The Guardian: Romania’s media haunted by communism and dominated by capitalism

It has been fascinating to watch the development of the media in the post-communist regimes of eastern Europe.

In several instances, steps forward towards the foundation of press freedom have been matched by steps backward, especially, of course, in those countries ruled by Soviet-style (and Russian-sponsored) despots.

Even in countries that have sought to embrace western-style democracy, it has been evident that western-style freedom of expression has been somewhat fragile.

One of the reasons, arguably the overriding reason, is the fact that in most of central and eastern Europe, monarchic dictatorship was replaced by communist dictatorship, so democracy had never previously been allowed to blossom….Read More