Independent Press in the Emerging Democracies

Within the recent decades, media freedom is among §the dominant themes of the post-communist discourse. §In the same way as the independent press is §considered to be an essential part of the democratic §society existence, democracy is not possible without §the free press. Yet the mentioned two concepts are §not always intertwined in cases of transitional §nations. This book addresses the relationship §between press and regime from the angle of the §comparative studies of the emerging democracies, §which are Poland, Ukraine, and Russia. The §interaction between media laws, civil society, and §economic performance that constitute press freedom §was investigated to find out which of these §variables has the major impact in the state of media §independence. Findings show that the longevity of §civic traditions matters in how society and §journalists understand press freedom. Specifically, §the civic culture in Poland positively correlates §with its vigorous independent media. In Russia and §Ukraine civil society is not institutionalized yet, §and the press freedom has not become an inseparable §part of the public consciousness in these countries.