Mass Media and the Democratisation of Eastern Europe

 
  

Mass Media and Democratisation in Eastern Europe. Articles in this issue include: "Empowering women and men through participatory media structures" by Colin Sparks, "Issues for media theory in Russia's transistion from dictatorship" by John D.H. Downing, and "A global blancing act: New structures in the Russian media" by Elena Vartanova. Media and political society in Eastern Europe are looked at by Peter Gross. Additional material from the East is provided: " The role of media in China's democratisation" by Junhao Hong, "Democratisation and restructuring the media industry in South Korea" by Sunny Yoon, and "Media, democracy and globalisation: a comparative perspective" by Joseph Man Chan.

Sunny Yoon

The relationship between political liberalisation and market dominance and its impact on media content are explored in the following article, which focuses on South Korea. The media industry has been politically liberalised in the sense that ownership has been privatised and more and more demands from the grassroots have been heard. A newspaper company (owned by citizens) has been set up and a citizens’ movement affected the outcome of elections for parliament in 1998. Yet, power at the grassroots has not brought in ‘democracy’ because Korean society is facing the typical problem of market power and invasion of foreign capital following the break-up of an authoritarian regime.

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