MEDIA REFORM AND DEMOCRATIZATION: A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF FOUR EAST-CENTRAL EUROPEAN COUNTRIES by PATRICK JOSEPH McCONNELL (Under the Direction of Alison Alexander) ABSTRACT More than a decade after the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe a number of countries in the region are well on their way to making a successful transition to democracy. It is often argued that the reform of a country’s media system toward freedom and independence is an important part of this democratization process. But as some countries have progressed toward democracy more rapidly than others, one needs to consider whether certain patterns of media reform influence the democratization process in either positive or negative ways. To do so, this study examines reform efforts in Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland and Romania by addressing three research questions: What are the dimensions of media reform? What is the relationship of the various dimensions of media reform during the democratization process? And what is the relationship of media reform to political and economic reform during the democratization process? While the prevailing model used to describe media reform during the democratization process is that of the “stages of transition” approach, a central claim made by this study is that media reform needs to be thought of as multi-faceted. Rather than a media system being considered a single entity, this study shows that various sectors of a media system progress toward freedom and independence at differing rates. There are also competing press philosophies and competing actors that can influence the way media reform is carried out. And it is common for political and business elites to try to skew reforms efforts to their benefit. This study also found that while great progress has been made in reforming media systems, there are two particular areas of concern: the continued treatment of libel as a criminal offence and the continued politicization of the oversight and management of state-run public service television. Finally, it seems apparent that there is a strong relationship among political, economic and media reform, with democratization efforts most successful when these three areas of reform are mutually reinforcing. INDEX WORDS: Democracy, Democratization, Media reform, Press freedom, Eastern Europe, Post-Communism MEDIA REFORM AND DEMOCRATIZATION: A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF FOUR EAST-CENTRAL EUROPEAN COUNTRIES by PATRICK JOSEPH McCONNELL B.A., Humboldt State University, 1981 M.A., University of North Carolina at Charlotte, 1998 A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of The University of Georgia in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY ATHENS, GEORGIA 2005 © 2005 Patrick Joseph McConnell All Rights Reserved. MEDIA REFORM AND DEMOCRATIZATION: A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF FOUR EAST-CENTRAL EUROPEAN COUNTRIES by PATRICK JOSEPH McCONNELL Major Professor: Alison Alexander Committee: Carolina Acosta-Alzuru Joseph Dominick Horace Newcomb Marcus Crepaz Electronic Version Approved: Maureen Grasso Dean of the Graduate School The University of Georgia August 2005 iv DEDICATION This work is dedicated to my wife, Peggy, and to mother, Patricia. Without their help and support over the years this would not have been possible. Thank you. v ACKNOWLEDGMENTS First, I would like to thank the chair of my dissertation committee, Alison Alexander, for her continued support throughout this project. I would also like to thank the following members of my dissertation committee for their guidance and suggestions: Carolina Acosta-Alzuru, Joseph Dominick, Horace Newcomb and Marcus Crepaz. And finally, a thank you to Heidi Hennink- Kaminski and Nancy Nusser for their contributions to the research for this project. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ...............................................................................................................v LIST OF CHARTS & TABLES................................................................................................... vii CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................1 2 LITERATURE REVIEW ..........................................................................15 3 METHODOLOGY ....................................................................................37 4 MEDIA REFORM.....................................................................................55 5 DISCUSSION..........................................................................................126 BIBLIOGRAPHY........................................................................................................................150 APPENDIX..................................................................................................................................160 vii LIST OF CHARTS & TABLES Page Table 3.1: Rating Media Reform ...................................................................................................49 Chart 4.1: Bulgaria Media Reform ................................................................................................59 Chart 4.2: Hungary Media Reform ................................................................................................77 Chart 4.3: Poland Media Reform...................................................................................................91 Chart 4.4 Romania Media Reform...............................................................................................110 Chart 5.1 Political, Economic and Media Reform.......................................................................139 1 CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION More than a decade after the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe, a number of countries in the region are well on their way to making a successful transition to democracy. As an example, several of the post-Communist countries are among the ten nations that recently joined an expanded European Union. One question that researchers often consider is what are the conditions in a country that lead to a successful move from a non-democratic to a democratic state, most commonly referred to as the process of democratization (Linz and Stepan, 1996 ). Looking at the former communist countries of Eastern Europe, for example, some have fared better than others in democratization efforts. So what has allowed some countries to be more successful than others in making the transition to a sustainable democracy? Are there certain sectors of society where structural reform has led to more positive outcomes? How might one go about disentangling the various elements of democracy to better understand this process? Over the past few decades there has emerged a more expansive view of what constitutes a democracy, from a more narrow political perspective to a perspective that includes social and economic criteria. This more expansive view is commonly referred to as liberal democracy. The components of a liberal democracy under consideration in this study are a free and independent media, often considered a part of civil society; a liberalized and open economy; and practices that provide for political participation for all citizens, such as free and fair elections. The development of a free and independent media, economic reform and reform of political 2 institutions all are important aspects of moving a state toward liberal democracy. But, while media reform is necessary to establish a free and independent media, media freedom is also facilitated by reform in other sectors of society. There is an interdependence among various sectors of a state that must be recognized in order to obtain the best outcomes in the democratization process. For the purposes of this study, I use the concept of democratization in reference to the process by which reforms are attempted to institute improved political and social change within a liberal democratic framework. Democratic reform can be considered the progress made by enacting measures and practices through which sectors of a state evolve from a non-democratic regime (authoritarian, totalitarian, military rule, etc.) on one end of the spectrum, toward goals of liberal democracy on the other end of the spectrum. Thus, enactment of specific measures and practices in the political, economic and media sectors in countries attempting to transition from a non-democratic to a democratic regime is primary to the democratization process. Problem Statement Often cited in concepts of liberal democracy are, among other criteria, freedoms of association, information, and communication (Linz, 1975). These interconnected ideals, considered cornerstones of Western democracies, are enshrined in the First Amendment of the United States Constitution, as well as Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Article 10 of The European Convention of Human Rights. The Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly recently endorsed the belief that a “free and independent media are an essential indicator of the democratic maturity of a society” (Recommendation 1506, Article 1, 2001). 3 In addition, the United States government has increasingly viewed a free and independent media as a useful component in helping to develop democratic regimes (Carothers, 1999). In recent years, part of U.S. democratic development strategy is to use a portion of foreign aid, particularly through the office of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), to assist in the establishment of a free and independent media in regions of the world