ABSTRACT
Beginning in the late 1980s, policy experts from international organizations, company associations, foundations, non-governmental organizations and national governmental departments (e.g. US Agency for International Development, UK Department for International Development, Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency) were a common sight in the capital cities of Central and Eastern European states. They provided key expertise on the drafting of media laws, codes of practice and the setting up of national associations. International pressure to adopt regulatory systems was used through exclusion sticks (e.g. World Trade Organization/European Union membership) and aid carrots. States in the region largely based regulatory models upon those in Western Europe. Although European models were adopted on paper (provision of public service broadcasting and quotas and subsidies for independent and national production), there was at the same time tremendous pressure from the US, international organizations and large media companies to move towards a more liberal regulatory framework. Hence, in practice, a more liberal market model similar to that of the US is in place in Central and Eastern Europe today.
