"In the EU's image: The transformation of broadcasting in five Central and Eastern European states"

Rosenbaum, John. (2001) "In the EU's image: The transformation of broadcasting in five Central and Eastern European states". In: UNSPECIFIED, Madison, Wisconsin. (Unpublished)

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Abstract

The European Union (EU) has sought to free up its common internal broadcasting market while guarding against media concentration with the aim of promoting media pluralism and cultural diversity. Member States have been harmonizing their national broadcasting policies with transfrontier EU directives. Likewise, postcommunist countries in Central and Eastern Europe that desire EU membership have begun aligning their broadcasting policies with EU directives. This paper looks at five candidate CEECs that are creating the competitive markets for broadcasting envisioned by the EU: the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Poland, and Slovenia. Until the end of the 1980s the broadcasting system in these five countries were monopolies controlled by the states. Ten years later dual systems of public and commercial broadcasting were in place. This paper examines the influence of the EU's cultural and audiovisual policies, particularly the "Television Without Frontiers" (TWF) Directive, on changes in the candidate countries' domestic broadcasting policies and institutions. The EU's candidate screening process shows that the five CEECs have made varying degrees of progress in aligning their national broadcasting institutions, laws, and policies with the TWF Directive. This case illustrates the typology of positive, negative, and framing integration described by Knill and Lehmkill. However, questions are raised about the appropriateness of the economic candidate countries. Alternative methods from communication research traditions, such as textual analysis and audience studies, are suggested.

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