Media monitoring of the latest news about the media and advertising markets of Central and Eastern Europe
Russia designates Radio Free Europe and Voice of America as 'foreign agents'
Russia designated Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) and Voice of America (VOA) as “foreign agents” on Tuesday, a move aimed at complicating their work in retaliation for what Moscow says is unacceptable U.S. pressure on Russian media.
5 December
#russia
Facebook War Raging on Croatian Internet
Facebook groups and profiles are reporting each other for alleged rules infringement, trying to ban their political opponents. (...) All this is just part of the Facebook war which started in Croatia after the recent suicide of Slobodan Praljka, a Bosnian Croat who was convicted of war crimes and who took poison in a courtroom at the Hague war crimes tribunal.
5 December
#croatia
Minister meets with representatives of Media Freedom Group
Representatives of the Media Freedom Group handed over their demands aimed at improving the media situation to Prime Minister Ana Brnabic. Among the demands is the formation of a new working group for the Media Strategy, shedding light on all attacks on journalists, the withdrawal of state from ownership in Politika, Vecernji Novosti and Dnevnik, and closing the activity of the Tanjug news agency.
27 November
#serbia
Hey, Mark Zuckerberg: My Democracy Isn’t Your Laboratory
My country, Serbia, has become an unwilling laboratory for Facebook’s experiments on user behavior — and the independent, nonprofit investigative journalism organization where I am the editor in chief is one of the unfortunate lab rats.
15 November
#serbia
Poland Media Shakeup Gets This Mogul’s Attention
A Hungarian media mogul who has prospered in a media market dominated by Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s government and its allies is looking to take that experience to Poland and buy up outlets facing a similar threat.
15 November
#poland #hungary
Ukraine’s Council of TV, radio broadcasting wants its authority expanded
National Council of Television and Radio Broadcasting of Ukraine says it’s necessary to expand their authority, according to their statement. It comes shortly after the incident when Ukrainian MP and owner of NewsOne Muraviev said on air that the Revolution of Dignity was a coup d’état.
4 December
#ukraine
Ringier Axel Springer Media sells the most popular daily and acquires online assets
Ringier Axel Springer Media is strengthening its position in online publishing and is getting rid of its activities in the print media sector in Slovakia. It is selling its portfolio of printed magazines as well the best-selling daily Nový Čas and is acquiring websites dedicated to news, cars and real estate.
6 November
#slovakia
All Media Baltics signs TV broadcast services agreement with Encompass
Media group All Media Baltics (AM Baltics) has signed a long-term agreement with global technology company Encompass Digital Media (Encompass) on the delivery to the media group’s TV content, Laima Kristapsone, a representative of All Media Latvia (AM Larvia), told LETA. In October, Swedish media holding Modern Times Group (MTG) sold its Baltic business to international assets manager Providence Equity Partners (Providence), and the new company, combining all its businesses in the Baltic states, was named All Media Baltics.
21 November
#baltics
'Local media are simply disappearing': how financial pressures are killing independent media
Across central and eastern Europe – and indeed in some parts of the world beyond – political and economic forces are combining to put independent media under unbearable pressure. The combination of falling newspaper circulations and ad revenues has shattered the business model and left newspapers weakened and vulnerable to both political and corporate pressure. Some fear that as a result, the ideal of journalistic independence is being critically compromised.
30 November
#cee
Chinese Company Said Eyeing Media Giant CME
Reports of a possible change in ownership at one of the region’s biggest media players are sparking comment on how it would affect both its hugely profitable private TV stations and the broader media space.
24 November
#cee
The Buzz Around the Ballot
The new issue of Visegrad Insight on media landscapes in the V4 is out.
#V4
Photo by Samual Zeller on Unsplash