FORUM 2000 PANEL: HOW HAS A MEDIA IN TRANSITION IMPACTED THE TRANSITION OF THE MEDIA IN POST-COMMUNIST COUNTRIES?
TIME:
Monday, September 16, 17:00 – 18:30
VENUE:
European House (Jungmannova 24, Prague 1)
MODERATOR:
Jeremy Druker, Executive Director, Transitions (TOL), Czech Republic/USA (conf.)
PANEL DISCUSSION:
Christopher Walker, Executive Director, International Forum for Democratic Studies, National Endowment for Democracy, USA (conf.)
Amer Dzihana, Bosnia Lead Researcher, MDM Project, Bosnia and Herzegovina (conf.)
Alisher Sidikov, Director, Radio Ozodlik (Uzbek Service), RFE/RL, Uzbekistan (conf.)
Mykola Riabchuk, Political and Cultural Analyst, Ukraine (conf.)
Marius Dragomir, Main Editor, Mapping Digital Media Project, Romania/UK (conf.)
Over the past decade, media in Central and Eastern Europe, and to a lesser extent the former Soviet Union, have been hit hard by the same trends transforming the media around the world. Among the them are the rapid explosion of alternative forms of entertainment, the growth of social media, decreased advertising revenues associated with the Internet and general economic malaise. But in a post-communist environment the effects of these changes could be much different.
Have these general media trends helped or hindered the strength of powerful, independent media?
In environments where there is less of a precedence of independent media how do the effects of technological changes differ?
How has the ownership and consolidation of post-communist media been affected? Are there more or fewer voices?