Digital Divide and the Changing Political/Media Environment of Post-Socialist Europe

Abstract

The progress of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in post-Socialist countries is characterized by uneven economic and technological development, thus leading to contradictory results. Both industry and the social/cultural policies of these countries generally assume that the consequences of ICTs are negative. Various barriers to digital equality have been identified, determined mostly by particular national circumstances. The media markets in post-Socialist countries have experienced negative trends. New social discrepancies have been reproduced in access to ICTs and Internet. The role of market and corporate business in reshaping media systems appears to be anarchic, thus making states more responsible for providing equal access to Internet. Policies to overcome this `digital divide' seem to be numerous, but in various post-Socialist countries the focus is generally on developing universal access in public places. The article attempts to analyse the factors which shape the patterns of new media uses, and the principal solutions to close the digital divide in the post-Socialist countries of `Big Europe'.