Journalism Ethics in Eastern Europe

Examines the ethical challenges facing journalism and public communication in Eastern Europe, analysing the effects of political change, digitalisation and media policy on journalistic integrity and democratic function

Journalism underwent multiple changes in the late 1980s and early 1990s in Eastern Europe, including a political and economic transformation, technological change, a generation shift, tabloidisation and the rise of new professional roles. The journalism landscapes of the region that were for most of the second half of the 20th century uniformly shaped by the Soviet theory and practice of the press have turned highly diverse by the early 21st century. Yet they share a number of similarities, most of which are rooted in the joint historical legacy of the region's countries, their current economic hardships and, in some cases, democratic backsliding.
Some of these similarities are also explained by the general crisis of journalism hitting the region as an outcome of globalisation and digitalisation after the millennium. In consequence, the revenues of traditional news organisations have been on the decline, the rise of social media has resulted in a mass-scale dissemination of disinformation and, most importantly, public trust in legacy media has been largely lost. These changes call for a renewal of the 'invisible contract' between professional journalists and the public. To regain trust, professional journalists must reconsider the standards of ethical journalism in collaboration with the audiences and strengthen the mechanisms of self-regulation.
This textbook offers a critical analysis of some of the most pressing challenges ahead of contemporary journalism and public communication in Eastern Europe. Based on general media landscape descriptions and brief case studies, it attempts to identify some key areas of concern, including organised disinformation and character-assassination campaigns disseminated via social media platforms, and to offer some self-regulatory responses to them. It also argues that ethical communication calls for more than just ethical journalism: media policy must also be ethically based and seek answers that provide all citizens with equal access to the means of public communication.