This book compares media and political systems in East-Central as well as in Western Europe in order to identify the reasons possibly responsible for the extensive and intensive party control over the media. This phenomenon is widely experienced in many of the former communist countries since the political transformation. The author argues that differences in media freedom and in the politicization of the news media are rooted in differences in party structures between old and new democracies, and, notably, the fact that young parties in the new members of the European Union are short of resources, which makes them more likely to take control of and to exploit media resources.

This book examines processes of media change in post-Communist countries. In this re-examination of the media under the Communist system and its role in the transition, the stress is on analysis of media policy and media systems. The author develops a model of change in Central and Eastern Europe and how it can be applied. As such, the intention is to illustrate the main elements and mechanisms of the process as exemplified by the situation in selected countries. Hoping to make the book as forward looking as possible, and to grasp the full range of factors weighing on media policies today and in the future, discussion is devoted to the way international integration has affected and will affect media policy in post-Communist countries.

For the communist leadership of Eastern Europe, control of the media's messages is a critical part of rule. For the populations over which they rule, access to that media and to true and comprehensive information is equally central. For the Soviet Union, tolerance of regimes in Eastern Europe requires that they maintain a media which does not openly challenge either the primacy of the Soviet Union or the leading role of the Party. As a result, conflicts in these societies always center around access to the mass media. When control by the communist leadership has diminished or been lost, the media transforms itself. And, when the media no longer reflect the leadership of the communist elite, liberalization has been brought to an end as a result of this and other moves away from Soviet control that the media reports. (Author).