a contextual domain of the sources of ROs. In: Approaching deliberative communication: Studies on monitoring capability and on critical junctures of media development in 14 EU countries. CS1, D-2.1. Mediadelcom. http://hdl.handle.net/10062/89296.
36.
Mediadelcom (2022b) Country case studies on critical junctures in the media transformation process in four domains of potential ROs (2000–2020). In: Approaching deliberative communication: Studies on monitoring capability and on critical junctures of media development in 14 EU countries. CS2, D-2.1. Mediadelcom. http://hdl.handle.net/10062/89316.
37.
MeyenMLöblichMPfaff-RüdigerS, et al. (2019) Qualitative Forschung in der Kommunikationswissenschaft. Wiesbaden: Springer VS.
38.
NygrenGLecknerSTenorC (2018) Hyper locals and legacy media: Media ecologies in transition. Nordicom Review39(1): 33–49.
39.
PapathanassopoulosSMiconiA (eds) (2023) The Media Systems in Europe: Continuities and Discontinuities. Cham: Springer.
40.
PeruškoZVozabDČuvaloA (2020) Comparing Post-Socialist Media Systems: The Case of Southeast Europe. London: Routledge.
RosaH (2005) The speed of global flows and the pace of democratic politics. New Political Science27(4): 445–459.
43.
ShoemakerPJReeseSD (2018) A media sociology for the networked public sphere: The hierarchy of influences model. In: WeiR (eds) Advances in Foundational Mass Communication Theories. London and New York: Routledge, 1–22.
44.
SparksC (2008) Media systems in transition: Poland, Russia and China. Chinese Journal of Communication1(1): 7–24.
45.
ThorburnDJenkinsH (eds) (2004) Rethinking Media Change: The Aesthetics of Transition. Cambridge, MA, and London: MIT Press.
46.
TomkaB (2024) Globalization in State Socialist East Central Europe: Looking Beyond Dominant Narratives. Cham: Springer.
47.
van DijkTA (2006) The study of discourse. In: van DijkTA (eds) Discourse as Structure and Process. Discourse Studies: A Multidisciplinary Introduction, Volume 1. London, Thousand Oaks and New Delhi: Sage, 1–34.
48.
VoltmerK (2008) Comparing media systems in new democracies: East meets south meets west. Central European Journal of Communication1: 23–40.
49.
WesslerHSkorekMKleinen-von KönigslöwK, et al. (2010) Comparing media systems and media content: Online newspapers in ten eastern and western European countries. In: Dobek-OstrowskaBGłowackiMJakubowiczKSükösdM (eds) Comparative Media Systems: European and Global Perspectives. Budapest: CEU Press, 233–260.
