ABSTRACT
In view of the stated intention of most post-communist countries to transform into democratic systems, democratic theory and the body of work on the role of the media in democracy would appear to provide the most appropriate framework of comparative analysis of the development of media systems in particular countries of the region, especially as regards freedom and independence of the media. Over the past 20 years – and in many cases, for much longer – the populations of those countries have striven for democracy (Tanase 1999). Despite some caveats (Khakee 2002), the process of democratization and consolidation of media freedom and independence are seen as mutually reinforcing (Coricelli 2007, Faust 2007). Given that democracy is based on the free exchange of ideas, it is clear that the media are necessarily constitutive of any adequate contemporary theory of political democracy (Sparks 1995).
