ABSTRACT
Twentieth century historical trends, predating even the state socialist period, in Czechoslovak media indicate a long pattern of state involvement and or control over mass media and substantial political party involvement in the press. This chapter assesses the barriers–the various political constraints–that must be surmounted in order that the media might be freed to become an independent democratic institution. The transitions approach claims that new democratic institutions can be constructed to be potent enough to transcend any authoritarian retrenchment. The rules of newly crafted democratic institutions will generate outcomes that actors will comply with, primarily because the institutional rules allow subsequent participation even for first round "losers." The vagueness of the legal and constitutional language about the media undoubtedly contributes to the politically contingent status of the media institution. Where specific processes and functions are not delineated, interpretation and exertions of political power are available to competing actors.
