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Post-communist Media and the Impact of Democratization in Bulgaria and Romania

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Public Service Broadcasting and Media Systems in Troubled European Democracies

Abstract

The chapter explores post-communist media and the impact of democratization in Bulgaria and Romania. The twenty-first century has seen dramatic changes affecting media and journalism in third-wave democracies and the former communist states of Bulgaria and Romania are prime examples of the transformation. While the newly emerging democratic media of the late 1980s received extensive credit for aiding revolutions throughout the region, they were soon regarded as part of the new status quo: docile and ready to serve their new political and corporate masters. The arrival of new digital media has further impacted on the conflicting and ambivalent journalistic culture in the societies emerging from repressive communist regimes. Despite some positive developments, the media markets in Romania and Bulgaria have not benefitted from a decade of EU membership. The public continues to be disappointed with the quality of the media and journalism in both countries. This chapter aims to evaluate the impact of democratization on media and journalism in Bulgaria and Romania in the context of continuously deteriorating press freedom and a complex cultural discourse of post-communist journalism that blends professional values and norms from the communist past with those adopted during the process of democratization.

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  1. Department of Media, Arts and Communication, Sheffield Hallam University, Sheffield, UK

    Lada Trifonova-Price

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Correspondence to Lada Trifonova-Price .

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  1. LSE, London, UK

    Eva Połońska

  2. Department of Media and Communications, LSE, London, UK

    Charlie Beckett

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Trifonova-Price, L. (2019). Post-communist Media and the Impact of Democratization in Bulgaria and Romania. In: Połońska, E., Beckett, C. (eds) Public Service Broadcasting and Media Systems in Troubled European Democracies. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-02710-0_14

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