TV across Europe in the news

International

The Prague Post writes about “tough times” in the newspaper business. As news publishing in Western countries moves online, newspapers in the former Eastern bloc struggle to establish and preserve press freedom. The Czech Republic has been more respectful of press freedoms than Slovakia, where “a restrictive new law threatens to handcuff reporters and editors”. However, citing the upcoming follow-up report on the Czech Republic by EUMAP, the Post writes that the Czech Republic faces a similar politicisation, especially on public service television. “Five new members of the [Czech TV] board are political appointees, and quite open about their political loyalties,” the Prague Post writes.

Link: The Prague Post

In an article about the press in Central and Eastern Europe, The Economist cites the upcoming report on Slovakia and quotes the Media Program's reports editor Marius Dragomir in the course of arguing that “tough laws and interfering politicians are shrinking media freedom” in several countries. The article talks about “worrisome” arbitrary legal constraints on press freedom, the role of powerful, politically active media tycoons, and the "perceived politicisation of public broadcasting".

Link: The Economist

Bulgaria

In covering the Follow-up Report, the Bulgarian daily Dnevnik highlighted several of its recommendations: that there should be one body in charge of the electronic communications market; that the fund for radio and television (which was supposed to finance the public service broadcasters, BNT and BNR, but never started working) should be abolished and replaced by the State budget; and that funding of the public media should be supervised by an independent body. Dnevnik also mentioned two of the report's conclusions: that the media market is influenced by the owners' other interests, which often hurt the independence of journalists, especially in small settlements; and that the lack of ownership transparency affects the economic and political independence of radio and TV operators.

Link: Dnevnik

Another Bulgarian daily, Trud, cited figures from the Follow-up Report which show that BNT's popularity is declining; in particular, the audience of BNT’s first channel fell from 25 per cent in 2003 to 13.3 per cent in 2007. Spending of State funding for BNT and BNR is not transparent. Private TV stations should be given the opportunity to apply for funds to produce public service programmes, and the two regulatory bodies (CEM and CRC) should be converged, Trud wrote, citing the report’s recommendations.

Link: Trud

Romania

An increasing number of TV stations appeared in Romania, but if you know the four main players, that's all about Romanian TV stations, wrote the largest Romanian news portal Hotnews.ro, citing the OSI follow-up report on Romania.

The commercial TV stations have been losing audience. The private TV sector is dominated by four big names: two foreign and two domestic investors. The news on the public service TV station has worryingly lost audience and has continued to be heavily politicised, the portal wrote, citing some of the findings of the OSI's report on Romania.

Link: Hotnews.ro

The Romanian daily newspaper Cotidianul wrote: "The Romanian audiovisual sector is a playfield for the media moguls". The newspaper said that Parliament did not show any transparency in its work on the audiovisual legislation.

Link: Cotidianul

The Romanian all-news TV station Realitatea TV, citing the same OSI report, informed that the Romanian TV market has fared worse and worse in terms of diversity and pluralism.

Link: Realitatea TV

Other coverage:

"Open Society Institute: Audiovizualul romanesc ramane la mana mogulilor", 9 AM

"Studiu privind televiziunea în Europa", Radio România Actualităţi

Turkey

Link: MedyaKronik